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Tailor Time - How to Catch Tailor
By Daniel Hutchinson
From since I was a youngster, I always had a fascination with tailor. Coming from NSW and confined to the estuary as a kid, tailor were the most aggressive and hard fighting pound for pound fish that I could come into contact with. Their ability to bust and bubble the water in anger and often jump when fighting came as close to a barramundi or larger bluewater fish as a young southerner could get. Tailor are often underrated.
Even 30 years on, I'm still fascinated by these awesome fish. Their ferocity to take on almost any bait or lure and hunt in ferocious packs like wolves, make them hugely appealing. Generally, when fishing for tailor, it is common to catch plenty in a quick time, leading to high levels of excitement. I've no idea how, but often when fishing the kids or the wife can get bored. The fact is that when tailor are around they often bite and bite, which also makes them very appealing when taking kids and the family fishing.
Description
Tailor are a silver predatory fish that congregate up and down the Eastern and Western coasts of Australia. Remember to check your local size and bag limits. The legal size for tailor in NSW, where I am based, is 30cm in length, however they can grow up to 120cm and 14kg. This is quite rare however and generally tailor can be caught off the beaches, headlands, lakes and estuaries up to and around 40-60cm.
The odd larger fish is sometimes caught however. In Western Australia the larger fish are more common as they are of different stock to the Eastern fish. Tailor are a schooling fish that travel up and down the coastal beaches and will enter saltwater lakes and inlets in a seasonal movement. Whilst, where I live in Newcastle NSW, tailor can be caught all year round, the most prevalent time for visiting schools inhabiting the local beaches and estuaries is generally March, April and May.
Tailor grow rapidly... and they eat and eat and eat! Tailor will eat pretty much anything. I remember as a kid using a tailor for live bait and catching another tailor that was only slightly larger than the one that I was using! Their main diet consists of baitfish, such as whitebait, hardy heads and pilchards, however they will also eat prawns, squid and crustaceans.
Schools of tailor move around, with their movements dependent on season and where the food sources and bait congregate. In lakes and estuaries, and off the beaches or headlands, there can be thousands of tailor and it can be easy to catch plenty of fish in a short session. This means it can be easy to reach your bag limit, so make sure that you don't take more than you need for a meal as they are best eaten fresh and are not a fish that freezes very well.
Method
Tailor are highly aggressive and ferocious eaters. There are many ways to target tailor, with some methods more popular than others and at the end of the day it is up to personal choice. There are some things that are for certain however and they can be great fun to catch, especially for the family.
Estuary
Tailor congregate and school up in estuaries, harbours and saltwater lakes. These are probably the easiest places to target tailor for young kids or inexperienced anglers due to the calm water and lack of hazards. Tailor can be targeted landbased or on the water. The advantage with a boat is that you can obviously move around more quickly to locate and target schools.
This is a huge bonus as often you'll see 'bust ups', which is basically fish hitting the surface and attacking bait schools that they have forced toward the water surface. Large groups of seagulls and other birds on the surface join in the frenzy in the estuaries and these are a dead giveaway that this is happening and they will show you exactly where the tailor are. When this is happening, you're in for a treat. If you can get slightly up wind of the school of busting fish and within casting range you will almost be guaranteed to hook up.
Using the Okuma Helios SX 2-4kg combo, loaded with 6lb platypus braid, lures can be cast a mile. The TT Hard Core metal slugs are perfect for this situation, with the 20g model a favourite, and these can be cast a long way and fished on a fast retrieve to keep the lure close to the surface.
Alternatively the ZMan range of StreakZ and MinnowZ could also be used. The advantage of using plastics in this situation is that it opens you up to plenty of other species as well as tailor, including mulloway who also are prone to being in the vicinity of these estuary feeding frenzies.
If you let the ZMan, rigged with the appropriate jighead, get to the bottom and then jig it up from the bottom, you will be in for a good shot at a mulloway or a good dusky flathead under the tailor. The good thing about the ZMan range, as opposed to other soft plastic lures, is their durability. Tailor will make a mess of many lures, however the durability of the ZMan ElaZtech plastic means that they can be used time and time again.
Trolling
Trolling around lakes and estuaries, headland or beaches in a boat is also another popular way to target tailor. This involves putting one or two lines out the back of the boat (20-30 metres), putting the boat on about eight knots, putting the rods in the holder and assuming position in the driver's seat. This is a very relaxed way to fish as you can literally just sit, crack a drink and watch the world go by.
When a tailor sights the passing lure, they will strike and the rod will bend. This can be a great way to catch some tailor if you are just out for a cruise with the partner or kids and you just want to get from A to B. It is also an effective technique if their casting skills are not very developed.
Many lures can be used in this situation, including the metals and plastics mentioned previously. Hardbody lures, such as a Fish Inc. Centre 12 squid imitation, are also an excellent trolling lure that will also appeal to kingfish and bonito when being trolled.
Beach
I love beach fishing for tailor. Maybe it's just the old man coming out in me but there is something very traditional and very Australian about getting down to the surf gutters and bringing home a brace of tailor for the family. The Okuma Trio Rex Surf rods are brilliant, combined with an Okuma Azores Blue spinning reel.
The most popular method when beach fishing for tailor is using pilchards, with a half pilchard on a single hook or a full pilchard on a set of three ganged hooks. Starting with 20lb Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader is an excellent choice.
If the tailor are running hot, you can catch a few in pretty quick succession and it is a great way to spend an hour or two. Late afternoons are my favourite time, combined with a highish tide. You can often get some local knowledge from local tackle shops, lifeguards who see birds working or Facebook, to see which beaches are working best and where the schools are appearing.
Be sure to fish in gutters and deeper sections of the beach at high tide. A hot tailor bite can come on at any time, however generally low light periods or night fishing produces results. If the tailor are thick and you find yourself on a hot session, then a spinning rod and lure could be a great option. The Okuma Cerros spinning rods are brilliant and the 701H 7' 5-12kg can whip a metal lure miles out into the surf. A fast retrieve, similar to that done in the estuary, will result in lots of hook ups from tailor, if they are the chew and offers a more 'sporting' technique than the traditional bait on the beach rod.
Rocks
Off the rocks, breakwalls and in the whitewash is a classic place to find tailor up and down the coast. I often catch them as bycatch when fishing in the boat for snapper on ZMan plastics.
It is awesome fun to go landbased fishing and catch tailor however. Once again, similar to beach fishing, low light times work better and there is the option of using pilchards and waiting for a bite. When fishing off the rocks however, an excellent way to target tailor and once again a more 'sporting' and enjoyable style is to throw lures.
Small stickbaits can be a really fun way to catch them when casting off the headlands or breakwalls. Fish Inc. offer an excellent range, with the Winglet, an 87mm 42g zinc sinking stickbait, a great choice, along with the 85mm and 115mm Flanker. The awesome thing about stickbaits is seeing them walk across the surface and seeing a big splash when the tailor hits. Tailor often become airborne, jumping fully out of the water when employing this method. When fishing from the ocean rocks or headlands be sure to familiarise yourself with hazards and wear appropriate shoes and lifejacket. It's always about safety first when fishing the rocks.
Get out and get stuck into a few of these ferocious fighters. They're great fun for the whole family and make a tasty feed when prepared fresh.
Cheers, Dan