Tag Archives: fishing for Tailor with soft plastics

Bribie Island – Buckley’s Hole – 30 January 2012

Posted on by
Reply

Monday

The rain stopped – briefly, on Sunday night. It stopped long enough for me to convince myself Monday morning might be worth a fish. So I jumped in the car and drove up to Bribie Island on Monday at about 8.30 am. I drove through several heavy showers but fortunately, when I arrived at Bongaree, the sun was just peeking through the clouds.

The tide was running in and would by high around noon. There was no breeze. The water was a brownish colour but not too murky. There was also not much weed floating around. I suspect it has all been washed out into the bay.

I started with a GULP 3” soft plastic Minnow in the Lime tiger colour on a 1/8th 1/0 jighead. I assumed the fish would be fussy, so I started with an 8lb fluorocarbon leader. I waded around on the sand spit in front of the saltwater tidal lagoon, casting over the flats. On about my fifth cast something took off on a blistering run with the plastic. I tightened the drag a little and turned its head, but there were no head shakes – just a dead weight gradually coming towards me. It was a ray and after a few pulls it snapped the 8lb leader. I tied on a new leader and felt a few more nibbles but could not hook anything. I switched to a bibless vibe hard bodied lure – a silver Berkley Frenzy, but this didn’t produce any fish.

I swapped back to a GULP 4” Minnow soft plastic, in the Peppered Prawn colour. I noticed some gulls swooping a few hundred metres to the south. They gradually flew closer and were obviously following something. I kept casting but increased the speed of my retrieve. I felt a solid bite and lost the tail of the plastic to the fish. I quickly re-rigged and this time the lure was grabbed, as soon as it hit the water. There was a brief tug and then, snap – the lure was bitten off.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I moved further south, casting in all directions. I fished for a couple of hours with only a few small bites. Then the birds appeared again and I cast into their path. I felt a bite and struck hard. This time I had the fish hooked but it jumped free, before I could pull it up the beach. It was a small Tailor, no more than 25cm long. I cast out again in the same spot and started a faster retrieve. A few cranks into it and I felt the attack and then the hook up. This time I got it to the sand – another tiny Tailor.

It was encouraging to catch a few fish but I could not find dinner. It should not take long for the water to clear if the rain holds off. I will be back out here again soon.

Fingal Head – Dart & Tailor – 4 September 2011

Posted on by
Reply

Sunday

The wind played up at Bribie on Saturday and my fishing results were not that impressive. On Sunday, I decided to go back down to Fingal Head to fish off the rocks. September should be Tailor time but the last few sessions here have been a bit disappointing.

Low tide was around 6.30 am and so it was easy enough to skip across to the causeway, between waves. I arrived about 5.30 am but I was not the first there. As ever, I was hopeful that the one hour either side of dawn, would produce a few fish.

All I caught with the soft plastics was this Dart

Well it did, but not for me. Just on dawn a chap to the left of me pulled out a 40cm Tailor on a hard bodied minnow lure and a few casts later, he got another. Then the chap to my right got one on a small slug. I fished on with a soft plastic minnow and was eventually rewarded with a decent Dart, but no Tailor. The chap to the right caught another Tailor, also on a hard bodied Rapala minnow.

Lee with his good Tailor

The wind picked up just after dawn and carried on rising until it was probably a 20-25 knot south-easterly. The water looked very fishy but there was not much bait around. At about 7.00 am, Lee, the Scotsman to my right, who already had a couple of Tailor, hooked into a solid fish. He held on tight and copped a soaking from a big wave but managed to land it. It was a great Tailor – I would guess around 2.5kg.

The Tailor were going for hard bodied minnows

I carried on fishing, using every colour of soft plastic in the box, but I could not tempt them. In fact, no one could and at around 9.30 am I climbed back up to the lighthouse and headed for the car. It was good to see few people catching Tailor. According to all the reports they are certainly around, in numbers, in the Tweed River. They must start feeding around the headlands soon.

I tried a fair range of colours and shapes

Bribie Island – Tailor, Tailor, Tailor – 14 August 2011

Posted on by
1

Sunday

Tailor
Tailor
Tailor
Tailor

I drove up to Bribie Island for a quick early morning fishing session. Rain was threatening as I arrived, at around 5.30.am. The tide was running in and I decided to start under the bridge in the shallows, on the island side.

I started with a GULP 5” Crazylegs Jerkshad in the Curry Chicken colour. After a few casts and solid bites, a fish bit the tail off. I re-rigged with a GULP 4” Minnow in the Pearl Watermelon colour. I was fishing with a 1/6th 1/0 jighead and my light spin rod. After a couple of casts I caught a small Tailor – just around the 30cm mark. I let it go and cast out again, under the bridge lights. Bang – the fish grabbed the lure as soon as it hit the water – it was just before dawn. It was another small Tailor. I let it go and re-rigged with a brighter coloured soft plastic – the GULP Jigging Grub in the Pink Shine colour. After a couple of casts this also brought up another Tailor.

As the sun came up I decided to move down to the mouth of the tidal lagoon in front of Buckley’s Hole, at Bongaree. I waded out into the tide, which was now running in strongly. I cast out the Pink Shine soft plastic and as it sank I felt the line go tight. There were lots of head shakes and a few moments later I had the biggest Tailor of the morning at around 35cm. I fished on for around 30 minutes and finally gave up at about 7.30am.

There are clearly plenty of Tailor around at the moment and the surf beaches and rocky headlands should produce some good fish over the next few weeks.

Tweed River – South Rockwall – Tailor, Trevally – 6 Aug 2011

Posted on by
Reply

Saturday

I have not been doing so well at Bribie Island lately so I decided to fish the Tweed River mouth on Saturday morning. I chose to fish the southern rock wall which you reach by driving through Fingal Head.

The forecast was for a light northerly wind and low tide would be just before dawn. You have to be in this spot before dawn, as the light change often brings the fish on to the bite – often just for half an hour or so. I left Brisbane around 3.45 am and arrived just after 5.00 am. I walked out the end of the rock wall and rigged up with my headlamp. I try to keep the light off the water when I am doing this.
I rigged up a GULP 5” Jerkshad in the Cajun Chicken colour – this is a black soft plastic with a purple/ pink underbody. I put it on a ½ oz 3/0 hook jighead. I had the Daiwa Demon Blood 9 foot rod loaded with 40lb braid and about 2 metres of 30lb fluorocarbon leader. I had a couple of casts in the dark, but with no bites, I decided to wait for some light.

A choppy morning on the South Rockwall at the Tweed River mouth

About 10 minutes later, I could see what I was doing and I cast my soft plastic straight out into the river mouth. It landed about 15 metres off shore and slowly sank, as it ran out with the tide. Before it reached the bottom I felt a couple of solid strikes. I jerked the lure up and then paused and let it sink again. As I started to repeat the process there was a solid pull on the end of the line and the rod tip started wiggling. The fish took some line and then raced out towards the middle of the river. It was moving fast and then broke the surface with a vertical, head shaking leap. It was a good size Tailor – probably around 60 cm long. I tightened the drag a little and played it to the base of the rocks. I tightened the drag some more and gradually heaved it up the rocks towards me – just as I grabbed the leader the hook pulled from its mouth and it was gone. Bugger!

I checked the plastic – it was pretty mauled but serviceable, so I cast it back out. This time the action was instant – bitten off, as soon as it hit the water. I re-rigged – same colour plastic, same weight jighead. First cast – nothing, but I hooked up again on the second. This time it was a small Tailor – about 40cm and I pulled him safely over the rocks. I presumed they had just moved up the river and would be back again shortly but they did not return. It was just before 7.00 am and it had all gone quiet.

A Tweed Tailor grabs the GULP Crazylegs Jerkshad

I finished the session with this Trevally

I moved around the front of the rockwall casting in a broad semicircle. I changed to different colored plastics, I tried lighter jigheads. I tried various minnows and grub shapes. By 8.00 am the sun was up and the choppy swell had started to settle down a bit. The tide was now running in again. I had dropped right down to a 3/8th oz 2/0 jighead and I was using a 4” Gulp Minnow in the Pearl Watermelon colour. Just as I was about to flick it up, out of the water, at the base of the rocks, a Trevally grabbed it. It was around 40cm long and I landed it safely. I hoped there would be more but after another 30 minutes without a bite I decided to pack up and head home.

lluka Rockwall – In search of Tuna – 14 April 2010

Posted on by
Reply

Thursday

On Wednesday, I had noticed the birds working off Woody Head and seen a few Tuna jumping just out of range. So on Thursday I decided to fish the Iluka rockwall in the hope that they might come past.

I had popped into Big River Bait and Tackle at Maclean and as usual, the future Australian Bream Tournament Champion – Jo, had given me some good local tips. It’s a great tackle store and everyone in there knows their stuff. They are always ready to have a chat and impart some up to date, local knowledge. Jo decided he would join me on the wall for a quick pre-work fish, next day. I readily agreed, seeing this as a great opportunity to learn a few tricks from a local. At 4.45 am he was there waiting at the rock wall parking area. High tide had been at around 4.30am which meant we had plenty of water.

We walked along to where the wall begins to break down, stopped and rigged up. Jo put on a popper and I put on a plastic initially, and then joined him with a popper. As the horizon started to glow we covered the area with casts – but we got nothing. Conditions were perfect but there was no sign of any fish and after 20 mins or so, I decided to clamber on down to the end of the wall. I said farewell to Jo and started walking.

Looking back along the Iluka wall just after dawn


After another 20 mins scrambling over the boulders, I reached the end. The sun was just below the horizon and I started by casting the popper all around. This took about 15 minutes but did not produce any fish. As the sun came over the horizon I swapped to a GULP Crazy Legs Jerkshad soft plastic, in the Pink Shine colour. I rigged it on a 1/2oz 3/0 jighead as the tide was now running out with some force. I put a few casts into the ocean side of the end of the wall and then moved round to fish the river side. After a few more casts, I got a couple of good bites, in close to the rocks. I cast out again and let the plastic sink down in the fast flowing water. As I lifted the rod the line came up taught and I had a fish on. I knew it was a Tailor because of the mad shaking. It was around the 40cm mark, I got it to the rocks and as I was about to lift it, it calmly turned its head and dropped the hook.

I tried a few more casts with the Pink Shine plastic and got a few more hits but no fish. They eventually bit the tail off, so I decided to downsize. I swapped to a GULP 3” Minnow in the more natural Pepper Prawn colour. First cast and bang the lure was whacked and line started peeling. A big Tailor 60- 70cm jumped out of the water, ran a bit further and then he was gone – he had bitten straight through my 30lb leader.

I fished for another hour or so, but the Tuna never showed up. Finally just as I was about to give up I caught a decent Tailor, around 45cm long on a GULP 4” Minnow in the Pumpkinseed colour.

Tailor from the end of the Iluka rockwall

Iluka – Middle Bluff – Tailor – 11 April 2011

Posted on by
Reply

Monday – am

I have just got back from a week fishing the rocks at Iluka in Northern New South Wales. The weather was fantastic with only a couple of showers and very little swell, the whole week. For the beginning of the week we had early morning low tides, which also made it possible to fish some usually inaccessible spots. The week produced some great fish, as you will see.

I started on Monday morning at Middle Bluff in the Bundjalong National Park, just north of Iluka Bluff and Frasers Reef. I arrived around 5.00 am and faced a mild swell and a very light northerly wind. Low tide would be at about 7.00 am. I watched a few big waves slap over the rocks and decided to wait for better light to start fishing. At about 5.30 am I could see my feet and had got a feel for the wave pattern, so I started casting.

Dawn at Middle Bluff - Iluka

I bought a new rod for this trip – the Daiwa Demon Blood 9ft 6. The Rovex Bario 12ft and Aureus 9ft have served me well, off the rocks, but I needed a rod with a faster action and more sensitivity when casting lighter weighted jigheads. I also broke the 9ft Aureus while landing a decent Jewfish a few months back and although Rovex backed the rod with a replacement straight away, I have lost a bit of confidence in it. The Daiwa is a much pricier rod but it is really light and should also be able to lift big fish – we will see.

I started with a GULP Crazylegs Jerkshad in the Satay Chicken colour rigged on a 3/8/ 3/0 jighead. I was using my Shimano Stradic 8000, loaded with 20lb Fireline and about 2m of fluorocarbon leader. I join the mainline to the leader with a uni to uni knot. The first half an hour produced nothing. I used a few other large plastics in fairly bright colours but nothing got a bite. It had been raining on and off, for about three weeks before we arrived and the Clarence River was pumping out a solid stream of sediment. As a result the water was very murky and got dirtier as we approached low tide.

At about 6.00 am I decided to put on a GULP 4” Minnow in the Vader colour – this has a black back and crème coloured underside. On my second cast it was grabbed close to the rocks. There were plenty of head shakes and then a decent Tailor leapt clean out of the water as it tried to shake the jighead from its jaw. The swell helped wash him up the ledges and after a short fight, I had him safe at my feet. It was a great way to christen the new rod – a 55 cm Tailor.

55cm Middle Bluff Tailor

I bled the Tailor, dropped it in a rock pool and cast out the rather mashed Vader Minnow again. Before I had lifted the rod tip – bang – a fish grabbed the lure and took off. It was a good size and peeled line for 10 seconds or so before – ping – it snapped the leader on a rock. I was out of Vader Minnows so I switched to a 4” Minnow in the Rainbow colour. This soft plastic is very similar to the Vader pattern but with a slight silvery sparkle on its underside. Second cast and I was on again this fish gave me plenty to think about by lodging itself down low in the rocks. I loosened the drag and as the line wafted free of the rocks I thought I had lost the fish. I started to wind in and bang – it was off again. This time it did not have much strength and with the next big wave I had it up on the rocks – another good Tailor at about 60cm.

60cm Middle Bluff Tailor

I fished on for another hour or so through the tide change without another touch. I gave up around 8.00 am and headed home. A great start to the week.