VBCB

Hi there, Went out for a fish off the stones yesterday again, after the success on tailors the day before. This time, I decided to target kings with live yakkas, rocked up around 5.45 on the ledge with 6 yakkas in the bucket and got frustrated as early as the first drift. 1 minute in the water, reel goes zzz, zzzz, zzzzzzz, zzz, that sounds like a shit tailor slaughtering my first yakka, and that's confirmed once I wind the rig back, yakka chopped in half. Second yakka, same sanction, I therefore decide to take it easy until the sun if fully out. Half an hour later, I start again and manage a correct drift to the "kill zone" with no tailor, yet! Tailors didn't give a oooo about sunrise or light indeed, and every cast ended up the same, even managed to pull a 55cm greedy chopchopper on my 5th cast. Last yakka, there is still a bit of hope inside of me, and there the zzz zzz goes again, SCREW IT ! But that zzz zzz that I know was a tailor turns to a zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz in the next second, here we go! I obviously knew I wasn't dealing with a chopper anymore, and after a heavy fight, I'm expecting to see a 90cm fish popping out of the blue but instead it was a fat little bastard, as heavy as his 90 cm big brother could have been. The fish only measures 79cm but takes 5 kg no worries, healthy as. I notice that the yakka is again chopped, and understand that the tailor smashing my poor last yakka probably attracted the attention of the king which decided to rule over the tailor and grab the yakka chopped a second earlier. Tailors are here massively, and there are some very decent ones, some of my yakkas showed a serious cutting curve that let me think about 2 to 3 kg choppers. I hadn't been fishing kings off the stones for a couple of months, and was so happy to manage that fish before the season dies, and that tailor run as well as the sight of the first whales make me think the end of the season is coming soon, very soon.

You'd need to be pretty handy to lip grip these tiny little things mate! They'd be dead dry before I can grab one of them!

Mate I wish I had had a taste of that! Many oldies told me about that smoked butterfly tailor already and that sounds bloody good... I'll prob buy a smoker one day just to smoke these tasty oily guys, for now I can only imagine how good they'd be

Autumn, grey water, lots of wind swell, lots of oxygen in the shallow water, yes it couldn't be better. After 2 years without targeting my first Australian love, mister TAILOR; I found the conditions too good this morning to stay in my couch, took a medium lure outfit to hit a local Sydney ledge, seeking for Pomatomus saltatrix. On my second cast the first fish of the day confirmed my thoughts, and another dozen came and tried to chew on my metal in the next hour and half, what a delight. All the fishes went over 45 with the biggest (on the picture) pointing at 57 cm. Kept a couple of "damaged" ones for the table, as I am one of these weirdos who really fancies fresh tailor on the plate. Sorry for the poor pic a wave splashed my camera and I didn't notice the fat drop on the lens.

Hi fellows, Last long week end me and the misses went to North Haven for a little relax, haven't been fishing much over the 4 days (too much of a negotiation with the misses) but always kept a stick ready in the car for a few casts if we were to drive past a nice looking spot. Among the quick attempts, I managed to catch a few legal breams and whitings on lure, as well as loads of undersized lizards, only Lord knows why? On a nice sand flat I managed a couple of whitings on stickbait when the third "whiting" looked a bit brutal on the take, the subsequent run let me thing about a 2+ kg tailor instead... After a real 5 minutes hefty fight on 4 lb leader and 3 lb braid, that little bugger came out of the blue and got me literally stoked, my first "tropical" trevally in New South Whales. The fish is not that big, prob 1.5 lbs but it's always a good feeling when you get this kind of surprise at the end of the line, it went back unharmed of course, after a quick shot.

Monster ! Amazing fish good on you man

rewarding session ! Well done

One trick you might not know consists in unhooking your fish belly up while holding it firmly. When turned upside down the flathead tends not to move, or at least a lot less. Must create something in its brain or nervous system, doesn't arm them but they get in a sort of lethargy.

lol Cute question it was

White bait for sure, doesn't really matter every time you catch them on something they have something different in the tummy, they are just opportunistic buggers and would smash whatever seems to be the easiest for them when they are on the bite. It is really obvious for king, they are not these fish that wouldn't eat anything else than what's there in the biggest number, in other words, if there are 10 millions of sardines they will smash sardines, but if they see a wacky squid in the middle they'll smash it along the way. That seems to be a bit different when you use lures, I found them a bit picky on the size, not systematically but most of the time. Don't know if the picture is distorted but that fish looks abnormally thick??? Well done anyway, always a pleasure to get a king, even small models

Man, the biggest tailor is a serious fish for Sydney, well done, bet it put on a heavy duty fight !

Don't worry about too big mate, a 4 keggos jew would scoff your 35 cm tailor if it's on the chew, now you need an appropriate rig and rod reel combo that's for sure. Depending on conditions / spot, you could slide bait this tailor, or just let it swim free of any rig, just a hook and your line, or use any other technique really, as long as it is appropriate to the conditions atm when you're fishing. (e.g. might not let it free swim if 2+m swell as the waves would undoubtedly wash the bait on the sand while pushing on the line belly). But don't worry about the bait size predators are happy with a good chunky easy meal.

MHX steelhead, 3 pieces 13" 4-8 lb, very nice I'd say for luderick but not quite appropriate for decent drummers, it still did the job and I never really felt the limits of its bend, which let me hope I can get a 50cm + on a "misunderstanding", lol (dream on TC)

Hi guys, Went down my flat for a quick one tonight after work, hard as oooo because of the absence of swell, got a couple of small pigs on 6lb weed rig, ludies wouldn't show up. I assumed the leader was a tad too big and went down to 4lb, eventually started to score hits but lost (snapped) 4 fishes out of 6, they were pretty angry and all quite big (35/40 cm), still managed a couple of good ones, but got sick of losing hooks and went back to 6lb leader. After a 20 min with no hit the luminosity started to be a tad lower and the float went down, there started a fight that I won't forget so soon, best fun since a long while, the thing went for 6 or 7 10+ m runs, reefed me twice, I just wanted to see it as I thought it would not get out and I got disappointed when it came closer as I could see something in its 30cm, I thought. I was wrong, when it popped to the surface I saw a nice fat fish, that I managed to wash on a leader that would not have been stronger than 1lb considering its poor shape It's only an "average" pig, but on 6 lb with that new luderick rod I just built, I doubt I'll score bigger too often especially on that line class, 43 cm measured and 1.8 kg I'd say, safely. I'm stoked! All that little crowd went back after a quick shot.

Are we talking about Sydney Harbour? If yes, nice one champ! Never seen a watsons leaping from Sydney shore

Very very nice indeed !

That sounds sharky as ! Sharks have no clear pattern in their fights but good ones are going for mad runs, no head shakes, no nasty reefing, just pure power. Eventually you often lose them when your line's rubbing on their skin or if your leader happens to get into their mouth during the fight. Prime time for bronzies right now, squid being the best bait for them I'd say you got sharked my friend ! Can you remember if the first cm of your leader were "milky" and all rubbed? Would be a good indication.

Happened to me last week too, got 3 fishes that turned out to be small undersized pigs too out of 50 takes most frustrating thing ever, never understood why, tried the same things you did and also changed hook sizes, nothing would have any positive influence, it was just fail after fail, I assume it's related to the species then... Bloody blackfish

sounds like a crap session, it will turn to a good memory and a tale over the time don t worry

Good one mate, every PB counts

They taste nice but not so sure about the sashimi thing ! haha Nice fish anyway and I bet it put on a top fight as drummers always do, it's the first one of a long series I'm sure. What happened to the bream eye ball ? sashimi on the spot ? haha

Mad !

Fair enough luderick angler ! Today I clearly saw they had their mood, went for an hour and half sesh down my flat and I didn't get oooo for the first half then it suddenly started to be insane 30 mins b4 high tide, got 8 fish in 45 mins, I was on every cast, got done twice by drummers. I also noticed the smallest ones in their 30 cm range were fighting a lot harder than the big ones funnily, the 2 biggest measuring 38 and 39 didn't do more than using their weight and shaking heads. Good fun, it was the first test of the new rod I just built, bloody oath ! (couldn't use the CP reel because the spot requires long casts of 15+ m and I haven't got the skills yet) PS: they all went back, 7 BF and one little drummer

Looks like Blackfish is right, they're good eating these things too

Sounds like an amazing session ! So exciting to see a pack of kings following the one you're hooked on, I bet that one will stay in your memory for a long while ! Well done on the pb too