Tailor in the creek

[cowan-cowboy]

Finally broke the draught with 2 just legal tailor and dropped 3 at the boat

We should have bagged out considering the amount of fish. The water just errupted with tailor boiling on the serface and about 30 birds appearing from no where.

Each time we got to the schools they moved on. So we began trolling an picked up 1.

Maybe if we had a sounder we could have found the school when they went deep?

Edited January 15, 2012 by Cowan Cowboy

[mazin1978]

Bad luck about the tailor mate. Which part of the creek were you fishing? I fished there mid last week, only managed undersize fish and 1 legal bream though. Had a run on my baitrunner on a live garfish but failed to hookup

[Yowie]

Finally broke the draught with 2 just legal tailor and dropped 3 at the boat

We should have bagged out considering the amount of fish. The water just errupted with tailor boiling on the serface and about 30 birds appearing from no where.

Each time we got to the schools they moved on. So we began trolling an picked up 1.

Maybe if we had a sounder we could have found the school when they went deep?

Probably a waste of time with a sounder, as tailor schools sometimes move very quickly through the water, you could see that as you approached a school and they disappeared before you could cast to them. Trolling sometimes catches a few. When they are splashing on the surface, they have rounded up a school of baitfish, and if there are several areas of splashing, that means there will be several areas of baitfish.

You can chase after them in the boat as they move from school to school, running the risk of scaring them off the bite altogether, or wait near a school of baitfish, as the tailor quite often swim around and return to attack the same school several times.

If you chase after the tailor, keep back from the splashing fish, don't motor through them and stop when about casting distance away. Some fisherman will advise you not to do this as it will scare away the fish, but I have done it successfully for over 40 years. With other fish such as salmon or kingfish, they can be more inclined to disappear with the sound of a motor near them.

Yowie.

[spotterone]

There seems to be a few of them about at the moment. Depending on the weather and tide, it's always best not to drive straight through the middle of them. Stop the boat upwind of them and turn the motor off, they will keep following the bait school, and usually will keep chopping. I've found myself right in the middle of them doing it that way, and they've kept chewing like crazy. When you can't cast to them because you are way down wind, start the boat up and drive around them again.

If they are really finnicky, then just sit for a few minutes and watch where they reappear. Often you'll be able to work out what way they are generally headed, and beat them to it.

What time of day was it? I generally find that they are really not scared at dawn and dusk, and will feed voraciously regardless of boat traffic.

The few schools that I've seen up Cowan Creek over the last couple of weeks have held some nice 1kg+ specimens. Great fun on light tackle.

[Guest Aussie007]

hey mate its good u caught something tailors absolutely love lures hard body and metal lures or soft plastics if your rich enough use rapala lures in white and pink and u will have much more success

[cowan-cowboy]

Bad luck about the tailor mate. Which part of the creek were you fishing? I fished there mid last week, only managed undersize fish and 1 legal bream though. Had a run on my baitrunner on a live garfish but failed to hookup

They were out from Waratah bay. You can't miss them.

[garryl]

I was up there last weekend and took the kids out twice with no luck. Threw everything we had at them as well. I had a spare 15 mins and had a quick flick just upstream from Cottage Point and was lucky enough to land a flathead a bit above 40cm. While dragging the kids around on the tube saw a bust up a bit further along as well, so there must be a few tailor around. The most interesting fishy thing I saw was a few Kingfish under the pontoon where the boat was moored. Started throwing my plastics at them but they weren't interested. Last year I picked up a bonito in Looking Glass Bay, so it sounds like there are a few surface fish in the area. Certainly is a nice part of the world, and some MASSIVE boats cruise around there.