Lures for Tailor And Salmon

[pittwaterfishing]

Hi Guys,

Went for a quick flick landbased today to a spot where i'd seen some surface action previously. Last time it was whitebait jumping out of the water being chased by tailor and salmon ( which were jumping ) The action was around 15 m from shore so i went back today, water was pretty murky and a few branches floating around. I had a blue 13g Metal and i was just doing a mixture of retrieves all whilst tailor where jumping around. What would usually happen was it would be about 50 whitebait jumping and then a tailor jumping after ( or salmon ). This kept on happening and i would cast to the area for nothing. I did this for around 1 1/2 hours and im just wondering about what lure i should be using and what retrieve

Gear i was using was a 2-4 kg rod with 6 lb braid and 8lb fluro.

Thanks

[Robofish]

It can be really frustrating when that happens - (and sometimes they just won't have anything you throw at them). What I find works most of the time is a 3G halco twisty or I cut down Berkeley Caspar clear lures and fish them on a 1/24th jig head. The boys with the fly gear and small fry imitations also do well.

Keep at it - great sport on light gear, you will have a ball.

Dabe

[rockfisherman]

Hi mate

In this sort of situation it's good to have a variety of metals, because it really comes down to matching what the predators are locked on to, there won't be much happening otherwise, for the sake of $40 which will get you a bunch of different metals.

Using a variety of retreive speeds is also key, but a lot of the time lightning fast is the way to go. This is where it pays to have a decent reel. After many casts , flicks of the bail arm and retrieves, you will know if your reel is up to it.

Fishingphase

[pittwaterfishing]

Hi mate

In this sort of situation it's good to have a variety of metals, because it really comes down to matching what the predators are locked on to, there won't be much happening otherwise, for the sake of $40 which will get you a bunch of different metals.

Using a variety of retreive speeds is also key, but a lot of the time lightning fast is the way to go. This is where it pays to have a decent reel. After many casts , flicks of the bail arm and retrieves, you will know if your reel is up to it.

Fishingphase

Are we talking for a fast retrieve as fast as possible? Its a 2500 reel and the fish wouldn't be over 60cm and thats pushing it. So still really fast burn? Thanks

[rockfisherman]

Hi mate

In this sort of situation it's good to have a variety of metals, because it really comes down to matching what the predators are locked on to, there won't be much happening otherwise, for the sake of $40 which will get you a bunch of different metals.

Using a variety of retreive speeds is also key, but a lot of the time lightning fast is the way to go. This is where it pays to have a decent reel. After many casts , flicks of the bail arm and retrieves, you will know if your reel is up to it.

Fishingphase

Are we talking for a fast retrieve as fast as possible? Its a 2500 reel and the fish wouldn't be over 60cm and thats pushing it. So still really fast burn? Thanks

Depends on what type of 2500 size reel you have, for example a sienna 2500 has a retreive ratio of 5.2:1, where a stradic 2500 has a retreive ratio of 6.0:1, instantly you're talking about a 15% increase in speed the stradic has over the sienna.

A lure travelling at high speeds activates their predatory intinct, that's why you want to crank it as fast as your body can physically go...

Fishingphase

[Paul]

Hi PittwaterFishing

Not sure if it will be as useful to you but me and a few mates have been smashing salmon and tailor the past few days on our yaks with light gear.

Lures used were:

• Halco Twisty & Sliced - chrome/silver/gold ranging from 3g to 15g
• Spanyid Maniac - pink and blue - 7g
• ZMan - 3" MinnowZ - Gold Rush on a 1/12 jighead

I'd probably adjust the weight accordingly to where you need to cast your lure. The trick I found is a quick retrieve and a few jerks to represent darting fleeing action. It's interesting seeing them on the surface with polarized sunglasses. Once the lure hits the water, as soon as they detect the darting fleeing action from the lure, they can instantly change direction to smash it. The lures were lucky to stay in the water for 3 seconds without being attacked.

The ZMan was actually being trolled by one of our mates with paddles trying to catch up to us, but he wasn't going very quickly. Surprisingly he caught the biggest salmon out of all of us with it.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

Paul

[lostproperty]

I find halcos the best fr sambos and tailor in silver, as above crank nice as fast but if you car get a hit from the surface give it some sinking time after casting so the lure comes up from a but deeper, generally works for me

[Jewhunter]

When fish are feeding like that a popper or surface lure

that you can walk the dog with like a sammy or dogx jnr

are dynamite.

Cheers,

Grant.

[General Zod]

^{Two words that work for me. Rapala XRap}

^{Sizes i use, 6cm to 10cm, in the glass ghost. Never had a fish refuse or igonre them when there's been surface action.}

Edited February 19, 2013 by General Zod

[rjc123]

10-15g halco twisty's are normally a pretty reliable option. Lately the pelagics have been chasing "eyes" which are very hard to imitate given how small they are. We've been getting a few tailor, bonnies and frigates on tiny (3-4cm) plastics on 1/12 jigheads. Just give it a few seconds to sink then work it back fairly quickly. A little hard to do landbased though. Stickbaits like Bassday sugapens and Strada Virals have worked well on the tailor for me in recent times. Bream HB's can often do the trick on salmon and tailor.

Z-man 2.5" Grubz and 5" Streakz are worth a look too.

As always, when chasing toothy critters like tailor, be prepared to lose some tackle... Even small tailor will give you grief...

Cheers, Tom

Edited February 19, 2013 by mulloway man