Jumping Tailor Galore!

[Narralakes]

Woke up at 4.30 and it was raining and dark, hmmmm, to go fishing or not, of course the decision was to go. Had a couple of hours before work today so had a quick fish. Got on the water about 5.30 a.m. and headed to the harbour, got to Dobroyd and apart from the huge surface action I saw a few months ago at North Head with the salmon, today would have to have been just as exciting. There were huge schools of chopper tailor busting up the surface from the eastern side of Dobroyd wrapping around to the western side, stacks of birds and no other boats out. There was also a visit from a small salmon school but they didnt hang around for long. I had a nice fly session for about an hour and a half hooking up on nearly every second cast. They were only small choppers in the 25 - 35 cm range, but it was good swoffing practice. After a while I decided to try to give the markers a go and score a king, but no such luck, heaps of bait fish, but no kings, well not for me anyhow. On the way back to Roseville I stopped by Dobroyd again where the schools had thinned out, but still managed a couple of fish then home by 9.30. I was surprised to see the tailor so vorocious, they were swirling all around and you could motor right up to them, similar to the salmon, and they were even jumping out of the water chasing their prey, white bait which they spewed up after being caught. Good fun today. I heard that kings and salmon hang under schools of tailor like this, I had the 10 wt with a sinking line, but was having too much fun with the intermediate. Anyone caught kings or other pelagics hanging under other feeding schools before?

[kevvie]

Good report narra... the choppers were doing their bit eh... usually the kings follow the tailor skools and hang underneath em but i have never extracted one... well done anyway

[bluefin]

Ah, summer is here! Tailor school like that in cowan with fish up to a kilo. My favorite summer pastime!

Good work Ken!

Howard.

[matty]

Good work, sounds like alot of fun...

Should be a good summer. i just gotta get out there...

cheers

matt

[Narralakes]

Kevvie,

I was tempted to pull out the sinking line, to try, but was having too much fun. Will give it a go next time.

Weiry,

come join me one day, its always fun fishing with another flyfisher.

Howard,

1st time I saw so many tailor in one area, would have liked a few around the 1 kg mark, I think the smaller ones beat the bigger ones to the fly as I was bringing each one in, there were always half a dozen or more following.

Matty,

its been a great start so far.

cheers

[Guest bluecod]

Ken I have just recently started using a Teeny TS250 sinking line... Its all I used last weekend so nice to use for getting deeper.

They're a nice line - I'm using a TS450 on the #9/10 and a Cortland444SL Quick Descent 225 grain on the #8 - both great lines for punching into a breeze and turning over heavier flies.

[Narralakes]

G'day Weiry,

I use the same line as George, the Teeny TS-450, its a very good line. Its my only sinking line, so I dont know much else. It sinks at 8 ips, what does the 250 sink at? The 450 is 30 ft sinking and 70 ft floating, only used it in the tinny in the stripping bin, so no worries about getting tangles. The Peter Morse line sounds good, I'm in the market for a new line, but a intermediate for the 10 wt. The sinking line sure is effective in the burley trail, scored my first king with it a few months ago, had some very good days with kings and trevs since then.

cheers

[Guest bluecod]

Peter Morse has designed a new flyline being on sale from tommorrow. Looks like it should be a 'bobby dazzler' the line is designed for Australian conditions - the Downunder Allrounder made by Cortland. In weights from 7- 10. Its an all round saltwater fly line. It has a faster sinking 45' intermediate head and a floating running line so it doesn't sink around your feet when wading. It has an aggressive taper with a long back taper. Go Aussie.

Thanks for the tip - I'll keep my eye out for reports on it.

[phild]

Good work Ken, In answer to your question do the kings shadow the tailor, defentlilty. Ive caught a few great fish pinning a tailor and sending it back down and also jigging through the schools.

cheers phil

[Narralakes]

G'day Phil,

Iv'e never seen so much choppers as the other day, although there were some bigger ones in there. I will definitely give the sinking line a go next time.

Weiry,

that Morse line sounds good, but I am impressed with the Teeny that I have. If Ottos have the Morse, I might give it a test. A nice intermediate for the 10 wt would be nice. the leader set up I use vary, I find a straight through leader works well 9 kg Vanish I think it is, but lately I have been tying a 30 lb mono butt at about 1 metre long with the Vanish 1.5 metre long and it casts well. The 9 kg Vanish is fine, Iv'e caught heaps of salmon and some kings on it.