Moreton Bay Tailor by Kim Bain

Growing up in Moreton Bay I've been fortunate enough to do a lot of tailor fishing. I love a feed of fresh tailor, and I love chasing these great fish - it's a perfect match!

Tailor are great fun to hook and fight on lures. Their aerial acrobatics and especially their surface strikes on poppers make for plenty of enjoyment for kids and adults. I remember a few times as a primary school youngster catching, tagging and releasing so many of them that my tiny little arms hurt.

My first ever tag returns were from Moreton Bay tailor. More specifically they were taken on high speed chrome slices cast and retrieved from a boat positioned near to the breaking waves around Gilligans Island.

TRADITIONAL BEACH TAILOR

The traditional image of Moreton Island tailor fishing is to stand on the ocean beach, often in waders, in the cool winter/start of spring months, casting into the surf gutters with your 4WD parked up the beach behind you. Your outfit would be a long surf rod and a 6.5" Alvey sidecast reel loaded with 15-20lb mono line. Over your shoulder would be a bait bag on one side, and a fish shoulder bag diagonally across the body from the other shoulder. The typical bait would be a WA blue pilchard on a three or four-hook gang rig using Mustad 4200 hooks in 5/0 or 6/0.

Most tailor caught today would still be targeted on pillies and medium weight lead ball sinkers. Sea garfish are a good back up bait to the pillies. A lot of anglers chasing the big specimens in the 3-4kg range like to pre-catch their bait often in the form of tuna fillets or whole yellowtail pike, which they cast out unweighted.

Tailor will run on Moreton's 40km of ocean beach from Long Point (aka Short Point) up to the Cape, from winter through to December. Deep gutters, open at both ends, are prime territory for bait fishing for the bigger versions. Good fishing for chopper tailor can be had at Readers Point at the southern end and also Combie at the northern end of the island.