GUTTERS SOON TO DELIVER TAILOR
LIKE many Gold Coast fishermen I got very excited when the first westerly winds for quite a while arrived last weekend.
Westerlies at this time of year mean two things; firstly, you’ll need your long board if you’re chasing a wave as the surf will be flat, but secondly, the tailor will be on at South Stradbroke Island.
It is very early in the season and I have no reports to share with you yet, but we should have the odd one around in the surf gutters at the moment.
Over the next couple of months things will really start to heat up and the action will explode.
Along with many others, I enjoyed a great season last year, regularly bagging out in a short period of time fishing the gutters along our beaches, but doing it from my boat not far from land.
It is fishing not for the faint hearted as you have to get your boat close to the back break in the surf and throw your lure towards the beach, bringing it through the back gutter, anticipating a hook-up.
For this reason it is best to fish with a friend, that way one person can fish while the other can keep an eye on the swell and drive the boat.
The benefit of this type of fishing is the amount of ground you can cover.
Tailor school up in gutters and they are either there or they’re not. Throw a lure and if you don’t hook up in a few casts, move to the next gutter.
I was talking to a fisherman at the boat ramp last weekend and although he is not a tailor fisherman, he was excited about the impending arrival of the tailor too but for a different reason.
They are perfect live baits for big jewfish and there are plenty of chunky jewies around at the moment.
Try the closer reefs out from the Seaway or the Seaway itself.
Jew fishing is an art form but the biggest tip I can give you is to go against your instincts when you feel a fish attracted to your bait.
Let the jewfish hook itself and have a decent run in free spool before you strike.