Starlo explains How to Catch tailor.
There are all sorts of ways to catch a tailor. The traditional approach
is to cast and slowly retrieve whole pilchards or garfish on ganged
hooks, ideally using an Alvey sidecast reel and a long rod. This
technique is about as deadly as it gets when it comes to specifically
targeting tailor. But there are other methods that work pretty well,
too. Metal casting lures are highly effective at times, and so are
plastic and timber minnows, or even surface poppers. Saltwater flies
also work a treat on choppers. So, it must be said, do soft plastics.
Some anglers curse tailor for ripping up their rubbers, but others
don’t mind quite so much, especially when the fish are a decent size. A
one or two dollar tail seems a fair price to pay for tangling with a
kilo-plus chopper.
In addition to destroying soft plastics, tailor teeth are famous for
cutting lines — or fingers! Ganged hooks prevent most chop-offs, unless
a bigger greenback swallows the bait deeply and gets its dentures to
the leader. Then it’s usually all over, and very quickly. Smaller
lures, and especially flies, are much more problematic and, to be on
the safe side, it’s not a bad idea to rig a short length of wire ahead
of any such offering. As always, wire is a trade-off. Using it will
definitely cost you bites and limit your by-catch. Not using it may
cost you a trophy tailor. Keeping the trace as light and short as
possible certainly helps, and 15 cm of fine, multi-strand wire is
usually plenty of insurance when dealing with tailor, even big
greenbacks. All the same, don’t expect to catch too many bream when
you’re rigged that way.
Article from Steve ‘Starlo’ Starling from www.starlo.com.au
Marc Sibille