There's a reason old hands set the alarm for a tailor session. They feed hard, they hit a slug like a freight train, and on a quiet beach at first light they'll have your drag screaming before the sun clears the dunes. Tailor are one of the best beach fish going, and once you learn to read the sand you'll find them more often than not.
About tailor and where to find them
Tailor (Pomatomus saltatrix) are the same fish the Americans call bluefish. Lean, silver, and built like a torpedo, they travel in schools and hunt baitfish in the wash. They've got a mouth full of small razor teeth, which matters a lot when you're rigging up.
On the east coast you'll find them from southern Queensland down through New South Wales. The other stronghold is Western Australia, where the run along the metro and south-west beaches is a proper event. In WA and the east they're known by the same name, so wherever you are, you're chasing the same hard-charging fish.
They love surf beaches, headlands, and the mouths of estuaries where bait gets funnelled through. The key on any beach is the gutter.
Reading the beach
Spend ten minutes looking before you cast. A gutter is a deeper channel running parallel to the beach, usually showing as a darker, calmer band of water between the breaking waves. Tailor sit in gutters because that's where the bait holds and where the wash stirs up a feed.
- Look for darker, greener water close in. That's depth.
- Find the gaps in the white water where waves aren't breaking. That's a hole or channel.
- Watch for a spot where the gutter drains back out to sea, a rip. Fish often stack at the entrance.
- Climb the dune for a high vantage point. Structure jumps out when you're up high.
A short cast into the right gutter beats a hero cast into dead water every time. Same principle as reading any waterway, whether it's the open beach or working structure and tides in an estuary.
When to go
Tailor are a low-light fish. Dawn and dusk are prime, and the last hour before dark often turns it on. They'll feed through the night too, which is why beach worms and pilchards under a gas lantern is an old tradition.
For tide, aim for moving water. A run-up tide into the dark, or the change either side of the top, tends to fish well because the wash pushes bait into the gutters. A dead low with no water in the gutter is hard work.
Seasonally, autumn and winter are the big months on the east coast as schools move along the beaches. WA gets its strong run through the cooler months too. That said, you can pick up tailor most of the year if conditions line up. Always check your state's current size and bag limits before you keep any, as tailor are managed closely in some areas.
How to catch them
Two approaches cover most beach tailor fishing: bait on ganged hooks, and spinning metal.
Pilchard on ganged hooks
The classic. A whole pilchard rigged on a set of ganged hooks looks and swims like a wounded baitfish, and tailor can't help themselves.
- Use a gang of three to five hooks, sized to match the pillie (4/0 to 5/0 is common).
- Thread the pilchard on so it sits straight, first hook through the nose, last near the tail.
- Run a star sinker or snapper lead above the trace, sized to hold in the wash without anchoring dead.
- Cast into the gutter, let it settle, and keep a slow lift-and-drift going so the bait stays alive-looking.
Tailor hit hard. When the rod loads up, lean into it and keep the line tight. They jump and head-shake, and a slack line means a thrown hook.
Spinning metal slugs and poppers
When the school is up and feeding, nothing's more fun than spinning. A metal slug casts a mile and lets you cover water fast.
- Throw a 20 to 40g chrome or white slug. Match the size of the bait they're chasing.
- Cast past or into the gutter and wind fast. Tailor like speed.
- If they're slashing on the surface, a popper or surface stickbait worked across the top draws savage hits.
- Vary the retrieve. A few fast cranks then a pause often triggers the follow into an eat.
Dealing with the teeth
This is where a lot of fish get lost. Tailor will bite straight through light mono. Run a short length of heavier mono leader (40 to 60lb) at minimum, or single-strand wire if they're chopping you off. Wire costs you a few bites from spooky fish but saves a lot of lures. On bait rigs, the ganged hooks usually keep the teeth off your trace, but a heavy mono leader is still smart.
Gear
For bait off the open beach, a surf rod of 12 to 13 feet matched to a 6000 to 8000 size reel gives you the distance and the grunt to handle a sinker in the wash. Spool up with 15 to 20lb mono or 30lb braid with a mono leader.
For spinning, you can drop right down. A 9 to 10 foot spin rod with a 4000 to 5000 reel and 20 to 30lb braid is plenty, and it makes a 1kg tailor feel like a much bigger fish. On smaller beaches or off the rocks, lighter spin gear is all the fun.
Don't forget the rest of the beach kit: a sand spike, a head torch for the dark sessions, pliers for the hooks, and an esky with ice. Out on an open beach the sun, wind and salt are relentless even in winter, so a proper lid matters. We go into the why over in our piece on choosing fishing hats for Australian conditions.
Tips and common mistakes
- Bleed and ice them straight away. Tailor are oily and go soft fast. Bled and iced, they're good eating; left in the sun, they're not.
- Don't park in dead water. If the gutter looks flat and lifeless, move. Walking is part of beach fishing.
- Fish the light. If you only get one window, make it dawn or the last hour of light.
- Keep your slug moving. A slow-wound metal gets ignored. Tailor want it fleeing.
- Use enough lead, not too much. The sinker should hold in the gutter, not pin the bait to the bottom in a dead spot.
Last cast
Tailor reward the angler who reads the beach and turns up at the right time. Find the gutter, fish the low light, sort your terminal tackle for those teeth, and keep the bait or the slug moving. Do that and you'll have a feed of one of the best sportfish the surf has to offer. While you're sorting your kit, have a look at the rest of the fish every Aussie angler eventually catches.