queensland Hoping For Tailor - Night Time Plastics

[Panther]

Got a call from a mate a couple of weeks ago for a fish at dusk targeting Tailor. I had work the next day so we decided the closest spot would have to do - ala the Pine River.

Waiting for the tide change we soaked some baits in the lower reaches past Dohles Rocks, not having much luck - just a decent whiting and a stargazer on plastic. Finally on dusk we moved downstream and found plenty of baitfish both on the sounder and with our own eyes as they were panicky, flicking on top of the water. Doing a bit of a guided drift, with the electric motor shoehorned onto the transom of my 4m runabout, we flicked around and managed a few legal flathead and another stargazer - they love the plastics! The night had potential...

After an hour or so the bait would sporadically burst out of the surface with what we hoped were airborne tailor chasing them. I remember getting a somewhat clear view (it was evening) of one such instance and thinking the predator seemed a little slender in profile for a tailor. For the next hour or so just about every cast we threw resulted in a hookup - some managing to come loose but most being netted. The perpetrators turned out to be Flathead as far as we could prove and we ended up losing count after about 15. Also caught one aggressive 35cm bream that hit the plastic on the surface boat side. On two occasions I brought in a half snipped plastic which means I haven't completely discounted there being a few tailor mixed in the frenzy.

We continued catching fish periodically for the next couple of hours and had already caught some good sized flathead with five or more going 55+ and the largest at about 60cm. Then after a solid strike my mate hooked up and said "we might need to chase this one...". Turned out we didn't but it still turned out to be an impressive Pine River catch at 77cm and a wide girth at the head.

 

Probably nailed 35+ fish for the night with only a few going undersize. All fish, bar six modest (40-50cm) flathead and the whiting, were released. Cleaned the catch around midnight back at deep water boat ramp and went home for not much sleep before work.

 

[Old Scaley]

You have to happy with a session like that. Well written report as well. 

[kmcrosby78]

Great session there mate - nice big girl and a good feed kept which is always good. How deep was the water?

[samsteele115]

That's such a good pine sesh!! Awesome numbers. Well done on letting the bigger ones go, I'm all for that.  The tailor shouldn't be too far behind! 

[The Mad Hughesy]

that's a monster for the pine, well done mate.

I fished woody point on dusk yesterday in hope of tailor, bream and squid. None of which was around. although I did see a big Jack go darting in front of me on a rock wall....

[Panther]

On 15/05/2016 at 8:54 PM, kmcrosby78 said:

Great session there mate - nice big girl and a good feed kept which is always good. How deep was the water?

0.5 to 4.5m - differing depths depending on where bait was hurdled at any particular time. Tide was low by about the time we packed it in. Got beached for about 20 minutes at one stage. It's unsettling pushing a tinnie in the middle of the river in the dark. 

The big one was in about 0.7m from memory. 

On 16/05/2016 at 10:24 AM, christophagus said:

that's a monster for the pine, well done mate.

I fished woody point on dusk yesterday in hope of tailor, bream and squid. None of which was around. although I did see a big Jack go darting in front of me on a rock wall....

I havn't caught a jack south of Gladstone. Very elusive fish in my books. I might try luring at night around the rock walls at some stage for jacks.

[kmcrosby78]

Cheers for the reply - that's very interesting having them on the surface in water that deep. Learnt something new!!