How to Catch Tailor: A Beginner's Guide for Australian Anglers

Tailor are the most fun saltwater fish you can catch from an Australian beach. They hunt in schools right in the shore break, they smash a metal lure on the retrieve, and they pull hard for their size. If you live near a surf beach on the east or west coast, you have tailor country in front of you. Most people just do not know how to read it.

This guide is written for first-timers, especially those who want to catch a fish from the beach without needing a boat or a guide. Every term that might trip you up is explained the first time it appears.

What is a tailor?

The tailor (Pomatomus saltatrix) is a silvery-blue schooling fish with a forked tail and a mouthful of small razor-sharp teeth. The same fish is called bluefish in the United States. In Western Australia they are also called chopper or greenback. Same species.

Tailor are found on the east coast from southern Queensland down to eastern Victoria, and on the west coast from Geraldton south to the Albany region. They are absent from the Gulf country and rare in the southern bays.

The size classes anglers talk about are:

  • Choppers. Up to 40cm. The most common size. Aggressive, plentiful, fun on light gear.
  • Big tailor. 40 to 60cm. The classic eating fish. Caught from beaches and headlands.
  • Greenbacks. 60cm+. Trophy class. The famous Fraser Island winter run and the WA south-west runs produce most of these.

A 4kg tailor is a serious fish. The biggest fish in Australia reach 80cm and 6kg+. They fight all the way to the beach.

[IMAGE: Top-down photo of three tailor lined up on the sand, showing the blue back, silver flank, and the forked tail]

Where to find tailor

Tailor are pelagic. That means they roam the open coast in schools rather than holding around fixed structure. To find them, find the bait. To find the bait, find the right water.

  • Beach gutters with whitewater. A gutter (the deeper channel between sandbars) that has foam and broken water rolling through it. Bait fish concentrate in the wash, tailor come in to feed.
  • Headlands and rock platforms. Especially the corners where the swell wraps around. The wash holds bait.
  • River mouths and bar entrances. Where the tide pulls bait out of the river into the surf zone.
  • Inshore reefs. From a boat, the patches of reef in 5 to 20 metres where tailor school to chase bait.

State-by-state starting spots

Queensland

  • Fraser Island (K'gari). The most famous tailor fishery in Australia. The winter run of greenbacks on the eastern beach from July to September is a pilgrimage for serious tailor anglers.
  • Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast beaches. Noosa North Shore, Bribie Island, the Spit, Burleigh.
  • Moreton and North Stradbroke ocean beaches.

New South Wales

  • North Coast beaches. Byron, Lennox, Yamba, Crowdy Head, Forster.
  • Central Coast and Hunter. Stockton Beach, Birubi, the Entrance.
  • Sydney rock platforms. North Head, South Head, Bare Island, Long Reef.
  • South Coast headlands. Bermagui, Tathra, Eden.

Victoria

  • Tailor are present along the eastern coast but in smaller numbers. Ninety Mile Beach and the surf zone around Lakes Entrance can fish well in autumn.

Western Australia

  • South-west coast. Yallingup, Margaret River area, the beaches between Busselton and Augusta.
  • Perth metro beaches. Trigg, City Beach, North Beach.
  • The mid-west. Lancelin, Cervantes, Jurien Bay.
  • Albany region. The south coast bays produce big winter tailor.

The same advice as the rest of our guides. Pick one beach near you and learn to read it. Tailor move with the bait, but the gutters that hold bait one season usually hold it the next.

When to fish for tailor

Tailor are a low-light feeder above all else. The two best windows of the day are the first hour of light and the last hour before dark. Through the middle of a sunny day the school will often go deep or move off. Dawn and dusk is when they hunt in the wash.

The seasonal patterns are:

East coast. Year-round but peak in autumn and winter. The Fraser Island run is July to September.

West coast. Peak in winter and early spring, May to October.

Tide matters too. A run-in tide on a dawn high in a beach gutter is the formula most veteran tailor anglers chase. The water moves, the bait moves, the tailor follow.

The other factor is the swell. A bit of swell makes the wash, the wash holds bait, the bait holds tailor. Glass-flat days fish poorly. A 1 to 2 metre swell with whitewater rolling through the gutters is the magic combination.

The basic setup, what to buy

Tailor gear is heavier than estuary gear because you are casting metal lures off a beach and dragging fish through whitewater.

Rod

A 10 to 12-foot beach rod rated 6 to 12kg. Longer rods give you casting distance to reach the back gutter and let you lift line over the shore break to keep tension on a hooked fish. Look at the Daiwa Sensor Surf, the Shimano Beastmaster, or budget options from Wilson or Jarvis Walker.

Reel

A 6000 to 8000-size spinning reel. You want the big spool diameter for casting distance and the line capacity for a hard-running fish.

Line

Braid in 20 to 30 lb. Braid is a thin woven line with almost no stretch. The thin diameter means more line on the reel and longer casts.

Leader

Fluorocarbon or hard mono leader in 30 to 50 lb. Tailor have very sharp teeth. Some anglers run a short 30cm wire trace (a thin steel leader) when targeting big greenbacks. Most run heavy fluorocarbon and accept the occasional bite-off as the cost of fishing.

[IMAGE: Flatlay of a tailor rig, beach rod, 8000 reel, a small box of metal slices in 30g, 40g, and 60g, and a packet of ganged hooks]

The lure and bait list

Lures

  • Metal slices. The classic tailor lure. A chunk of polished metal in 20 to 60 grams. Halco Twisty, Spanyid Raider, Tsunami Tuff Slice. Cast a country mile, sink fast, wobble on the retrieve.
  • Stickbaits. A pencil-shaped surface or sub-surface lure. Daiwa Pencil, Lucky Craft Sammy. Work along the surface in a zig-zag.
  • Soft plastics. A 4 to 6-inch paddle-tail (a rubbery lure with a kicking tail) on a 1/2 oz jighead works well from rocks and in calmer water.

Baits

  • Whole pilchard on ganged hooks. The classic Australian tailor bait. A ganged hook rig is a chain of 3 or 4 hooks linked together, threaded through the whole length of a pilchard so it sits straight in the water. Most tackle shops sell pre-tied gangs in size 4/0 or 5/0.
  • Whole garfish on gangs. Same idea, slightly bigger profile. Brilliant for the bigger fish.
  • Fresh slimy mackerel or yellowtail fillet. A strip of fresh oily fish.

Four techniques that catch tailor

1. Spinning metals off the beach

This is the most fun way to catch a tailor and our favourite. At first light, walk a beach until you find a gutter with foamy water and any sign of bait (look for a low diving terns or gulls, or a baitball flicker on the surface). Tie on a 40g metal slice. Cast it as far as you can to the back of the gutter. Reel as fast as you can with a couple of pauses every five turns. The bite is a savage thump, the fish jumps, and the fight is hard.

A small rod tip flick on the retrieve helps. You are imitating a fleeing baitfish, so erratic is good.

2. Pilchard on gangs from the beach

Rig a 4 or 5-hook gang loaded with a whole pilchard. Add a small running ball sinker (around 1 to 2 oz) above the gang to help with casting distance. Cast into the back of a gutter and let the bait drift across with the current. Hold the rod. The bite is usually obvious. Lift firmly. Tailor have soft mouths and the gangs can rip out, so do not jerk.

3. Rock fishing the wash

From a safe rock platform, cast a metal slice or a heavy stickbait into the wash zone. Work it through the foam. Big greenbacks especially feed in the wash off headlands. Wear a life jacket. Never fish a rock platform alone. Never turn your back on the ocean. Rock fishing kills Australians every year. The fishing is worth it. The risk is real. Treat both seriously.

4. Trolling from a boat

If you have access to a boat, trolling small minnow lures (75 to 110mm hardbodies) along inshore reefs and around headlands at 5 to 6 knots will pick up tailor in numbers. This is how a lot of charter operators put first-time anglers onto fish.

Rigging, the knots you need

Tie your braid to your leader using an FG knot or a double Uni knot. The FG is stronger and slimmer but the double Uni is easier to learn on your first night.

Tie your leader to a metal slice using a uni knot through the split ring. Do not tie directly to the hook of the lure.

For ganged hooks, you tie your leader to the top hook of the gang using a snell or a uni. Pre-tied gangs come ready to go and save the hassle.

Looking after your gear

Beach fishing is brutal on tackle. Saltwater, sand, and constant casting will destroy a reel in a season if you do not look after it. Three rules.

  • Rinse your reel and rod with fresh water after every trip. A spray bottle and 30 seconds is enough.
  • Do not dunk the reel. A full submersion forces saltwater inside. A light spray on the outside is what you want.
  • Re-grease the line roller and the bail arm once a season. Both are the first parts to fail.

Rules, size and bag limits, and looking after the fishery

Tailor are not as size-restricted as snapper or mulloway, but they do have bag and size limits and a few states have closures during the spawning run.

  • NSW. Minimum 30cm, bag limit 20.
  • QLD. Minimum 35cm at Fraser Island and 30cm elsewhere, bag limits vary. There is a long-standing closure on parts of Fraser Island during the spawning run, check current dates.
  • Victoria. No minimum size, bag limit applies.
  • WA. Minimum 30cm, bag limit varies by zone with a south-west tailor zone management plan in place.

Always check current rules before you fish.

Cooking and bleeding tailor. Tailor are oily and they need to be bled and iced as soon as they are caught for the best eating. Cut the gills the moment the fish hits the sand, drop it in a bucket of seawater for 5 minutes, then into an ice slurry. Done that way they are excellent on the BBQ or smoked. Left ungutted in the sun for two hours and they are not worth eating. The difference is entirely in how you handle them on the beach.

Now go fishing

Tailor are the perfect beach fish. You do not need a boat. You do not need expensive gear. You need a 10-foot rod, a packet of metal slices, and the willingness to set the alarm for 4:30am.

Walk a beach at first light. Find a gutter with whitewater. Cast a 40g metal slice as far as you can and wind it back fast. Repeat until something tries to take the rod off you. That is the whole game. The first time a tailor hits a metal lure on a fast retrieve it will feel like the rod has been hit with a hammer. You will not forget it.

We built Harson because we wanted fishing to feel less like a wall to climb and more like a thing you can just start doing. If this guide helped, the rest of our species guides cover Flathead, Bream, Bass, Murray Cod, Whiting, Snapper, Mulloway, and more. Same format, same accessibility-first approach.

Rodney Baker, Harson Outdoors

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