Episode 47: Fraser Island Tailor With Sammy Hitzke

Sammy’s Top Tips For Targeting Fraser Island Tailor

• Have the right gear. Long casting is essential for success, so arm yourself with a quality beach fishing rod and reel combo and braided line or you have little chance of catching fish.
• Look for deep holes and gutters that have clear water and a decent amount of foam on the surface from waves breaking over the sandbar behind. Look for gutters that have a clear access point where fish can move in and out from the deeper water behind.
• Taking a reccie drive along the beach at low tide is a great way to spend the less productive hours in the middle of the day. Make a note of holes and gutters that still contain a little water at low tide – they’ll contain deeper water at high tide and are prime spots to fish.
• Low light periods fish best, so be sure to have positioned yourself at a deep hole or gutter around these times. Fishing for tailor with lures at night is surprisingly effective. Often they’ll go off the chew just after the sun dips below the horizon, then come back on again a short time later (after less informed anglers have gone home!).
• Any stage of the tide fishes well, you just need to find the appropriate gutters and holes for the stage of the tide you’re fishing.
• Contrary to the popular belief that tailor are a winter species at Fraser Island, it’s quite possible to catch quality fish year-round. In addition, by-catches can include various mackerel and trevally species.
• If you see birds working or baitfish schools in the surf, forget everything else you’ve read or heard and get a line in the water fast. Anywhere bait are aggregating the tailor won’t be too far behind.

Sammy’s Tailor Tackle Recommendations

• A light beach outfit comprised of an 11 ft Daiwa Morethan matched with a 3000-4000 size spinning reel and 15lb braid is perfect when tailor are feeding on small whitebait and you need to cast a 40g slug long distances.
• A medium outfit comprised of a Savage Gear 12 ft surf rod paired with a 5000 size reel and 30 lb braid allows very long casts when using 60-80g lures. It’s a great option when fish are on bigger bait, when a larger size of tailor is on the chew.
• A heavier outfit is used for night fishing or when extra large tailor or a by catch of trevally or mackerel is likely. Sammy’s 12 ft Penn Prevail rod with a 6000 size reel and 40lb braid does this job nicely.
• For leaders Sammy prefers 30 lb for the two lighter combos and 40lb for the heavier outfit. Tailor will snip through much heavier leaders with ease, so there’s no benefit in going for a heavier leader as it will only impede lure action. Instead, Sammy prefers to go light, hook more fish and lose the odd lure.

Sammy’s Best Tailor Fishing Lures

• 160mm Zerek Zappelin sinking sickbait cast as far as possible and worked in various different ways to cover all depths in the water column until he finds what the fish are doing on the day.
• A skipping surface popper 140mm with an internal rattle is great when fish are on the surface and you want to experience spectacular surface strikes. Sammy uses Dizzy’s skipping poppers, which are no longer made. I’d suggest the Nomad Dartwing as a possible alternative
• A Halco Twisty sinking slug is ever-reliable and can be worked at all depths. The smaller sizes of Halco Twisty are the lure of choice when fish are on small baitfish.