White Hills Quality Tailor Session
I took the bride to Farnham and Olivia at Sandalford and got back from Margaret River on Sunday night. With an Easterly forecasted and brownie points in the bank I figured I’d chuck a line on Monday.
I often fish White Hills as it’s just down the road for me and with talk of Salmon around I figured it was worth a shot. I arrived at the beach just before dawn and sent out a balloon with a victim from a previous trip dangling under it. For next three hours I threw mulies and smaller baits but apart from a few bait-sized Whiting, I didn’t attract too much attention. My balloon bait was untouched.
At about 10am I threw out a decent sized whiting on one of my old-school Alvey outfits, set the drag and returned to the car for a feed. The day was shaping up like many other morning sessions – not much to show for my efforts but still nice to be on the beach for a few hours…
Then with half a sandwich down my neck all hell broke loose! First the birds started showing some interest in the water, then baitfish were jumping everywhere, then a bunch of herring beached themselves right in front of me and simultaneously my Alvey started to stared to sing. I didn’t even get to finish the sandwich!
As I ran to the Alvey I saw a heap of what appeared to be Salmon racing around in the shallows. After feeling some decent weight the Alvey reefed in the first fish without much effort – a fat 60cm Tailor! After dispatching that one I threw the Alvey gear aside and grabbed my ‘go-to’ Tailor spinning outfit which I had been casting earlier (graphite rod and Stradic 8000). I could still see the decent sized fish everywhere in the water and herring were jumping all over the place. As soon as my bait hit the water, bang! Another 60cm Tailor! Next cast another… As I already had two over 50cm I returned that one to the water.
I flagged down a couple of passing cars and told the guys what was going on so that they could get amongst the action. I then quickly scaled down to my Stradic 2500 and Nitro Viper and had a bit of fun catching two more on the next two mulies – both between 50 and 60cm. I then changed to a Halco Twisty for the same result… a fish just about each cast and all fat healthy Tailor. The schools came through on and off until about 2pm. I reckon I caught over 20 fish on 6lb mono with the majority being illegal and released because they were too big. The guys I f
lagged own also got a few which was great to see.
With the water so clear it was an amazing session and totally unexpected at that time of the day in such calm conditions. I have been fishing White Hills for over 30 years and can’t remember having such an awesome time on quality Tailor. I still reckon I was seeing Salmon in the water but maybe they just weren’t taking baits or lures? I’m wondering if the Tailor were just tagging along?
kirky79
Posts: 1351
Date Joined: 13/01/12
Hell yeah. They are solid
Hell yeah. They are solid Tailor mate well done. Would of been great fun on the lighter gear
Madmerv
Posts: 672
Date Joined: 24/01/15
Fatfish
Those taylor have some serious beer bellies..lol
Sometimes when the water is quiet, you can hear the fish laughing at you !
Devo1965
Posts: 120
Date Joined: 29/09/13
Hands full.
Its a well known fact that fish like to bite when you have a sanga in hand and no were clean to put it down, forcing you to fight fish with sanga in mouth, even better if you have a beer in other hand and no where stable to put it. Well done for hanging in there and getting a few fish.
Devo1965
rocklobster
Posts: 363
Date Joined: 27/12/09
Awesome! Gotta love a
Awesome! Gotta love a session like that
shorething
Posts: 244
Date Joined: 05/10/11
That's awesome! Gotta enjoy
That's awesome! Gotta enjoy those experiences when they come around because it's not often!!
Red Dog
Posts: 311
Date Joined: 13/12/12
Top beach session - Onya for
Top beach session - Onya for flagging down the other fishos and sharing the action
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
Ten points on returning over size fish
Well done for returning the over size fish, that's active conservation and fishing for the future.
beachsoul
Posts: 215
Date Joined: 14/06/12
Location, location
You can't fool everyone mate.....I was there. That was the beach between Falcon and Halls Head.......
Formerathlete
Posts: 114
Date Joined: 02/04/12
Nicely played 'red herring'
Nicely played 'red herring' there but I'm not sure how I would flag down cars along that stretch of beach?
Thanks also for the PM suggesting that I should be more vague with information and asking why I didn't just provide GPS points. As a matter of fact I do have the GPS points and might just post those. I didn't think a couple of people sharing my fortune was such a big deal? I had no hesitation in putting a couple of fellow anglers onto a couple of fish and I hope someone might do the same for me one day.
For the record, of the people I flagged down one young bloke caught two fish and his girlfirend caught one. A couple of families stopped and watched me catch fish after fish and return some to the water. They didn't even cast a line but one of their kids did ask why I wasn't keeping all my fish. This provided a great opportunity to educate the group about our regulations and the need to preserve fish stocks.
As I said, I have fished that stretch for 30+ plus years, for many years as a member of a regulated angling club. This was clearly a large school of fish slowly making its way north along the beach. Experience also tells me that those fish wouldn't necessarily be there the next day (or even the next hour).
By the way people, I am not breaching beachsoul's confidence by sharing what he/she said in a PM as they invited me to do so.
If anyone ever sees an aging formerathlete fishing in front of a blue kitted Navara dual cab come and say g'day and I'll be only too happy to let you know if I'm catching any fish. Best of luck all!
soupster51
Posts: 2724
Date Joined: 29/11/06
Nice work
Top session indeed. Agree with the sentiment above, kudos to you for sharing the session and passing on the legalities to the kids. The most important thing they learnt that day for sure.
The best reason for doing what's right today is tomorrow.
beachsoul
Posts: 215
Date Joined: 14/06/12
soupster
How about you post your dhuie gps spots. I have fished and surfed said locality for 30 plus years and have learnt to keep
things on the down low for a good reason. I understand where FA is coming from but disagree with locations being given out more precisely than.....the Mandurah area or South of Perth. I will PM FA.
chris raff
Posts: 3257
Date Joined: 09/02/10
Thanks for keep bumping this
Thanks for keep bumping this thread up Beachsoul , I might go down for a crack myself lol .. good read Formerathlete seems to be a mixed bag of bycatch amongst the salmon being caught of late , well done
“Intelligence is like a four-wheel drive. It only allows you to get stuck in more remote places.”