ALL the local fishing gossip is about the monster tailor swimming in big schools along Stockton Beach and around Fingal.
Thumping great fish averaging over 3.5 kg.
In all the years I have been reporting fishing in and around Port Stephens I have rarely mentioned tailor over 2kg.
I do wonder how these fish managed to grow to such a size without being reported in the past.
All the big tailor that have been reported have been caught by commercial fishermen netting the beaches.
To date, to my knowledge, no tailor over 2kg has been caught by a recreational line fisher this season.
The more I learn about tailor, the more fascinated I become. They can be caught in all Australian states, but not in the warm waters of the Northern Territory.
Very popular in WA, tailor can be found around the world. Known to Americans as Bluefish they are widely distributed along the Atlantic coast particularly in the mid-Atlantic and New England regions.
The fish range from Nova Scotia to South America.
As in Australia, they are highly migratory, pelagic fish typically found in clean high energy coastal waters , surf beaches and estuaries and can be caught using fish bait or reflecting silver lures.
While a popular recreational fish in the US the tailor, or bluefish, is not recognised as a quality eating fish because of its high oil content and strong flavour.
By John ‘Stinker’ CLARKE
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