Learn the basics of beach fishing with Expert Gordon Hansford. Stay & Fish the beautiful NSW South Coast. Corporate retreats, Family or Group getaways, Golf & Fishing Packages.
29/09/2018
Wanna come fishing with me on the South Coast?
I am an Expert Beach Fisherman and would like to give you some tips and tricks to help you Catch More Fish, More Often.
OCTOBER and NOVEMBER spots are available.
Check availability here >> https://www.learnthebasicsofbeachfishing.com/
The weather is about to get warmer on the Beautiful NSW South Coast.
So it's time to book a trip to learn those beach fishing skills you're missing.
ENQUIRE NOW >> https://www.learnthebasicsofbeachfishing.com/
Wanna come fishing with me in September or October?
You'll learn things about beach fishing that WILL make your time on sand more productive every time you go out.
Can You Do All Of These Beach Fishing Basics?
~ Rig a beach rod correctly
~ Choose the correct bait
~ Cast a beach rod correctly
~ Read the beach (where your target fish should be)
~ Dispatching & cleaning your fish
~ Catch & release
~ Cook your fish
If you answered No or Maybe to any of these, I am happy to help.
Spend 3 days with me on the Beautiful NSW South Coast in a relaxed environment and I'll make you a better Beach Fisherman.
You'll learn to catch more fish, more often while enjoying a relaxing time in the process. Accommodation, Food, and Tuition included.
Can You Do All Of These Beach Fishing Basics?
~ Rig a beach rod correctly
~ Choose the correct bait
~ Cast a beach rod correctly
~ Read the beach (where your target fish should be)
~ Dispatching & cleaning your fish
~ Catch & release
~ Cook your fish
If you answered No or Maybe to any of these, I am happy to help.
Spend 3 days with me on the Beautiful NSW South Coast in a relaxed environment and I'll make you a better Beach Fisherman.
You'll learn to catch more fish, more often while enjoying a relaxing time in the process. Accommodation, Food, and Tuition included.
Contact Gordon about AVAILABLE AUGUST DATES
Learn the basics of beach fishing on the beautiful NSW South Coast. No experience necessary. Group or family packages, Corporate retreat, or Golf and Fishing Getaways.
25/07/2018
Pretty self explanatory
(Feel free to share)
24/07/2018
QUICK POLL
What is your second passion, other than Fishing?
Take a short break with your work team. Learn a new skill - Beach Fishing.
Relax on the Beautiful NSW South Coast.
Perfect time of year to go is Now. No crowds, great days, cozy nights. www.learnthebasicsofbeachfishing.com
I'm taking Beach Fishing Groups down the Beautiful South Coast for a few days of relaxation, good food and great fishing.
If you're interested, check out the website and get in touch.
Learn the basics of beach fishing with Expert Gordon Hansford. Stay & Fish the beautiful NSW South Coast. Corporate retreats, Family or Group getaways, Golf & Fishing Packages.
06/07/2018
Learn The Basics of Beach Fishing
06/07/2018
Learn The Basics of Beach Fishing's cover photo
08/09/2017
BOOK NOW for October mid week & and weekend trips: Pick your dates by the 18th SEPTEMBER Limited spots available!
01/12/2015
MERRY XMAS
24/08/2015
NEW PRICING from $250 pp 2 Night 3 Day Trip included Beach Front Accommodation .... Great Meals.... Add $100 pp for Beach Fishing Tuition Book now for October & November trip's (pricing based on 6 people per trip)
09/07/2015
Whiting & salmon have been biting just around the corner from the house last week..... it was great to get a few meal's of great whiting!
02/06/2015
I am thinking of running a fishing Competition on the South Coast NSW in the month's August or September is there anybody interested?
PRIZES will be awarded!
24/04/2015
With all the awful rain there will be advantages for beach fisherman over the next month or so...
With the local rivers running out to sea with fish food NOW would be a great time to book a beach fishing trip...
So put a group together and book now to secure your preferred date and let's go fishing!
You’ve probably said it ten times today: it’s hot. South east Australia has recorded some of its hottest temperatures since records began and there is still plenty of sunshine left before winter arrives. One plan to beat the heat is to pack up the family, the dog and the esky, and head down to any…
OFFER to Kayak Fishing Down Under Member's Beach Front Accommodation..... Great Meals. Ideal for Kayak Fishing 2 night's 3 day's $300 pp this offer if for the first 3 group's who book by March 31st
I would like to Offer Kayak Fisherman..... Beach Front Accommodation...great meal's & a brilliant fishing location just south of the Clyde river $300 pp 2 night' 3 day's for the first 3 groups who book before the 31st March!
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Corporate Retreat - Footsteps From The Beach
Take a short break with your work team. Learn a new skill - Beach Fishing.
Relax on the Beautiful NSW South Coast.
Perfect time of year to go is Now. No crowds, great days, cozy nights.
www.learnthebasicsofbeachfishing.com
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Catch More Fish, More Often
Australia's only inclusive Beach Fishing Tuition & Accommodation Experience!
Gordon Hansford has been beach fishing for 50 years on Australian beaches. He understands how to read tides and conditions, is an expert at baiting to attract the right fish, and knows when and where the fish are biting and the signs to read that valuable information.
A few days at his beachfront house will teach you how to setup your beach fishing rod, perfect your casting, how to read the conditions and how to catch more fish.
You'll come away a better fisherman and catch more fish, more often!
You may have seen the beach worming videos of my professional worming mate Drew and his brother Matt from Gardiner Fisheries Rainbow Beach , but for us “mere mortals” there are some other methods you can try if you can’t hook them underneath like these legends. Here are a few of our tips which work well for us below.
The only equipment you will need is a fish scaler bag (or onion bag with lots of small holes) on a piece of rope; some fish carcasses, pilchards or old meat; and a finger bait of a pippie or tough piece of fish flesh. If you are on your own you can also use a stake to anchor the stink bag higher on the beach at the edge of the wash, but I prefer to be mobile and simply stand on the rope tied to the bag while I'm targeting an individual worm.
WORMING TECHNIQUES and DOs and DON’Ts
The key to catching beachworms is timing and technique. Having taught numerous club mates and random onlookers to catch worms (including my eldest boy in catching his first worm at only 11 recently), there are a couple of critical dos and don'ts for worming. When it all comes together, I normally shout just as loud or louder than my learners due to the pleasure I get out of their success…as some people try and fail for years in their quest to catch a beach worm.
Beach Worming DOs
• Best time -2hrs to +1hr of low tide
• Look for long flat sand spits at the waters edge
• Wave the stink bag at the top of the waves’ reach up the beach
• Approach the worm slowly and tread softly
• Try beach worming at night with a good headlamp, it can be surprisingly productive.
• Grip the worm between the tip of your thumb and the first joint of your index finger.
Beach Worming DON'Ts !
• Don't walk in front of where you are worming
• Don’t sn**ch at the worm in one quick motion
• Don't start with your fingers in the sand too close to the worm
• Don't keep trying once you’ve spooked a worm
• Don't use soft finger-baits that the worm can tear off and disappear with
• Don't try and squeeze the worm with the end of your finger tips, it will escape!
Each beachwormer has their own technique but one that has worked successfully for myself and my worming “students” is outlined step by step below.
10 Steps to beachworm Success
1. Use a strong smelling stinkbait like pilchards or red fleshed fish like mullet or tailor fish frames in a bag on a rope.
2. Use a firm finger bait, like a pippie or mullet flesh.
3. Wave the stink bag too and fro at the very top of the wave’s reach of the flats or sand spit
4. Look for a V in the water as the wave recedes as evidence of an inquisitive worm head
5. Approach the worm by treading lightly and offer it the hand bait about 1cm in front of its head
6. Let the worm latch onto the hand bait.
7. Starting approximately 4cm back from the worm...dig your thumb and first finger together into the sand on an angle to reach about 2-3cm deep.
8. Slowly open up your fingers as you drive them slowly parallel either side of the worm head making sure you go well past it.
9. Wait for the 2nd lunge of the worm ("arching its back") to grab your bait then firmly squeeze the worm between your thumb and the line on your index finger joint...squeeze any further up and the worm will slip and escape.
10. Slowly pull the worm up with constant pressure.
If you are a bit slow and the worm “digs in” with its feelers, do not try and pull against it, you will pull its head off. Rather grip the worm down as close as you can to the sand and dig with the other hand to loosen up pressure and grab a lower grip on the worm. At the same time wait for the worm to loosen its grip in an attempt to shoot downwards in the sand again. This is when to start to pull it up again. And there you have it! 😊
cheers
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TACKLING TAILOR!
(From my Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine article).
From my For most Queensland and Northern NSW beach anglers, winter is their favourite time of year, and for me it is no different.
Tailor are very high on the list of most QLD beach anglers but not all anglers get the results they should. Others are always on the lookout for new tips or tricks to outfish their mates, or simply to try a new rig, lure or technique for a bit of variation or to test their skills.
Find the right water
The first place to start in terms of catching tailor is to find the right water. For those of you who don’t mind jumping in a picket line of anglers catching fish than that is your prerogative. If it means catching your first or the only Tailor of a trip, why not. But if you want to find your own gutter for the challenge and experience then see the fact box below for a few tips.
The best way to find the kind of gutter with features like those mentioned above, if you are on foot, is to get up on an elevated position (like a headland or the top of a sand dune). Some popular surfing localities also have "surf cams" where you can jump online and access a network of live streaming beach cameras.
If your beach allows 4WD access you can do some trial and error with a couple of casts from gutter to gutter. Choosing to stay or move to the next gutter can be tricky. Sometimes in the hour or so before dusk we might “hit and run” from gutter to gutter by having a few casts (or 5-10 minutes) then moving if no fish.
Another option when the fish are in thin numbers is to cut up some older pilchards and burley the gutter to attract or keep the fish in the hole/gutter and feeding. The bonus is you can also attract a flathead or two.
Be aware though that a mistake which anglers can make is to return to the same gutter day after day even as the tides change throughout the week. On our longer trips (say 10 days we often need to change gutters after a couple of days as either the fish may not be there or the formations change e.g. there is not enough water in the gutters at low tide around the peak fishing times.
IDEAL TAILOR GUTTERS: WHAT TO LOOK FOR?:
* a gutter with an entry and exit point (north and south)
* deep water close to shore as evidenced by darker water, a steeply shelving beach, or a sand shelf visible at the high tide mark
* a back sandbank that is within casting distance
* swell of 1-1.5m with a nice foam cover coming off the back bank
* a high sand dune behind you for the “shadow effect” on the water at dusk (bringing the fish on earlier).
Cast and retrieve bait fishing
Without a doubt, casting and slow retrieving gang pilchard baits is a very productive method for catching tailor. This simply involves casting towards the back bank of the gutter with a suitably sized sinker (depending on the swell say between 5 to 9 ball) and slow retrieving your bait back towards you. Tailor love a moving bait.
Sometimes the fish will be feeding in closer to shore and so in this case, throw your casts shorter to the area you caught your last fish. Be sure to turn your bail arm (or your Alvey) quickly into place and take up the slack though as the fish can hit as soon as your bait hits the water.
A refinement I have made to my cast-and-retrieve rig is using gang hooks with swivels in between. You can either make these yourself, or tru-turn hooks make some fantastic rigs that are all ready to go.
Another trick for is to run a soft bead between the sinker and the bottom swivel to help prevent knot breakage from the pressure of the sinker on the knot, particularly after a few casts.
For night fishing you can also add a fluorescent glow bead or tubing above the gang hooks and charge these up with a headlamp (keeping the light off the water in the gutter while you do). This is an added attractant for the fish.
Best baits are IQF (rather than block) pilchards, or for bigger fish at night, strips of bonito or whole gar.
Star sinker bait rig
At times strong sideways sweep mid tide can play havoc with the cast and retrieve technique.
One way to deal with strong sweep is use of a star sinker on a paternoster rig to hold you out in the strike zone. I like to run three droppers off it, each about 10cm long. On these droppers I run a mix of a gang pilchard as well as a small surf popper on a 2o or 3o hook and a surf fly on a 3o hook.
What I like about these rigs is that apart from your bait being held firmly in place in heavy swell, you get 2 more bites at the cherry if a fish hits your bait and you miss it. Leave your rig there for a minute or two after if it does, as often tailor will come back and hit the fly or popper straight after. Occasionally, you can also catch two or three tailor at once on this set up.
LURE FISHING FOR TAILOR
Probably the biggest mistake I see inexperienced lure anglers for tailor make is throwing lures into water that is just too choppy to get the best action out of the lure and to maximise the chances of the fish seeing the lure. Choosing the best gutter or hole to throw lures, requires some even more specific conditions.
LURE TYPES
Metals and casting lures
Metal lures in the 40g to 65g range are great for catching tailor in the surf. These are best used with a spinning reel that can achieve a higher retrieve ratio. The ideal scenario is you want to be able to throw the lure onto the back sandbank if you can and retrieve it back into the deeper water of the gutter at a medium-fast retrieve ratio, throwing in the odd pause to let the lure sink, or a change of speed and a few sideways rips of the rod to appear as if the baitfish is injured or acting erratically.
Best times are late afternoon or dawn, but keep an eye out for dark patches (tailor schools) on rear sandbanks during the day. These banks can sometimes be reached at low tide with long casts.
When using metals though it is wise to replace the rear treble with a single hook. Treble hooks can often tear from a tailor’s mouth then they jump or fight with wild head shakes.
Weighted bibless lures such as the Kingfisher Onda or Duel Adagio have a few advantages over a metal lure including the fact you work them at a slower “medium pace” swimming action making Jewfish also a possibility when targeting Tailor. Their sleek design means they have an outstanding casting distance and the fact they have three flat flashing sides means they tend to bring fish in from all directions. Interestingly they also seem to attract larger fish from the school compared to those being caught by bait fisherman.
There are also a range of other lures on the market today are metal jigs, big vibes or plugs like those from Kingfisher Australia.
Metal jigs are good options as you can pause them to allow a natural flutter every now and then like a wounded baitfish.
You can experiment with stinger hooks on these jigs, try two on the rear or two on the rear and one on the nose for slower lift and drop type actions.
Poppers are a fantastic lure for visual action. It is important though you choose the right gutter with plenty of clean green water which is covered by whitewater from regular wave action. Poppers are best retrieved at a speed such that the popper is pushing water out the front of its cupped front face and not going too fast so that it is skipping on top of the water.
In all types of lure design, when you hook a fish and it jumps or is close to shore, a trick is drop the tip of the rod low and sideways to the fish to reduce the angle on the fish and its likelihood to jump under the pressure.
BEST GUTTERS FOR LURE FISHING FOR TAILOR
* For topwater lures like poppers - a back sandbank which throws a good cover off foam over relatively clean and flat (not choppy) water. This allows the lures to skip over the water more consistently and are easier for the fish to see.
* For casting or bibles lures I like similar water to that mentioned above although you can have a little more in the way of swell that rises over deeper water and breaks closer to shore provided it is not too heavy.
* Tailor will though avoid heavy surf, so I don't bother in these conditions and find protected water behind a headland.
So there you go. I hope these tailor tips help you get amongst them this winter/spring. For more tips jump on my page. See you on the beach!
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Pictures
1. A nice feed of tailor ready for filleting on the Ice Box Bloke filleting table.
2. Having a group of mates and finding your own gutter and fish can be more enjoyable than joining picket lines of angles.
3. Bigger tailor come into the gutters late at night like this nice fish the author scored a few years ago.
4. When the Tailor are on, sometimes they are really on! Two fish on the one Duel Adagio lure.
5. Gang hooks with swivels in between make rigging up pilchards so much easier.
6. Steeply shelving sand is a giveaway of deeper water close to shore.
7. This gutter with deep water close to shore produced a number of tailor.
Go Fish - Learn the Basics of Beach Fishing is located on the beautiful South Coast, Tomakin, near B
