Yellow Tails

My favorite bait for surf fishing big fish is pilchards. I usually buy them frozen and would keep them for several sessions. Old left over will become stink bait for beach worming.

The problem is they can be expensive in the long run especially in times like these last three weeks when fish seem to be gone on holidays.

The second great bait is yellowtails or yakkas. They are great as live bait but still very good frozen. When too big they can be used filetted on a gang hook. And best of all, you can catch them for free.

Yellowtails are easy to catch, but it can be frustrating if you don't have the proper hook and bait. You can fish right next to another fisherman catching loads of them and catch none.

So what's the secret?

The rod:

Any short rod will do. I love catching yellowtails on my microlight fishing rod the Pen Rod Goliath from penfishingrods.com, they add fun to yakkas catching. Those miniature rods are so sensitive that makes yakkas feel like breams fighting! There are a lot of fishermen catching yakkas on handlines with a lot of success.

The rig(s):

I would go light fluoro 4lb or even 2lb line. A small hook, size 10 is about right, long shank is ideal. A medium to small split shot sinker or if you don't have any and hand you can use a small swivel instead. Some people would even fish yakkas without sinker but I prefer using a small one as it is easier to cast. Sinkerless rigs are more suitable when fishing with a hand line.

Alternatively, you can add a small float above the split shot sinker. With the float you will be able to target yakkas if they hang around a bit further away.

A third rig would be a Sabiki rig. They are dead cheap and very effective.

The bait:

Baits for yellowtails are in order of preference: small cubes of pilchards, minced beef, bread.

Minced beef can be hard to hook and would fall off as it touches the water, but with experience you will manage to roll the minced beef in small ball, then wrapp it around the hook and massage it till it sticks well to it. As the yakkas eat the bait it will shake it off which will act as burley and make other yakkas go wild. You will need to rebait often. But you should hook up often too.

My preference goes to pilchard. With one pilchard I should be able to catch 20 to 30 yellowtails.

For a Sabiki rig, usually you will not need any bait at all. The sabiki hook have small flies on them which will attract the yakkas as you move the rig up and down the water column. But there are days when yakkas are a bit slow, so tipping the Sabiki hooks with a bit of bait will help kicking off.

The location:

My favorite location is Balmoral Jetty at night. Yakkas are there by hundreds.

Alternatively, instead of catching yellowtails you can catch herrings with the same technique. My spot for them used to be Floyd Bay in Lansvale, but since I moved to Artarmon, it is now too far for me.

In Balmoral Jetty, they seem to like days when there is no wind and the water is calm. Fish during a rising or lowering tide about one hour away from high tide.

Yellowtails like to hang around wharves and jetties. So just pick one not too far from your place.

Here is a little video: