I've been a bit quiet lately because I didn't have much to report, what with work and holidays and rain..............

Got up yesterday morning at 3:45 and decided to try my favourite spot at Cleveland Point.

Arrived around 4:00 and set up 3 rods - 2 with gangs and Pillies and 1 with whole baby squid - then sat back and nearly went to sleep. Absolutely beautiful morning, clear sky, the bay was like glass, the gentle breeze coming from behind (just perfect for casting) and lovely and quiet - had the place to myself.

Rod tips on all three were dead still except for the occasional tiny nibble - Ah well can't have everything (I thought). Tried chicken instead of squid and got even more little nibbles. That's okay I thought - it's too nice a morning to get pissed off.............

Around 5:00 I was joined by a bloke and his kids who started throwing unweighted pillies out and crossing my lines - kids yelling and running about. I'm thinking I might as well be at home with my mob running around screaming, particularly if there's no fish about - so I was seriously thinking about packing up.

Then one of my rods with a pilly went off..... I knew from the way it ran and the fight - tail walking and all - Tailor. This one went about 36 cms. Okay, this is more like it. I'll put up with the noise and the crossed lines (stupid bastard kept letting his line drift across mine) if there's Tailor about!!!

For the next hour and 1/2 I didn't get to sit down. I brought in my smaller rod and tried fishing 2 with pillies. Took me nearly 1/2 hour to get a smoke lit !!! I was that busy. No sooner would the pilly hit the water than BANG. Reckon I coulda chucked in bare hooks and got a hit!!!

Meanwhile the father of the noisy kids had been joined by a mate and they had lines all over the place - from what I saw they managed an undersize Sweetlip (which they managed to kill trying to get the hook out) and a massive Sea Toad. His kids kept yelling "How come that man is cathing fish and you're not?" - started to feel a bit sorry for him.

Anyway, back to the Tailor......... about 6:30 it started going a bit quiet and I was down to 4 pillies left in the bait bucket (out of 2Kg).

Ended up keeping 8 of the bigger fish (up to 45cm) and threw back about 6 or so smaller ones.
Had a beaut feed of fresh Tailor last night - first time my missus has tried them and she loved them - so I know what I'm after for the rest of the season!!

One big difference I noticed yesterday. Last year I used the standard Mustad 3/0's which I ganged myself. On Saturday I bought some pre-ganged 3/0's from Budds at Cleveland (Can't remember the brand name). They are VERY sharp and quite fine gauge wire. I seemed to have increased my hook-up rate by a HUGE percentage. (Mr Noisy father next to me was using self ganged Mustads and just kept losing his pillies without hook-up).

Anyway, absolutely perfect way to start a Sunday!!!!!!