There's something about rock fishing that just makes you feel alive. One rod, one shoulder bag, salt spray in the air and a washy ledge that could hold anything from a tailor to a tuna. On this Everyday Angler adventure, I found myself on the New South Wales Central Coast with 48 hours up my sleeve, a swag of beaches and headlands to explore, and one mission in mind: a big greenback tailor off the stones.
Check-in at Reflections Holidays wasn't until 3 o'clock, which meant I had five or six hours to kill. And every coastal fishing mission worth its salt starts the same way — a visit to the local bakery for a meat pie and a coffee. With that sorted, it was time to go find some fish.
Quick Links
Why I Love This Style of Fishing
If you've never fished the rocks with a lure , let me paint the picture. There's no trailer boat, no tackle bags the size of a small fridge, no three-hour pack-up. I had one shoulder bag with my gear, one fishing rod and reel, a life jacket and a pair of booties. That's it. You feel so nimble, so free — you can walk beaches and headlands all day, checking out washes and gutters, and you get your steps in while you're at it.
The spot I settled on ticked every box. There was an easterly swell running, but the ledge was south facing, so the swell was wrapping around rather than smashing straight in. There was a nice little back eddy and a bit of a rip pushing through — exactly the kind of moving, oxygenated water that predators love.
Safety First. Always.
Before we get to the fun stuff, let's talk about the serious stuff, because rock fishing can be incredibly dangerous and it is nothing to joke about.
I never rush to get a line in the water off the rocks. When I arrive at a spot, I stay 10 or 15 metres back from the nearest wet rock and just watch. I was standing on dry rocks — meaning they hadn't been wet all day, and I sat through several sets to see where the biggest waves were breaking. Wherever that biggest set breaks, that's my limit for the day. I don't push past it, full stop!
The other big one is learning the intervals between sets. Waves come through in groups, then there's a lull. Count them. If it takes you half an hour to work out the rhythm, take the half hour. Then you get into a routine: fish hard during the lull, and when a set rolls in, back off the ledge and regroup. Do that all session and you'll stay safe and catch fish. Life jacket on, booties on, no exceptions.
Matching the Hatch
Once I was confident in the conditions, I tied on a little Samaki spinner in a bright white colour with a single treble on the back. Why white? Because tailor in the wash are smashing small silver baitfish, and that flash of white and silver is exactly the profile they're hunting.
How do I know? The ocean told me. Mid-session, I wound in my lure and found a little garfish hooked on the treble — it had literally swum into my lure. When there's that much bait in the water that you're accidentally jigging them up, you know you're fishing in the right spot. That gar was almost the same size and colour as my spinner, which confirmed the lure choice, and honestly told me I could have even gone up a size for the bigger fish.
That's the golden rule with metal lures: pick a weight you're comfortable casting and match the size and colour of the bait that's actually there... simple!
The Session
First cast pretty much summed up the day. Big long cast out past the wash, let the spinner sink for one or two seconds, wind back — and bang. A solid tailor came over the ledge, and I walked it up into a little channel to land it safely. Too easy.
Tailor are a schooling fish, and that changes how you should fish for them. When you catch one, chances are there's another 10, 20, maybe 100 sitting right behind it. So, when the bite's on, make the most of it, because they can shut down just as quickly. I had low light, plenty of whitewater and bubble cover overhead giving the fish confidence and they were on the chew.
The technique itself is dead simple: cast beyond the whitewater, then mix up your retrieve until you crack the code. Short sharp pulses, a steady constant wind, a few pauses — the fish will tell you what they want on the day. And yes, you'll drop fish. I lost a good one right at the rocks mid-session. That's fishing! Don't sook about it, just get the lure straight back out there — I hooked another one on the very next cast.
Fishing the wash is really about reading structure, the same way you would anywhere else. In a freshwater dam you'd be casting at sticks and logs. Out on the rocks there's none of that, so the cover is the whitewater itself. When a wave hits a rock and foams up, that bubble curtain shades the fish from the sun, the birds and the eagles, and gives them a perfect ambush point. Find where the wave hits the rock, get your lure into that foamy zone and you're a long way toward catching a good fish.
Then the Ocean Went Nuts
Just when I thought I had the day figured out, the water erupted. A thousand garfish getting annihilated off the surface, massive tails and mouths carving through the school metres from my feet. Longtail tuna . Bonito. Mack tuna. I'm fairly sure I saw a kingfish in the mix too.
I fired a cast in and hooked one, and my reel absolutely screamed. In about a minute flat I was staring down the barrel of getting spooled off the rocks before the hook pulled. Devastating? A little. But that's the thing about fishing the washes — you're never just fishing for one species. Depending on where you are, that next cast could be a tailor, a tuna, a kingfish, a Spanish mackerel, or a big mulloway. It was one of the coolest things I've ever been a part of, and it happened right off the stones.
A True Greenback to Finish
I got a bit greedy late in the day and had "one more cast" — and it produced the fish of the day. A proper greenback tailor, two and a half hand-lengths of muscle. They get that name from the dark green back that camouflages them from above, while the white belly hides them from predators looking up. Clever fish.
Tailor really are one of the most accessible species on the NSW coast. Beaches, rock walls, estuaries, big lake systems — they're everywhere, they fight hard, they go aerial, and they're easy to handle with no nasty spikes. Just respect the teeth, because they're some of the sharpest in the business. As for the eating — I grew up on tailor and I love them, but I know it's controversial. Bleed them straight away and eat them fresh, and I reckon they're great. A handy tip: keep your fish swimming in a rock pool while the bite's hot, and they stay fresh as can be. I kept a couple for dinner, and everything else — including that big greenback — went back to fight another day.
The Tackle Rundown
Here's exactly what I was using, and why:
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Rod: Samaki Shorecast, 10'6" . The length is non-negotiable for this style — it gets your lure well beyond the rocks and gives you the power in the bottom end to lift fish over the ledge and waves. A standard boat or estuary combo simply won't reach the fish. The soft tip still lets you cast lighter metals when you need to.
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Reel: A 5000-size spin reel. Enough line capacity and grunt without being a boat anchor to carry.
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Line: 30lb braid to a 50lb leader . I like to beef things up off the rocks, and when I saw the bigger fish move in, I upsized my leader again. Adjust to the size of what you're chasing.
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Lure: Samaki metal spinner, white, single treble. They come in a heap of weights and sizes — pick one you can cast comfortably that matches the local bait.
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The rest: Shoulder bag , life jacket, rock booties. Done.
That's the whole kit. No fifty-rod quiver required, just a surf rod, a reel, some leader, a handful of metals and a good ledge to stand on.
Give It a Crack
Meat pie, coffee, a stack of tailor, a near-spooling from a longtail and a proper greenback to top it off — all before check-in. That's the beauty of rock fishing: provided you're safe and you do your preparation, it's some of the most exciting, affordable fishing going.
Keen to give it a go? Screenshot the gear above and drop into your local BCF, or jump onto bcf.com.au and stock up. I'll see you out on the stones.