IN A SPIN

When I first fished the rocks for tailor, salmon, little tuna and other speedy pelagics as a youngster, light spin outfits and lures didn’t even get a look-in.

Back then, we were obsessed with fishing with whole pilchards, ganged-hooks, heavy line and broomstick-style surf rods.

And we weren’t alone.

In the '80s, pilchard-tossers ruled the rocks on the NSW far south coast. Sure, there were some spin guys on the stones around Jervis Bay and further north, but they weren’t exactly fishing with light tackle. And going light and hurling lures certainly wasn’t in vogue where I fished.

We caught plenty of fish on our heavy set-ups, but it was a cumbersome approach. Tailor and salmon made up most of our catch. We’d often get bonito, frigate mackerel and sometimes rat kings as by-catch.

Looking back, though, it makes me wonder how many more fish we would have caught if we decided to wise-up and change our tactics.

These days,