JOINING THE GANG

It would have been about 1975 when I used ganged hooks for the first time. I’d followed some mates into a secluded section of coast in the hope of tangling with monster tailor, a mulloway or a snapper. The sun was setting when we all congregated on a very low, swell kissed rock and cast out. I would have been using a 12 ft rod and my first Alvey side cast to throw an unweighted pilchard rigged on a set of four 4/0 hooks joined together to form a “gang” of hooks. The idea was to cast behind a ridge of reef about 15m from our posse, let the bait sink and then try to get a hooked fish back over the top of the reef and into deeper water. Because one of the guys had caught a genuine 7 kg+ tailor the night before, I was pumped. I was new to tailor fishing with a rig like this and was just commented to my mate about the tap-tap bites I was getting when the rod doubled over and the spool of the Alvey was torn from my fingers. It was exhilarating and I was a