wazatherfisherman

Hi Pete wonder what they're doing when they do that- none of the ones we caught that day had anything in their gut. Those close swimming schools get rock hoppers pulses racing! Nice memories

Hi JimC witnessed the beach haulers netting Blackfish at Yamba, there were thousands of fish sitting off the beach and they filled up several ute's with boxes of them. The haulers just had a small boat and ran the net out from the beach around a mass of fish and pulled it in by hand. Filled up every box they had

Hi Frank can't remember if it was the chimney over the jail or hospital or the big tree and the block of flats- something like that, but same, needed new marks. The huge boils of Tailor always excited me when I was younger- you just knew you were going to get some on anything silver

Hi Noelm spending time on the water you do see awesome sights, I reckon they might have been spawning but will never know. You never hear much about Cowanyoung these days

Hi Yowie I remember seeing Ned Kelly fishermen catching what I thought were giant Yakka's off the end of the Cooks River breakwall and have often wondered if they were Cowanyoung

Hi Masterfisho7 it really was a sight to see

Hi Neil before knowing what Cowanyoung were, we just thought they were monster Yellowtail when sighted in fish shop windows, but they are an important food for large game-fish.

Sitting at home talking to mates of fishy times past and often the topic comes up- "remember when we saw that huge school of such and such?"' Over the years I have seen some amazingly huge schools of fish. Biggest ever was when we were going to the famous "Peak" out off Maroubra on a midweek trip, 3 boats from the club. Long before GPS, and sounders were the old paper type, you needed to be at least close to the area you were going to fish right on dawn, as when using "visual" marks offshore from Sydney, the brown pollution "haze" (from cars I think) would sometimes block you seeing what ever marks you had. This was one of those days, we putted around the general area slowly- you couldn't go real fast or you wouldn't get a decent reading on the sounder- but we just couldn't find the Peak. It was a really flat ocean and we were keen to fish for Kings, but due to not being able to see the shore marks, we never located it and eventually decided on a plan "B"- troll for Striped Tuna and hope the haze lifted enough to see the marks on shore. We trolled for about 15 minutes all within sight of each other and all of a sudden the motor started coughing, so club President John who owned the boat, gave it a few revs then decided to turn the motor off and have a look at it. Don't know what it was, but that was it, couldn't get started again, so we radioed the other two boats to let them know and they came over for a chat. As it was early morning, it was decided that we should drop anchor where we were and the other two would have a troll for a while before towing us back in. So off they went and we decided to drop a jig over, regardless there was nothing on the sounder and we were not over anything structure wise. Better to do something than just watch the others through the binoculars. After sitting there in the early morning sun for a while, not getting any action, in the distance the water looked like it was rippling. Wasn't long before the rippling was close enough to distinguish it was fish and heaps of them. As they got closer, they appeared to be giant Yellowtail, swimming slowly along the surface, the "rippling" was them "mouthing" the surface. If they were feeding, whatever the food was, it wasn't visible to us. We only had Kingfish jigging gear with us, but John had some Yellowtail hand-lines on board and we used a bit of sandwich for bait and caught one pretty quickly. Wasn't a Yellowtail after all, they were Cowanyoung, which are like an oceanic version of Yellowtail except larger- these were around the pound, pound and a half mark and were easy to catch, first on the sandwich, then on bits of themselves after we cut one up for bait. This first school was bigger than a football field and just kept swimming past for about five minutes, leaving the ocean smooth again after they'd gone past. Then, in the distance, more rippling coming our way. This time, the school was much larger, doing the same "mouthing" at the surface as they swam past. After catching a couple of dozen between us, one of the other boats came back to check on us and show us some big Stripey's they'd trolled up. They said there were heaps more fish coming and after seeing we were at least catching something, headed off on another trolling run. Then the next lot started getting closer, this time, as far as the eye could see, there were these Cowanyoung rippling and mouthing the surface. We now had enough for bait, so just sat and watched them swim by as we ate some breakfast. They were heading north and the sound of the "mouthing" was like the sound of rain on the water. Pretty soon, the other boat came to see how we were and show us some of their fish. They were trolling up heaps of nice fish, all around us, but there we were with no motor. They then went off on another run, promising to be back in half an hour or so- it was going to be a long tow back, even in oily smooth seas. As they moved off, a huge explosion of fish not far from the boat, showed something big was attacking the Cowanyoung, so we threw the jigs over, let them sink for about 10 seconds and ripped them in quickly. To everyone's surprise, we got strikes on the jigs (they were large 8 oz jigs) and Slimy Mackerel were quickly dragged in. These were large Slimy's a bit bigger than the Cowanyoung, but a relatively small fish to attack a large lure and we caught quite a few while watching for more big stuff. The Slimy's were under the Cowanyoung and we probably should have thrown a live Slimy over that day, or a Cowanyoung, but we didn't, it just didn't occur to us until we saw the big fish attack the surface school close to the boat. After a while, we were completely surrounded by this enormous bio-mass of fish, all heading north. By the time the other guys finally came back, they had a boat load of fish each and threw us the tow rope. That mass of fish swam past us for more than 2 hours and although they weren't big fish, there were genuinely millions of them. Still remains the most fish I've ever seen and the only time I've ever seen Cowanyoung on the surface. All this and we were only about 4-5 miles out off Sydney. The sight and sound of them was truly amazing. Have since seen huge schools of Striped Tuna, Kingfish and more recently Bonito, also Tailor and the big schools of migrating Mullet, but nothing has ever compared to that day.

Very interesting thanks for posting Derek!

Great fish Rick

Have said it for years, you want to get a fisherman out of bed in the morning, just invent the clock with the alarm that sounds like a ratchet screaming- that'd work for me

Hi Pete I have been known firstly as "fisherman" then as waza-the-fisherman for over 40 years, named by others and it has just stuck, hence when my ex signed me up (good on her for doing it too!) that was what she put up

Hi bessell1955 yes but all in the name of a good time. Fun times every trip regardless of what was biting

Hi Pete yes, boys will be boys! Hell fun though to break the boredom!

When you get a group of guys together and go houseboat fishing for a 5 day trip, sometimes there are "personality" clashes. Close quarter living, especially after a couple of nights of little or no sleep, can take it's toll of those on board. Alcohol had previously been the cause of a few drama's, so we have our own rules as to what is allowed to come on board. It's OK to have a few drinks, expected really, but getting drunk on these trips is out of the question and thankfully all agree to strictly adhere to this condition at the pre-trip meeting. We started doing the 5 day trips instead of the 2 night 'weekend' outings, for several reasons. Firstly, the cost for 5 days midweek was the same as for the Friday to Sunday "weekend"- why not have the extra two nights? Secondly, during the week you were far more likely to get an anchorage or mooring that you desired. Add to this, with the river much, much quieter, more often than not, you'd find some fish without having a heap of other boats come and sit on top of you, after all, in an area as big as Cowan Creek, there is room for any amount of people. Thirdly, for the amount of tackle and gear you would take, to simply put in a few more meals was pretty easy as you already had everything else you needed on board. So for the sake of a few extra meals, it was well worthwhile doing the extra nights. Handy too, to return on a Friday, as that left the weekend to give some "recovery time" and try and realign your sleep pattern, before having to go back to work the next week. Besides, you needed time to clean and dry your gear after a full-on week of fishing. The real focus Is on fishing for Hairtail and mostly centred on the dusk until dawn hours, they are around during the day some years, but generally it's the nights that are the productive times. Other species like Bream, Snapper and Mulloway are also more likely to be around in any numbers once the sun has disappeared behind the hills that surround the river valley, so of a night, the whole crew "fishes hard". By morning, those who've lasted the entire night are both hungry and tired, so the BBQ is fired up for the bacon and sausages, someone does the eggs and baked beans inside and someone else does the toast or rolls. Amazing how the smell of bacon, sausages and onions can stir the crew back to life! After a good feed, the days plans are made. Based on the previous nights action- or lack of- the location for the next night is decided on pretty early, in order to move and then re-moor, taking into consideration that you have to run the motors for at least an hour or so as a minimum, in order to recharge the houseboat's batteries, which run everything including the lights. Anchor up, live bait baskets put into boxes full of water and aerator's powered up to keep bait oxygenated, burley dispenser in, dingy moved to the stern and away you go. Once the location change has been made and the boat moored again to our satisfaction, the live bait baskets are redeployed from their temporary aerated boxes on the back deck (we always take a couple of plastic laundry baskets to house the bait fish we catch), burley dispenser refilled and lowered over. We normally do a general clean-up of the outside decks while underway. Finally all jobs done and a few hours sleep for some, the non sleepers often get in the dingy and head for the sand banks- which are at the end of all the bays- to pump a few pink nippers or just stretch the legs properly. The sleepers get a few hours in and the boat is generally "awake" again by mid afternoon. These trips, there is always a competition of sorts, in regards to biggest fish, most fish and most species. There is also the "blubber award" for biggest whinge and a few other not so wanted "trophy's" for various misdemeanours- the competition is hotly contested, with everyone trying to win a category. Several rules are drawn up at the pre-fish meeting, mainly to enable comfortable fishing more than actually trying to make stringent fishing rules. A couple of the basic rules were NO live bait to be out without lead- the Yellowtail don't take long to find each other and swim around and around, creating giant, impossible tangles. So live bait had a "minimum size" sinker agreed on. NO rods to be left "unattended" for more than fifteen minutes, see above for the reason! If you wanted a breather from fishing, in with the live bait. Dead bait of any sort exempt from unattended rule. NO "sabotage" of Hairtail set-ups, other rods exempt. "Sabotage"?? Yep, sabotage! When Hairtailing, sometimes you have to wait long periods for action and unless you have another line out to fish for other species, it can get a bit boring, particularly during the "resting" daylight hours. So to while away the time, the "lesser" species are targeted in between the bursts of Hairtail action. Lesser rigs were open for sabotage. Not fish losing sabotage, prank sabotage. Sabotage actually stemmed from one particular trip, where a dead Bonito complete with a fillet taken off one side, was sneakily hooked onto one of the first-time fishers light outfits and slipped quietly back over the side. Drag loosened a bit and the unsuspecting fisher, on returning to his rod after using the toilet, picked up the rod, felt the weight and commenced to "play" the dead Bonito, which had been lowered to just off the bottom, straight under the boat. With cries of "get the net, no get the gaff, it's a beauty", all the crew came to see the landing. Of course to my co-conspirator Doug and I, who'd done the sabotage, trying to keep a straight face was pretty hard, with all the excitement happening. As the dead fish was pumped to the surface, along with plenty of excitement and encouragement, the camera was readied as well. When the Bonito was finally "played" to the surface, the unsuspecting fisher (we're still mates!) said "Wow, it's a Tuna!" then as it rolled over next to the boat, exposing the side with the fillet missing he said the funniest thing- "IT IS A TUNA and LOOK A SHARK'S BITTEN IT!!" I nearly fell over the side with laughter, so did Doug, who said "Yep, a shark with a fillet knife"- took a minute or so for the rest of the boys to understand what had happened, but it was really funny. So it began, from then on, ALL first time crew members copped a similar fate every trip. The old hands knew, but nobody ever mentioned it for fear of ruining the fun. If there were no new crew, it didn't stop the sabotage and each trip, the "committee" would secretly elect a "victim" for a prank or two. It's handy to ALWAYS be on the committee. Just NEVER the Hairtail rods, wouldn't be fair "competition-wise" Some of the tricks were as simple as using a clear piece of sellotape around the rod and line, between the 1st and 2nd guides down from the tip, makes it hard to reel in, even harder to cast- this one was obviously only good for after dark. Over the years, these pranks got a little better organised and would usually need "props" to be sought out and "smuggled" on board. One particular year, we had a new crewman, who although well liked by us all, was one of those guys who genuinely talks way too much. Every time there was a lull in conversation, Jonno would start yakking about something, which is OK usually, but not when the "serious" fishing was at hand. He'd been like it when out with us in the Harbour a fortnight before the houseboat trip and nearly driven us mad, running one subject into the next, with hardly a breath between topics. As he was both the "newbie" and the constant talker, he was the perfect next victim for houseboat pranks. Prank "shopping" starts at the $2 shops and usually there's enough things there to "catch", but this year, we wanted to go all out and ordered a special item from the butcher a week earlier than we were leaving. A full pig's head. Once the ears were cut off, when in the water, it looked remarkably like a human head! So the stage was set, once again only two of us knew what was going on and the pig's head was secreted aboard still 3/4's frozen. Due to everybody being on their toes the first night, we waited until the next afternoon before hooking the head onto Jonno's Bream rod and lowering it back over the side. To set this prank up, a story about a fisherman lost in the bay after being pulled over by a big Jewie was talked about and different scenario's concocted on his demise, then we'd constantly been on about "fish with a light drag" when Breaming and after "checking" Jonno's drag a couple of times, convinced him it was too tight and a "good" Bream would "do him" easily up in Cowan, better off playing them gently when out in the deeper water. Sure enough, when returning to his rod after fishing the other end of the houseboat (yes he had a line out each end- also annoying!) he felt the weight and lifting and winding gently as instructed, started to play the pigs's head in. Bravado quickly took over, and as nothing very big had been landed since the night before, Jonno started to carry on about "showing you guys how it's done" etc etc. The gaff was called for and the "beast" played to the surface. Craig, who'd bought the head, asked Jonno what it was as it reached the surface, and after looking at it for a few seconds, said "I'm not sure, but it's alive, whatever it is, put up a pretty good fight". As only the two of us knew what it was, Craig and I were laughing so much we couldn't help with the gaffing and landing of the head. Wasn't until it was on the deck, that it started to dawn on the others what it actually was. Not Jonno, poor bugger still had no idea and just stood there looking at it in wonder. Finally, with the entire crew virtually rolling around on the deck, the penny dropped, Jonno realising he'd been "got". When normality returned a few minutes later, the pig's head was "released" to the river and activities resumed. Later that same afternoon, Jonno also landed a rubber Chicken, followed by a plastic Elephant, a plastic train and finally 2 of the furry mouse cat toys, one on each rod. He received the trophy for "most unusual capture" at the presentation ceremony after the trip. It was a miniature plastic Turkey on a wooden block. And that's how to land a pig from a boat.

Great documentary thanks for posting it

High wizza there used to be 2 different guys who landed their tinny's in the "lake" at the Mattens, had to time it right as there is a constant wave break at the entrance. Once inside it was easy enough to "beach" the boats up the shallow end. Best rock spot in Sydney and legendary for Blackfish

Thanks wizza! Glad you enjoyed it

The next size down, the 2499 is my all time favourite reel

Lets hope these giant aggregations return to both the Harbour and Cowan systems, don't know about Botany Bay though, the place has changed a bit. On a side note, they also regularly catch them in Cairns Harbour up north as well.

Hi Dieter in the early days I often "swore" I'd just spotted a Hairy right underneath the bait, given away by the bio-luminescence being disturbed, but as time went by, realised you generally only saw them when they were sneaking along and not moving fast. When catching them in Akuna bay from the hire boats, they would rise really slowly to just in view and only make a quick movement for the last couple of feet. Another feature of their movements in Akuna was watching nearby boats get them when they first started biting each time, they definitely moved fairly slowly around the bay and it was really exciting knowing when you'd be the next boat to get into the action.

Hi Pete it's a great trip for anyone who loves fishing and we always had fun regardless of any Hairy's there or not

Hi Dieter yep, had a couple of big esky's and the last 7 or 8 trips took a 17 ft half cabin to make picking up and dropping off overnight fishers easy and sounding out the entire system when fish were harder to find. Like you, once you've done the houseboat there's no going back to the cruiser design.

Anyone who has fished the Cowan system during the winter would know, that as well as being "renown" for it's tranquil and unspoiled surroundings, the area is well known as a place of extreme cold. After initially fishing the shoreline, then in aluminium hire boats, and finally in our own boats, we got a pretty good idea of how cold it could get, yet still were often under-prepared for the long nights of fishing. The species most often targeted- Hairtail, although available during daylight hours some of the time, are primarily nocturnal feeders and to guarantee success, night time fishing is the best approach when they aren't about in big numbers. In big numbers, there of course is competition for food, but the enormous schools that were once commonplace, are more of a rarity these last ten or so years, hence night time is now the "norm" when planning a trip. Nights however, as well as bringing the often freezing air, would bring "wetness" in the form of condensation and quite often thick misty fog. The fog sometimes resembles smoke and looking at it in faint marine lighting, you could see the moisture droplets moving in the air currents of this "smoke" like a misty rain. Anything exposed gets wet- boat, clothing, fishing tackle- everything. Wearing "spray proof" gear as a minimum for night fishing is essential, better still is of course, some quality rain-wear, however there is another factor that contributes to the cold and that is lack of movement in the confines of a small craft. So even with enough clothing and good wet weather gear, being unable to simply walk around, ends up a major factor in the cold equation. So after doing the small boat trips for a couple of years, we hired a 30 odd foot Halvorsen cruiser from Bobbin Head at the western end of Cowan and did a 3 day trip, giving us two nights to try for Hairtail. The old wooden Halvorsen's were lovely old timber vessels, but being designed long ago (I'm not sure exactly when, but before my time) they lacked many of the modern additions of similar sized craft built more recently. Nevertheless, being a "houseboat" of sorts, we were able to get out of the cold and also move around and make hot food and drink, making the experience far more comfortable. One of the problems though, was that there was only minimal deck space outside and none of it covered. Back to the "wet" problem. To get around this, you could roll up a side cover each side at the last section of the boat and fish from the "window" you created, but this too had it's problems. Firstly, by fishing inside, you brought unwanted associated fishing mess, such as blood, bait scraps and the worst- Pilchard scales, into the interior. Secondly, the bench seats directly underneath these windows were also to be later used as beds, no good letting the same foggy, misty air in and onto where you would eventually be sleeping. Thirdly, from a fishing point of view, when fishing from inside, you were too far back inside the boat to either watch the cyalume light stick on your line (a small glow stick used to attract the fish)- which becomes truly addictive- or manoeuvre once you had a fish. After a few Halvorsen trips, we then hired a modern (at the time!) houseboat. This was the boat we'd been looking for! Great interior design, with plenty of room, all mod cons, walk-around sides and best of all, covered decks front and back to stay mostly out of the dreaded wet. It had sliding glass doors to keep the warmth inside and the oven was a beauty, with a door you could leave ajar to let the gas-heat out, warming up the interior in a matter of minutes. We hired this houseboat for a few years nearly always taking it for five day midweek trips. In "good" years, when fish were really around, we sometimes did two trips. Then unfortunately, it was sold and the new owners no longer hired it out. Next, we tried the big houseboat companies at Brooklyn and initially hired the "6 berth" sized boat, taking only four of us (there are four beds) and although the front deck was covered, the rear deck wasn't, leading back to the wet problems again. Solution? Get a few more guys together and hire the big 45 ft 10 berth boat. Plenty of cover at each end and enough space to walk around and keep out of each others way. It was easy to get a crew together, as all the mates wanted to come, even the non-fishers wanted to be part of the trip and we looked forward to going every year. There were 6 beds, so generally 6 crew, but a couple of times an extra person was squeezed in and one year we took 8, with the last crewman declaring he'd sleep upstairs on the top deck if need be- and he did in the end. In different years, due to other commitments, some couldn't make it for the whole time, and instead would come for a night or two, meaning that they'd at least be in on the trip and the fun. Missing the trip was devastating, as it was the focus of our social gatherings, long before and certainly long after the trip was done. Some years we caught a heap of "Hairy's", some years only a few, but only twice we didn't get one in over 40 trips. Other fish caught were Jew, Flattie's, Bream, Tailor, Snapper, John Dory, Frigates, Salmon and a lone 30 lb Blue Groper, plus plenty of "oddities" like a Nannygai and a Rays Bream. Some years, Squid were so plentiful they became annoying, as they pestered and killed the live Yellowtail that we now preferred as "Standard Hairtail" baits. The Yellowtail and Hardyhead schools swimming around on the surface at night have got to be seen to be believed. They are in the tens of thousands some nights- no wonder there are plenty of predators lurking the system. Sharks were also a welcome catch and plenty of Whalers and some small Hammerheads gave a good account of themselves when hooked on light tackle. A feature of the waterway of a night time is the abundance of bio-luminescence, anything moving in the water disturbs it and creates a "glow" effect, which lasts a few seconds and gives away the presence of any moving life in the water. Some nights, particularly nights of little moon and a run in tide, it looks like an "electric" light show and is genuinely fascinating to observe. The Hairtail, with their ultra-smooth skin, can move almost unnoticed through the "glow" which adds to it being the perfect hunting ground for them. Now of course, all this action is by night, daytime fishing isn't usually as productive and often we'll fish for Garfish during the day, as they are also around in numbers and provide the crew with fishing "action" until the serious business time of about an hour before dark arrives and then the entire focus is on Hairtail until the next morning. Everything is treated as a "Hairtail" bite as they do bite in different patterns at times, often fish like Tailor would be missed by giving them plenty of time with the bait, but as there was always a serious "friendly" competition going on, lost or non-Hairtail fish were not really worried about and didn't count on the scoreboard anyway. A few things we learned over the years in regard of what to take: A large cylindrical plastic washing basket with handles is vital to take with you. A bicycle inner tube (or 2 is better) tied around the outside of the basket and secured next to one of the rear motors keeps as many bait fish alive as you want, without the need for an aerator, which is noisy and battery consuming- still take one for when moving spots to keep your baits alive until basket re-deployed. We used to take 2 washing baskets like this, one for small live bait and the other for "large" live bait including Squid. We'd take a couple of deeper fish boxes to sit the baskets in while moving locations. Using one as a "dedicated" small bait holder means you can just dip your net in while dark and know what you are getting At least 2 small, soft aquarium nets fastened onto about a 3 ft handle- for reaching the bait in the baskets without having to go down on your knees and getting wet in the process. Attach a polystyrene float to each one as without doubt, someone will drop them overboard and it's a hassle getting a bait out of the basket without a net. 2 Gaffs with 5 or 6 ft handles- one for each end of the boat and a net is handy for "general" fish, crabs and Squid. A small burley dispenser that you can leave in the water to keep the bait sized fish constantly around the boat A roll of venetian blind cord or similar strong cord. Heaps of uses- attaching baskets to rear of boat, tying rear of supplied dingy to side of houseboat- they can be moored virtually in the centre by tying off each end-there is only a short tow rope on dingy. Tie a life-jacket between dingy and hull of houseboat to avoid bumping constantly. Make your own rod holders out of PVC pipe and drill 3 or 4 pairs of holes in them and tie with the venetian cord to rails so they don't tip. This makes leaving set rods safe and secure. Also gives defined positions when fishing with a group. More clothes than you think you'll need, I for one, have fallen over the side in freezing conditions and clothes are really hard to dry up there in winter. If you are a smoker, (I'm not) take more smokes than you think you'll need as they get moist easily and although there is a shop at Cottage Point they have limited supplies of most things. Also moving means up anchoring. Warm sleeping bags are better than supplied doona's Pre-cooking meals bar bbq food is a great labour saving activity and individual foil containers are easy to reheat in the oven. Also worth taking are plenty of rags/old bits of towel to wipe your hands on as you get quite grimy hands when fishing long sessions and you're forever wiping them! It's also worth taking a Yabbie pump as there are pink nippers on the sandflats of almost every bay in Cowan and they are great bait for everything other than Hairtail. For bait, just Pilchards and a few good quality prawns is all you need, you can get stacks of different small fish for live bait easily. Taking disposable plates saves time and washing up! No doubt, others have more on their checklists for this style of trip, but those are the basics to help make things run smoothly. Give house-boating a try, it's always a memorable experience whether you get many fish or not!

If the water is decent quality, some years they stay in the estuaries. We have seen really big ones right up the end of Smiths Creek a few times, along with stray Frigates during August, but not something you'd really target with any confidence at that time of year