wazatherfisherman

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

Hi James you never know where Hairtail are going to turn up. Back in the 60's and 70's they turned up in both Botany Bay and the Harbour pretty much every year and there were plenty of genuinely huge ones amongst them, In 1978 they were all over Sydney Harbour and we caught them at all the following places: Clifton Gardens- both the deep hole and the wharf, Sow and Pigs, both the "Green Wedding Cake" and Red one, hole at east side of Shark Island, Yellow blinker off Neilsen Park, Fort Denison, Walsh Bay, Zoo wharf, Kurraba wharf, Athol Bay and even up at Drummoyne and Iron Cove wharves. North Harbour sees them sporadically- they were there last year. Other years they've turned up at Port Kembla and Coffs Harbour- where they were in absolute plagues one year. Newcastle Harbour gets them annually also, as does Box Head and Flint and Steel sees the big migrating schools travel past and it's become a reliable spot when they are on the move. Closer to your uncle's place was another good spot called the "Pittwater Targets"- a series of Naval fixtures where the torpedo's were "aligned" during world war two. Many good fish including Hairtail and John Dory were caught in the vicinity of these structures as they became "natural" fish attracting structure. The targets are long gone, but the fish had to be in the area to be attracted to the structure in the first place. So there's no reason you couldn't get one, especially if the water is clean and 4-5 metres deep. Add a food source for them to be hunting and you could be in business. In those sort of areas, a small live bait under a bobby cork is what I'd try if fishing for them

Thanks GoingFishing, as a young bloke these were the first "independently organised" trips where we caught a great bag of fish and had a heap of fun on light line I was using 5 lb Shakespeare "Noryl" mono and a Blackfish rod on the trip we got 63. Used to get them in both Botany and the Harbour during the daylight hours as well.

Hi Frank like everything you make, they look great. Maybe make a couple of hand-line spools, I'm sure they'd turn out great and there's always a demand for them too

Got a "next" part to this one to come!

Hi Pete they are one of the coolest looking living creatures you're likely to see

Hi Jim I went up 3 weeks ago to that very spot, but no takers on live Yakka's or pillies. Did you ever fish the land based spot down the steep track in Akuna Bay itself? Caught a few there and spent a few nights under the high ledge out of the rain. National Parks have blocked the parking there now by placing a "boulder barrier" in the entrance to the only available spots

Frank I really hope you are with us for many more years yet mate and you get into the Hairies again when this current situation is finally over. Those Botany Hairies were some of the biggest there ever were Regards Waza

Hi Neil they are addictive and sometimes do the weirdest things, it's exciting watching the lightstick too

Back in the mid seventies, one of the fishing ambitions was to catch a Hairtail, we'd had them on while fishing Sydney Harbour quite a few times without managing to land one, so up to Coal and Candle Creek- one of the big tributaries of the larger Cowan Creek system- we went and hired a boat from the now long gone Illawong Bay marina. 14 ft aluminium boats, with 2 oars and an anchor, if you were lucky and got a "good" boat, the anchor would have 2 feet of chain (some had none though) and the boat would have some sort of plastic bottle fashioned to be a "bailer". Nothing fancy, but they got us on the water and were pretty cheap to hire. About a mile and a half further up the creek was the place to go, past what's now Akuna Bay marina and into the last bay before the big sand-flat at the bay's end. It took about a half hour or so to row up with the often uneven length oars, with 2 of the four of us on board pulling an oar each and we'd wobble our way up river, heading "straight" for the spot known as the "Y" tree, which was marked in just about every book and fishing map as "THE" spot. Some publications went as far as to call it "The Home of the Hairtail" Once up in this last bay, we'd try and anchor a couple of boat lengths out from the tree, but you had to be satisfied with whatever spot you could get, as it seemed nearly everybody must have had one of those maps, often there'd be a stack of boats there by the time we rowed up, after hiring the boat about 6.30 am. The first couple of trips yielded a few Flathead and Tailor, but not a Hairtail was caught by anyone, you would have known, because with the steep mountain range of Kuringai Chase encircling the bay and no noise to be heard other than fishers in the many boats, there was no chance of anyone "sneaking" one over the side of the boat without someone spotting it being caught and voices carry quite a distance over the water in locations such as this. After 2 trips with none of the target species even sighted, the fishing report in the Friday paper noted that a "few" Hairtail had been caught in Cowan Creek (Cowan is a massive expanse of water!) so hopes were once again high and we left on a bleak, cold and drizzling-rainy Saturday morning. On arrival at the marina, there were no other cars and due to the rain, no other boats to be seen. As we started to row up the creek, the rain came down a bit harder, but we had raincoats, beanies and had made waterproof "pants" out of large industrial plastic bags, so although a little wet and pretty cold, we headed for the tree. I can still remember how disappointed we were, when on rounding the last corner and in sight of the tree, there were 3 really big sailing boats anchored close to each other and right in the spot. They'd obviously been there all night, so we decided to try along a steep edge about a hundred yards away. Without a sounder, to get an idea of what the terrain is like underwater, you just have to look for the steepest looking bits of the mountains going right down to water's edge and imagine them continuing on as they are, down and under the water. This strategy proved to be good logic and we were soon anchored up in nearly 40 feet of water about 15 or so yards out from the edge. For bait we had a block of pilchards, a big ball of mince for "Yakka" bait but no burley, we'd left the 2 loaves of bread in the car, along with the sandwiches we'd made the night before. Rigs were pretty basic, just a 12 inch shop bought wire trace with a 5/0 "suicide" hook for the Hairtail, and a tiny size 14 long-shank on a fine hand-line for the Yakka's. No lead on the Hairtail line and just a small split shot pinched on about a foot above the hook on the Yakka line. Yakka's were there in numbers and it was easy to catch a couple and throw them over on the Hairtail lines, but after quite a few tangles that resulted from the Yakka's swimming 'laps' around each other, half a pilchard was substituted instead. No action from anything other than the bait fish though and by lunch time, being a bit wet, cold through and through and now hungry, we talked about going home early. Then the breeze got up and other than making us even colder, pushed us pretty much into the bank. Then, as if by magic, all four Hairtail rods bent over slightly- virtually at the same time. Action stations, everyone feeling the slow pull and the weight of something decent on the line. They felt like squid, which we had caught plenty of times before. Same distinct movement pulling gently but firmly away. After reading everything possible on Hairtail though, we knew that they could well be what we were after. "Give them a few feet of line" was the general consensus from our information and then strike hard, so within a few seconds of each other we all struck and 3 rods bent over with hooked fish. The fourth rod had the line bitten off before there was even any weight on it. A few minutes later and 3 Hairtail were pulled over the side. Joy! Only the bitten off line was quickly re-rigged and thrown back over, we other three spent time checking out our captures and making sure they were dead before attempting to handle one. For those who've never seen a Hairtail that's come straight out of the water, they are an almost "surreal" creature, with "teflon-smooth" skin that appears to have been chromed and polished to an almost mirror-finish, a flat body that tapers down to a quarter inch tail-strand, near full length dorsal fin and of course their infamous teeth, flat sided, pointy-ended and super sharp. While we three mucked around with our fish, the one line in the water was quickly grabbed and a fourth fish landed. Mission successful! We all got one and then they were gone. About 15 or 20 minutes or so passed and they were back and we caught a few more. Another "burst" about half an hour later and a few more came in and we ended up getting 14 or 15, before it really started pouring rain and we decided to go home. These trips were of course, all in daylight hours, as the boats only had a "sunrise to sunset" availability and the Hairtail often bite very timidly in daylight hours- not always, but on this occasion and the next, the bite was really gentle and subtle. We enjoyed the trip so much, we made another booking for the next week, making it our fourth weekend in a row. The next week, the word was out, the Hairtail were "on" and by the time we rowed up into the last bay, there were probably 40 or 50 boats already fishing. We anchored in the same spot as the previous week and started catching them pretty well straight away. It was simple fishing, you just lowered your bait over so you could just see it and several fish would approach and you could be selective of the one that took the bait, by just moving it away from the smaller ones. Ended up with 63 (there were no bag limits back in the 70's) and all those other cold, wet and disappointing days on previous trips now all but forgotten. Over the years, techniques have changed a fair bit, but the strange "chrome fish" are pretty much as they've always been, however, these days night time produces far more fish than day time. Not saying you won't get them in the day but from dusk on, is when they're really hunting. For anyone who's never fished for them, they should go on the "bucket list" as they are unique and interesting to catch, they can swim backwards or race across the surface. They also almost always come back to your bait if you lose one and have any bait still on the hook- even after fighting one and it getting off, they'll usually re-take whatever is left. They are also really easy to fillet, leaving virtually no meat on the skeleton and no bones. They also cook well via a variety of different methods, and are one of my favourites to eat. After a really poor season for them last year, lets hope they return in big numbers this year. Hope you get a few if you try!

I watched Gary Chapman and Ron Nelson catch a huge bag of Kings at the Peak in a Sydney Metro comp- he won it and they won champion team. Great tackle shop Arthur Chapmans also- used to buy 5 blocks of Pilly's for $12- $2.40 a block and they were bigger than today's blocks!

Hi Yowie when I worked in a tackle shop years ago, other than a few Edgar Sealey hooks and a couple of sizes of Pescaro's and Holdfast, we had a giant range of Mustad's in boxes of 100 like yours. We also had hooks for sale in multiples of 10 which we used to count out and put into small purpose made yellow envelopes. They were the most common sellers and a job to constantly replenish the rack of envelopes. Often, when tipping out a box for counting out in groups of 10 we'd find an unusual 'foreign' hook in amongst the contents, always really small and we had a collection of them stuck on black felt in a box. I still have a couple, but unable to get to my storage unit to take a photo of the tiny ones. Smallest would have been the size of a match head and gold plated, no idea what size number it could have been but smaller by far than a size 22! Always wondered if they just fell into the boxes at the factory

Hi Dieter the Kingfish used to be in those huge schools around all the major port entrances like Botany, Port Hacking Broken Bay and the Harbour every year. The bigger fish arrived first around mid October to early November and were available from the rocks, followed by the 4-6 kg size and then the 1-4 kg rats early December. Each size range used to be cruising up on the surface for about 2 or 3 weeks before dispersing to wherever they moved to next. Often there would be what seemed like a school in every direction, but that first day at Jibbon the whole ocean was a mass of yellow tails as far as the eye could see. That many 'Fin would be awesome to see. Hopefully one day they might be back again

Hi Adrian (I hope I got that right) there was also another tackle seller in Yagoona then- on the north side of the road and at the extreme end of the shops going east. It was primarily a dive shop but from memory had a little bit of fishing tackle. I attended Fort Street High at Petersham on P'matta Rd, but had many mates that lived in Bass Hill

Thanks! It also takes me back to those days and exciting times, even though some of the things we did were foolhardy to the point of being stupid!

From about 1981-86 roughly

The tackle store was on the southern side of the road a couple of shops the other side of the railway overpass- there were only about 3 or 4 shops there, then a driveway before the baby health centre. The driveway lead to an "unofficial" car park which was very convenient for the shop. Although genuinely small, that shop had everything you needed and no junk. George, the owner is the best all'round fisho I've ever known, such a pity he still isn't there., it was always fun going to the shop, whether to buy tackle, have a beer or just catch up with club members. Fun times

Hi bessell1955 thanks! Had to look up "modality words" though LOL

Some days there'd be up to a dozen blokes from the club there having a beer or two, the shop was tiny and we ended up sitting out the back- which was also pretty tiny, but always a fun time. Played cricket at the Hume for a few years