ginko Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 I heard the hairtail were on at a bay in Cowan Creek, so I donned the warmest clothes I own, the beanie and raincoat, and headed out in the tinnie. Arriving at 5am in the dark, I pulled into the bay and dropped anchor. For the next 2 hours, just one undersized snapper and alot of bait stealing. The tide had slid out, and it was bucketing down rain. Since I was now having no bites at all, I upped anchor and tried drifting the southern side. One smallish tailor. But as I drifted, I realised that I'd earlier been sitting in the wrong bay! There were gulls diving in the right bay, and when I pulled up to investigate, a friendly Raider was there holding up the hairtails he'd caught. He and his mates had been pulling them out in big numbers, apparently, and on all kinds of bait. I returned home with just my little tailor to show for getting absolutely soaked to the skin. But thankfully, it's a long weekend! So this morning, I donned the second-warmest clothes I own, the beanie, waders and raincoat, and headed out in the tinnie. To the right bay. I arrived at 4:25, burley went in, and I dropped down a pillie on three ganged #3 hooks. I had barely got the second handline down when the first went off. But I grabbed it too soon and too hard, the fish came off. Quickly I put on a fresh one, and set it down again. A minute later, off it went, and this time I paused a bit before striking. Up came my first hairtail! What a thing. It would pull pretty hard, straight down, and then stop pulling, only to start again 10 feet sideways from where it had just been. As it got up near the surface, the light from my boat was reflecting off its silver sides, making the fish look almost luminescent. When it came in the boat, it thrashed about all over the place trying to take a bite out of anything and everything. Over the next 60 minutes, I landed 3 more. Dinner is going to be great tonight! All fish were caught on whole pillies, on ganged #3 or #4 hooks, and a wire trace and a small bit of lead above the trace. It seemed the ganged hooks and wire trace were probably overkill, but the fish didn't seem put off by it at all. I did try using a red lumo-stick, but the hairtail evidently liked it too much, and bit it (and bit through my line too), so all 4 fish were caught without lumo-sticks. I just let the pillies down to the bottom, wound up a meter or two. I fished one handline and two rods - all fish took the bait on whatever I wasn't touching at the time! The fish were 78cm to 95cm. The difference between the bays: the first bay, with no fish, had very steep cliffs on all three sides, and a fairly small sand-flat that sloped gently down in the deep bay. The second, successful bay, had steep cliffs on two sides, with a long sandflat where a stream came down to the sea. The sandflat dropped off very suddenly into very deep water, 14-22m deep. Also, the water was this deep almost right up to the rock wall, and it was against this wall that the hairtail were biting. There has been a huge amount of rain in the last 3 days, but Cowan Creek's water is still reasonably clear, and the fresh didn't seem to affect the hairtail down as deep as they were. Many thanks to the friendly raiders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinbad66 Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 awesome stuff great catch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finin Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 (edited) The mythical Hairtail! Two mates i think fished in that same area last thursday they ended up catching over 30 Hairtail. All were over 1m Kept 10, finished the last lot off last night. Also found the best way to get rid of the skin is to scrape it with a sharp flat edged knife. Edited June 12, 2011 by finin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockfisherman Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 Great report mate, good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holly1 Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 I heard the hairtail were on at a bay in Cowan Creek, so I donned the warmest clothes I own, the beanie and raincoat, and headed out in the tinnie. Arriving at 5am in the dark, I pulled into the bay and dropped anchor. For the next 2 hours, just one undersized snapper and alot of bait stealing. The tide had slid out, and it was bucketing down rain. Since I was now having no bites at all, I upped anchor and tried drifting the southern side. One smallish tailor. But as I drifted, I realised that I'd earlier been sitting in the wrong bay! There were gulls diving in the right bay, and when I pulled up to investigate, a friendly Raider was there holding up the hairtails he'd caught. He and his mates had been pulling them out in big numbers, apparently, and on all kinds of bait. I returned home with just my little tailor to show for getting absolutely soaked to the skin. But thankfully, it's a long weekend! So this morning, I donned the second-warmest clothes I own, the beanie, waders and raincoat, and headed out in the tinnie. To the right bay. I arrived at 4:25, burley went in, and I dropped down a pillie on three ganged #3 hooks. I had barely got the second handline down when the first went off. But I grabbed it too soon and too hard, the fish came off. Quickly I put on a fresh one, and set it down again. A minute later, off it went, and this time I paused a bit before striking. Up came my first hairtail! What a thing. It would pull pretty hard, straight down, and then stop pulling, only to start again 10 feet sideways from where it had just been. As it got up near the surface, the light from my boat was reflecting off its silver sides, making the fish look almost luminescent. When it came in the boat, it thrashed about all over the place trying to take a bite out of anything and everything. Over the next 60 minutes, I landed 3 more. Dinner is going to be great tonight! All fish were caught on whole pillies, on ganged #3 or #4 hooks, and a wire trace and a small bit of lead above the trace. It seemed the ganged hooks and wire trace were probably overkill, but the fish didn't seem put off by it at all. I did try using a red lumo-stick, but the hairtail evidently liked it too much, and bit it (and bit through my line too), so all 4 fish were caught without lumo-sticks. I just let the pillies down to the bottom, wound up a meter or two. I fished one handline and two rods - all fish took the bait on whatever I wasn't touching at the time! The fish were 78cm to 95cm. The difference between the bays: the first bay, with no fish, had very steep cliffs on all three sides, and a fairly small sand-flat that sloped gently down in the deep bay. The second, successful bay, had steep cliffs on two sides, with a long sandflat where a stream came down to the sea. The sandflat dropped off very suddenly into very deep water, 14-22m deep. Also, the water was this deep almost right up to the rock wall, and it was against this wall that the hairtail were biting. There has been a huge amount of rain in the last 3 days, but Cowan Creek's water is still reasonably clear, and the fresh didn't seem to affect the hairtail down as deep as they were. Many thanks to the friendly raiders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2kgline Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 And I thought I was a keen fisherman. Good catch and your much braver than I in these conditions. I love hairtail but havent caucht any for many years. May have to give Cowan Creek a go. I havent seen them in Sydney Harbour for a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catchin Jack Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 Now that's keen, hat off to you for being so enthusiastic in these conditions. Enjoy your feed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cut_loose Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 That's awesome mate, enough to motivate me to head out next week if the rain buggers off ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisherman36 Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 Its gonna be crowded next week! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvbigfish Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 a well earned feed , well done for braving these miserable conditions !!! cheers paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scaffsta Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 May i ask as iv never fished for them or even caught one but how do they go on the chew, are they really that good to brave the traggic weather conditions ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yarraone Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 Great job out there is thoise conditions.. what bay are you talking about? would it be possible to give us an idea of where about in cowan creek? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluebottle18 Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 Glad you were rewarded for your effort. It is not hard to lose your direction in that area in the dark. Good news that the hairtail were not shy of the wire. You gave everyone a good little tip about the lumo bead. Hope your luck continues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil D Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 (edited) well done mate, would have been freezing out there Edited June 13, 2011 by Groper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnv Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 great report, very nice feed , looks like its gonna be busy next weekend. cheers john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray henry Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 hi ginko that was me holding up the hair tail to show you from the house boat /after watching you fish up and down the creek in driving rain i was thinking you must be a fish raider [while i was eating a hot backon and egg roll and a cold beer ]when you came into our bay i had to tell you the luck we have had i /am so glad you went back and done well. my self my two sons and 5 good mates caught over 60 hairtail over 3 days /leather jackets /travely /1 salmon 5 pound /whiting /a great week end .after 5 years of chasing hairtail we finaly cleaned up .to have my boys with me and good mates with me cant be beaten also meeting a fish raider on the water was great you were agentleman to talk to .we have some great photos .p.s all hairtail were released except 3 large ones we cooked on the b.b.q vrey very nice cheers ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pongrass18ft Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 I heard the hairtail were on at a bay in Cowan Creek, so I donned the warmest clothes I own, the beanie and raincoat, and headed out in the tinnie. Arriving at 5am in the dark, I pulled into the bay and dropped anchor. For the next 2 hours, just one undersized snapper and alot of bait stealing. The tide had slid out, and it was bucketing down rain. Since I was now having no bites at all, I upped anchor and tried drifting the southern side. One smallish tailor. But as I drifted, I realised that I'd earlier been sitting in the wrong bay! There were gulls diving in the right bay, and when I pulled up to investigate, a friendly Raider was there holding up the hairtails he'd caught. He and his mates had been pulling them out in big numbers, apparently, and on all kinds of bait. I returned home with just my little tailor to show for getting absolutely soaked to the skin. But thankfully, it's a long weekend! So this morning, I donned the second-warmest clothes I own, the beanie, waders and raincoat, and headed out in the tinnie. To the right bay. I arrived at 4:25, burley went in, and I dropped down a pillie on three ganged #3 hooks. I had barely got the second handline down when the first went off. But I grabbed it too soon and too hard, the fish came off. Quickly I put on a fresh one, and set it down again. A minute later, off it went, and this time I paused a bit before striking. Up came my first hairtail! What a thing. It would pull pretty hard, straight down, and then stop pulling, only to start again 10 feet sideways from where it had just been. As it got up near the surface, the light from my boat was reflecting off its silver sides, making the fish look almost luminescent. When it came in the boat, it thrashed about all over the place trying to take a bite out of anything and everything. Over the next 60 minutes, I landed 3 more. Dinner is going to be great tonight! All fish were caught on whole pillies, on ganged #3 or #4 hooks, and a wire trace and a small bit of lead above the trace. It seemed the ganged hooks and wire trace were probably overkill, but the fish didn't seem put off by it at all. I did try using a red lumo-stick, but the hairtail evidently liked it too much, and bit it (and bit through my line too), so all 4 fish were caught without lumo-sticks. I just let the pillies down to the bottom, wound up a meter or two. I fished one handline and two rods - all fish took the bait on whatever I wasn't touching at the time! The fish were 78cm to 95cm. The difference between the bays: the first bay, with no fish, had very steep cliffs on all three sides, and a fairly small sand-flat that sloped gently down in the deep bay. The second, successful bay, had steep cliffs on two sides, with a long sandflat where a stream came down to the sea. The sandflat dropped off very suddenly into very deep water, 14-22m deep. Also, the water was this deep almost right up to the rock wall, and it was against this wall that the hairtail were biting. There has been a huge amount of rain in the last 3 days, but Cowan Creek's water is still reasonably clear, and the fresh didn't seem to affect the hairtail down as deep as they were. Many thanks to the friendly raiders. Well deserved feed. Thats what i call dedication , hopefullly they are on the bite for a while for all to enjoy. Must of really been a good feeling seeing another raider holding up his catch , then to catch some yourself ( MISSION ACCOMPLISHED ). Enjoy Chris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginko Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 Ray, Thanks for sharing the info about what you were catching! If you hadn't held up the fish, it might have taken me a hell of a lot longer that only two attempts to get my first hairtail. I'd agree that only the big hairtail are worth eating: the fish I caught were really full of bones and their bodies were very narrow. While the longest (95cm) was almost worthwhile, the smaller ones were an excercise in picking out bones and bones and bones to get a sliver of fish. Even if hairtails are relatively long fish, they are so narrow that it seems only the longest fish are thick enough to eat. For a feed for two people, I'd guess that one fish of a meter are more would be about right. They were very easy to clean - they have an amazingly small amount of innards, and the "skin" just comes off if you rub it with a sharp flat-bladed knife. I cooked them in oil and foil, and put a soya-garlic sauce on them. I'd read that the flesh is a bit oily, but I found it very light, and not unlike whiting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray henry Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 hi ginko iam glad it turned out good for you .and yes the smallones are fun to catch/but no good to eat .over 1.8 to 2 mts are ok filleted or cut into steakes /rolled in alfoil with butter/cracked pepper/lemon juice /on the b.b.q m.m.m.m.m makes me want to go back cheers ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pure spirit Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 hi ginko that was me holding up the hair tail to show you from the house boat /after watching you fish up and down the creek in driving rain i was thinking you must be a fish raider [while i was eating a hot backon and egg roll and a cold beer ]when you came into our bay i had to tell you the luck we have had i /am so glad you went back and done well. my self my two sons and 5 good mates caught over 60 hairtail over 3 days /leather jackets /travely /1 salmon 5 pound /whiting /a great week end .after 5 years of chasing hairtail we finaly cleaned up .to have my boys with me and good mates with me cant be beaten also meeting a fish raider on the water was great you were agentleman to talk to .we have some great photos .p.s all hairtail were released except 3 large ones we cooked on the b.b.q vrey very nice cheers ray hey Ray nice to hear you nailed them, did you get any on the mark I gave you ? thinking I might head out later this week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunastrike Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 Ive only ever caught one hairtail in all my life but what i think is strange they have the exact same teeth as a gemfish and yet miles apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray henry Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 hey Ray nice to hear you nailed them, did you get any on the mark I gave you ? thinking I might head out later this week hi p.m sent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray henry Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 hey Ray nice to hear you nailed them, did you get any on the mark I gave you ? thinking I might head out later this week hi pure spirit i have sent you some p.m.s bot have not had any replys .i would like to fill you in on the spots i used cheers ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penguin Posted June 16, 2011 Share Posted June 16, 2011 Well done on catching your hairies they look a little frightning with that aray of fangs cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.dawg Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 I want to target em this year and get my first Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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