Waratah Bay

[harold]

Arrived at WB about 11am yesterday and picked up a mooring. There was only 1 house boat there. We fished the afternoon and caught only throw backs so about 3.30 I rigged the Hairtail rods. We put the bait in about 5pm and over the next hour I lost 2 that I thought I had caught. Seems they were only partially hooked. Over the next couple of hours we caught and landed 3, all about the 1 metre mark. Tried for squid but unlike last week there were zero prepared to come aboard and say hi!

Interestingly enough last night there were only a handful of boats in WB, perhaps 8 including us. The boys on the houseboat told me they caught 5 last night.

Came in this morning, pumped out the sewerage, topped up the fuel and as I type this my wife is preparing Hairtail for dinner.

Stay safe..

[Guest]

Where is the pictures Harold and keep up the great reports

[harold]

Stewie, In the excitement of simultaneously catching fish and freezing to death I invariably forget to take a pic. I think Jeremy has taken a couple. I need to open a photo bucket account. Will do that tomorrow.

also, we need to chat re a prize for the Hairtail night. I am in the office if you want to call tomorrow.

[GreyNurse]

Well done on the hairies, Harold,

Reading reports about hairtail captures, they seem to be averaging the 1 - 1.2 meter mark. Is this typical for this time of year, or below par? Another question: The recommended hairtail rig involves ganged 3-4 ganged hooks. I was thinking of rigging a pillie on a 3/0 circle on a light wire trace of approx 30cm. Would that be practical?

[kyngfish]

Hi GreyNurse,

I have fished for hairtail for many a year now and I think that 1 - 1.2 is small. I don't like keeping them under 1.2 as they can be boney.

Over the last 8 years we seem to get a year of smaller ones every now and then but getting more frequent. There is still the chance of bigger ones out there but not as plentiful. Last year on one night we were getting a lot of smaller ones, then the next night we got one (only one) at 1.7.

It wouldn't hurt to try that rig. When I was young we just used to use one hook with a yellow tail and had many a hook up. But with a circle it may pay to let it run for a little while.

I would still have the recommended 3-4 ganged hooks with a light stick on as well and see which produces the better result.

[mattyg_16]

I caught a couple on Sat night around the 1m mark but agree they were small. I have previously caught around the 1.8 mark

It was freezing but the water temp was like a bath at 18 degrees. Could that be part of the reason for a small run of fish? Maybe get better once the colder water temps come through?

Also big school of arrow squid came through prior to the hairtail and destroyed 3 out of my 4 baits.

[harold]

I caught a couple on Sat night around the 1m mark but agree they were small. I have previously caught around the 1.8 mark

It was freezing but the water temp was like a bath at 18 degrees. Could that be part of the reason for a small run of fish? Maybe get better once the colder water temps come through?

Also big school of arrow squid came through prior to the hairtail and destroyed 3 out of my 4 baits.

Matty, the water was 14 degrees in Waratah Bay. Two of the crazies on the houseboat next to us went swimming in the afternoon, i told them they were nuts! We had a school of really big mullet go under the boat late afternoon but they were not interested in taking any bait.