Brendan Monks Posted May 20, 2021 Share Posted May 20, 2021 I managed to put in 3 long, cold sessions last year to chase the elusive Hairtail – All for zilch! Somewhat disheartened on the whole idea again (Even though we had baits taken, and needle teeth marks all over them) I was speaking to a mate I regularly fish with recently about them. He got me interested and we were keen as to have a crack again this year. Work has been flat out, and I’ve only really had the chance to fish nights – I had just got back late Sunday night from a Trout trip and was buggered, but when he asked to fish Monday night as well there was no knocking this back or rescheduling it for later in the week… 🤪😴 We finally got away from the Coast at 7:00pm after mucking around trying to find all my wire and lights gear from last year. Expectations were very high when I told him about the recent success of @swordfisherman chasing these and that we could be in for a chance. The plan was to launch from Brooklyn and try and spend some time catching baits seeing we had totally missed the dusk bite window! With no success finding any Yakkas (And having zero patience. lol) we quickly motored to the exact same spots I have previously fished. I had been told by some very successful fishos chasing these ghosts not to worry about watching the sounder or water temp, but just anchor up and burley. It’s just natural habit that we both kept checking and when some suspicious marks appeared (Same as last year… ) on the Simrad we quicky anchored and set out a burley trail. I had spent the time pre-rigging so I had some Pillies soaking long before my mate. Still, it wasn’t long before his rod tip slowly bent, he gave it 5 seconds of line running out in free spool before striking hard, he quickly mentioned that it was fighting weird. We were certain it was a Hairtail! Sure enough, something long and slimy appeared before too long – although not a bright silver – The dreaded PIKE EEL! 😑 Not long after my rod quickly took off on a quick run. Definitely sure it wasn’t the target species I quickly had the smallest Jewfish I’ve ever seen in the net – I thought the red lights and wire trace would’ve kept them away! Nothing else happened until about 12:30am except for a reasonable sized Yakka which went back out as live bait. We decided to pull anchor and try somewhere else…Most of my confidence had gone and on top of that our portable gas cooker was playing up in the freezing conditions (It took 5 goes of cooking then warming the bottle under all my layers before cooking again). My mate motored around a bit before finally deciding a location…by now all I wanted was bed! A while after burleying hard for an hour or so he had a small Jewie on deck, not at all interested I quickly dropped back to sleep. Shortly after 2:00am I was abruptly woken again – “They’re here” he was yelling! Sure enough, he put another cast of an unweighted pillie into the edge of the light and quickly hooked onto something fighting crazy. After a few runs and 2 netting attempts of it sliding back out we had our first Hairtail on deck!!! Almost mission accomplished! 🥳 The next 2 ½ hours were action packed with more by-catch, small Hairtail, and Yakkas which went straight back out as bait. My small rod quickly had the tell-tale bite of a better one, letting it run for a bit I struck hard and had an awesome fight before it popped me off halfway up my 8lb leader. Devo! My mate quickly grabbed the other rod that went off straight after and we soon had the unlucky bugger on board, upon closer inspection it had become noosed on the other line…and it still had my trace and rig still hanging out of its mouth! 🙄 We were initially scared releasing the 2 smaller models in case they spooked the others…We soon proved this theory wrong when a live bait we left on the bait jig went off towards the anchor of the boat. We initially called it for an alright Jewie! It gave my mate absolute curry for a few minutes around both sides of the boat before a gleam of silver appeared. Looks like luck was on our side and this one had been hooked in the dorsal fin by the bait jig! (It had obviously been chasing the livie but we were too busy to take off). 😁 We decided it was time to head off just before sunrise after getting a few happy snaps and Yeeewws on the run back to the ramp. We finally made it back to the Coast just before 7:00am (Dunno how a quick sesh ended into that!) where I quickly got ready and drove straight to work - Yeah was still late... 😒😴 It was a very eventful night overall! We ended up catching 2 Pike eel, 2 Stingrays, 4 Soapie Jewfish, and 6 Hairtail (2 smaller ones released). Mission accomplished! I decided to cook mine up in just a batter, as well as trying some shallow fried in salt & pepper with chilli from a recipe I found online. Can’t wait to get back down there again…Makes those cold nights all more worthwhile!!! Cheers, Brendo 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted May 20, 2021 Share Posted May 20, 2021 An eventful night, which is what you want when fishing in cold weather. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsswordfisherman Posted May 20, 2021 Share Posted May 20, 2021 Well done @Brendan Monks you just have to keep trying! Raiders always catch hairtail usually. Keep the reports coming 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted May 20, 2021 Author Share Posted May 20, 2021 14 minutes ago, mrsswordfisherman said: Well done @Brendan Monks you just have to keep trying! Raiders always catch hairtail usually. Keep the reports coming Thanks Donna, will probably see you down there sometime! They taste good enough to get me back! 56 minutes ago, Yowie said: An eventful night, which is what you want when fishing in cold weather. That's it Yowie! 😅 Nothing seems to stop the cold going right through you on a slow bite... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Posted May 20, 2021 Share Posted May 20, 2021 Great report and Super photos. Well done. Nice Rig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirvin21 Posted May 20, 2021 Share Posted May 20, 2021 Great fish and aeesome write up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted May 20, 2021 Share Posted May 20, 2021 Sounds like a good night fellas aboard Gomez! You just never know when they are going to turn up! Well done 👍 cheers scratchie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted May 21, 2021 Author Share Posted May 21, 2021 Thanks guys! Yeah crazy looking fish! 😁 16 hours ago, Scratchie said: Sounds like a good night fellas aboard Gomez! You just never know when they are going to turn up! Well done 👍 cheers scratchie!!! Yeah that's it Scratchie...Not sure if it was the change of location, burleying harder...or that they just finally done the rounds of the bay!? I'll be back soon to see 🤣🤤 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zmk1962 Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 Top effort Brendo ! ... beware hairtail fishing can get contagious ... it usually takes a few nights of missed sleep in freezing conditions to recover ... but the bug just returns .... hmmmm which now has me wondering.... Cheers Zoran 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlvbw Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 Brilliant mate! You almost smiled! 🙃 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted May 21, 2021 Author Share Posted May 21, 2021 2 hours ago, zmk1962 said: Top effort Brendo ! ... beware hairtail fishing can get contagious ... it usually takes a few nights of missed sleep in freezing conditions to recover ... but the bug just returns .... hmmmm which now has me wondering.... Cheers Zoran Thanks Zoran! Yeah 1 day to get over it and the bug is already back...especially after tasting them 😃😁 32 minutes ago, dlvbw said: Brilliant mate! You almost smiled! 🙃 hahahaha. Too cold to move my mouth 😝 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingie chaser Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 Great report Brendan Its funny how most of the time I read most hairtail seem to be taken at dusk/last light & then not after that. Sounds like you have blown that theory out of the water 🙂 But then again most people would be home in their warm bed at 2am, you are dedicated man for sure! Btw, on the gas, done plenty of very cold to sub zero temp camping & I dont use Butane burners but use propane/lpg instead. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SquibblyDibbly Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 Crack a smile in your photos mate 😊 Nice fish 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masterfisho7 Posted May 21, 2021 Share Posted May 21, 2021 Great report love the photos well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted May 24, 2021 Author Share Posted May 24, 2021 On 5/21/2021 at 6:23 PM, kingie chaser said: Great report Brendan Its funny how most of the time I read most hairtail seem to be taken at dusk/last light & then not after that. Sounds like you have blown that theory out of the water 🙂 But then again most people would be home in their warm bed at 2am, you are dedicated man for sure! Btw, on the gas, done plenty of very cold to sub zero temp camping & I dont use Butane burners but use propane/lpg instead. Thanks Mate. Yeah, I've heard dusk is best as well but it's just too hard to get there around then with work etc. Friday arvos I probably could but I've seen the place gets packed then! Bed does sound a lot better but we'll be doing it again next week hopefully - They taste too good 😅 Thanks re. the gas problem...I'll defo take my camp set up! 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pickles Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 Great effort Brendan - top pics - haven’t been hairtailing in 20 years, but remember the thrill when the line goes light and then takes off. Pike eels are a blinking nuisance though (guess God has a plan for everything - hard to work out what it is with these guys though). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunc333 Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 great report mate, enjoyed the read top effort guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted May 25, 2021 Author Share Posted May 25, 2021 (edited) On 5/24/2021 at 5:39 PM, Pickles said: Great effort Brendan - top pics - haven’t been hairtailing in 20 years, but remember the thrill when the line goes light and then takes off. Pike eels are a blinking nuisance though (guess God has a plan for everything - hard to work out what it is with these guys though). Pickles, Yes he does! I think Pike Eels was to test our patience and anger management issues 🤣🤣🤣 On 5/24/2021 at 6:50 PM, dunc333 said: great report mate, enjoyed the read top effort guys Cheers mate. Thank you! Edited May 25, 2021 by Brendan Monks 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordoRetired Posted May 30, 2021 Share Posted May 30, 2021 Great report and pictures. Sounds like a good night. I keep telling myself that I should go and give Hairtail fishing a good, just never quite get motivated enough to get out and do it. 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted May 31, 2021 Author Share Posted May 31, 2021 7 hours ago, GordoRetired said: Great report and pictures. Sounds like a good night. I keep telling myself that I should go and give Hairtail fishing a good, just never quite get motivated enough to get out and do it. 🙂 Cheers Gordo! Yeah, I definitely recommend it - The long cold nights suck, but the taste of them and the bite going off is enough to get me back! Hopefully another session this week 🤞 If you have all your rigs prepared and rug up (A lot), it's no different to your standard fishing 😁 Hopefully see a Hairtail report from you soon 😉😀 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordoRetired Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 1 minute ago, Brendan Monks said: Cheers Gordo! Yeah, I definitely recommend it - The long cold nights suck, but the taste of them and the bite going off is enough to get me back! Hopefully another session this week 🤞 If you have all your rigs prepared and rug up (A lot), it's no different to your standard fishing 😁 Hopefully see a Hairtail report from you soon 😉😀 I guess that it would be no worse that trolling lures around Lake Jindabyne at this time of year. One time down there it was -4 on the way to the ramp and I had ice all over the boat. Wore a ski jacket while I was fishing. 😂 😂 😂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mullatt Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 1 hour ago, GordoRetired said: I guess that it would be no worse that trolling lures around Lake Jindabyne at this time of year. One time down there it was -4 on the way to the ramp and I had ice all over the boat. Wore a ski jacket while I was fishing. 😂 😂 😂 Reckon it will be a lot warmer fishing for Hairtail.....was a very chilly minus 6 here in Canberra this morning 🥶 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted June 1, 2021 Author Share Posted June 1, 2021 @GordoRetired Okay, I'm sure the temperature when chasing Hairtail in the Cowan would feel like Summer compared to fishing down there! 😅🤣 I always wear my ski pants (Cheapies) and jacket when night fishing, perfect for cleaning off if we do a bait session, as well as been waterproof and a lot warmer. If you're rugged up, comfortable and prepared it's a lot easier to fish giving you a lot better chance - IMO I'll let you know how we go tonight down there 😁🤞 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miketheadventurer Posted June 9, 2021 Share Posted June 9, 2021 Is your boat a Huntsman? looks identical to mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted June 9, 2021 Author Share Posted June 9, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, Miketheadventurer said: Is your boat a Huntsman? looks identical to mine. Hey Mike, It's a mates boat I regularly fish with. The boat is a 18ft Carribean/Pride Gazelle hull I think. 🤙 Edited June 9, 2021 by Brendan Monks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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