A Couple of Weekends Ago (Late report)

[BR65]

remember reading about hairtail when I was a kid, Coal and Candle Ck in NSW or something, cold nights, strip baits, curtain rod rings as part of the rig to lift em in the boat, strange fish

[obi_wan]

remember reading about hairtail when I was a kid, Coal and Candle Ck in NSW or something, cold nights, strip baits, curtain rod rings as part of the rig to lift em in the boat, strange fish

That's pretty well spot on Brian, when I lived in Sydney I spent many a cold night up Coal and Candle Creek chasing the hairtail.

A lot of people did use the curtain ring between the main line and the wire trace as an aid to lift them into the boat, I never used them, I just had a wire trace to swivel to the main line. The hooks would be a gang of hooks or a single hook of suitable size to suit the bait which was either a livey, slab or a pilly. There are many bays that run off the main creek and these are very deep, at the head of these bays is usually a sandy beach that drops off into deep water. The go was to anchor up near the head of the bay along the sandy drop off or along the edges approaching the drop off.

Baits would be set at different depths until you coul;d establish at what depth the hairtail were running. These fish are amazing fighters, using the width of the body and raised dorsal fin which runs the entire length of the fish ending in a hair like end. They are a brilliant silver and when a flashlight hits them the reflection is incredible almost blinding, these fish have teeth like you would not believe, long, curved, pointed, sharp both front and back, some have what almost looks like a barb on the back edge and what is really amazing is the fact that they have some kind of anti coagulate in their system and when you were hit by a tooth you would bleed for around four hours, so the secret was to break their necks very smartly as they could be very nasty, I've seen one launch itself out of a sugar bag to try and get a mate. The way to do it was, lift them up vertically, grab them around the neck behind the head, then with the other hand break their neck. They are very good eating, can be cut into lengths or even filleted if you wish, you can even rub off most of the silver colouring if you want, note these fish have no scales.
I used to take people there to catch fish, people who were not fishermen but wanted to catch fish, one night i had three people in the boat, I did not fish, I just baited hooks, grabed the fish, broke necks, they ended up with fifty fish each. The largest one I ever caught was seven feet long and about eight inches across the body.

In short a very easy fish to catch, I hope they have a bag limit these days, in hindsight i wish i had limited people to about ten fish each, even myself, things were so different over thirty years ago.

Cheers,
John.

[Ducksta]

It's been a long time since I sat out in the Hawkesbury freezing cold overnight in winter hoping for some hairtail.
We never got that many (50 each - holy hell) but they were worth it. Maybe I should sort myself out a nice thick fishing coat this season...

[BR65]

I had a big fat hard cover book, it was my bible when I was a tacker, scoop netting prawns, blue groper on crabs, snapps on hand lines, luderick on carved timber floats, how to cast them there new fangled bait casters, inspiration a-plenty for a kid with the fishen urge eating away on the insides, led me on many a wild goose chase

[nagg]

I'm blown away that they get hairtail up here ....... I always thought they were only associated with the deeper waters of the Hawkesbury system (particularly Cowan Creek)
I had caught some off Easts reef (offshore from the Hawkesbury) & had heard of them caught in Newcastle harbour - but that's it !
It's a big surprise that they are up the Sunnycoast & in numbers .........maybe just another case of more cockroaches moving up here

Chris

PS ....... those that have experienced fishing the areas of Cowan creek for hairtail in winter - would know how friggin cold it gets ..... brrrrrr

[Ducksta]

Just got a "Fishing World" email and the winner of a weird catch comp was a Hairtail taken off Jumpinin.
Are they just side tracked from whatever the normal migration is? Or are they summer semi-regulars up there?

[Mick Baker]

I have caught them on reefs 20k off Swansea and recall hearing about large numbers caught in the river at Yamba many years ago ( about 1960 ).There was a jetty right up in the corner near the end of the main st. and they were caught there.They also turn up at half tide rocks at the entrance to Brisbane Waters near Woy Woy at times.They disappear for years and then re-appear in large numbers,usually in winter.

[Ducksta]

There's not much that hasn't turned up at Half tide rocks at some point in time
Last time I was around there I noticed the track I used to take in is not where it should be. I haven't found an alternate entry way. Very disappointing - unless I've missed something obvious.

[Mick Baker]

There's not much that hasn't turned up at Half tide rocks at some point in time
Last time I was around there I noticed the track I used to take in is not where it should be. I haven't found an alternate entry way. Very disappointing - unless I've missed something obvious.

It's much easier by water
Cheers, Mick