Brendan Monks Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 After last year’s success, I thought I’d give it a crack a Friday night a while back (29/04) chasing some Hairtail fishing solo up the Cowan. It was a late get away and I was only on the water around 8:00pm. I couldn’t believe the amount of boats fishing over the cockle beds in the Hawkesbury and was surprised even more by the number fishing up in JB. 😲 With the rods baited and set it was only 5/10 minutes before I had the unmistakable bite of a Hairtail slowly tugging down, feeding out a bit of line I struck and didn’t come tight…lesson learnt, strike earlier next time! After a bit of hard burleying for an hour or so, I had another 2 fish boatside only to pull hooks. Finally another rod went off and I quickly had it in the boat after a short tussle! First Hairtail for my boat. Yeeeww. The rest of the night was uneventful apart from another decent sized one that snipped me off next to the boat, but I was very happy for the first outing of the season! 🥳👌 With the first fish under the belt, I decided to plan a mid-week trip with my mate, and we penciled in Wednesday. Froth levels were high and become even higher when I saw @J0nn0 report just before we headed off! Getting on the water a bit earlier this time (Although still late for Hairtail standards – I have given up ever fishing dusk with work commitments) we put out 1 crab pot to soak while we fished. Fishing in the bay away from all the other boats we soon had a nice burley trail going, we had the tell tail sign of fish under us, but no baits been taken. It wasn’t long before we had a trickle of small baitfish come into the lights when my mates rods rod went off that he had just casted into the shadow line! After a few happy snaps my rod went off soon after…a smaller model but still happy we were onto them! We had both missed another fish each before he came up tight again to a good size fish adding to his tally of 2. Bait by now had disappeared and we could see a lot of boats had already packed up and headed off. We made the call to try another location and after a bit of mucking around setting anchor again with current and wind moving us everywhere we finally had some burley back in the water. My rod loaded up and screamed off quickly and we both hoped it was a small Jewie, but alas a big Stingray (We were fishing a bit shallower in this spot so must of casted too far 🙄). Not long after unhooking it I felt the pressure of a Hairtail again and struck hard. It seems removing the swivels out of my gang hooks gave it nothing to turn when it hits their bony mouth, and I didn’t miss a hookup all night, unlike the week before! 🤔 A great night overall, somehow getting home at 2:30 after a ‘Quick’ session. We checked the crab pot on the way in and found it loaded with baby catfish, 2 male and 2 female Blue Swimmers. We both couldn’t be bothered cooking the crabs so we let them go. Hope to get back down there again soon…or if we can put together some sort of Social Meet… 🍻🤙 Cheers, Brendo 18 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Ct Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 (edited) Great report and pictures, very nice feed as well. Those hartail have some gnarly teeth, I would hate to be on the receiving end of a bite😬. Well done. Edited May 11, 2022 by Isaac Ct 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XD351 Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 Awesome report Brendan! You got some nice chromies there ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsswordfisherman Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 Great report and pics. We should pick a date and have raiders join in for an evening of hairtailing! 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masterfisho7 Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 That is one great report and top photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restyle Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 Awesome fish & write up! A bucket list fish for me - mostly to taste Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larkin Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 Well done, some nice fish! Great report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papafish Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 well Done mate!! whens the next session~ got room for 1^^? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankS Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 I would be in for a catch up on the water, just name the day/night. I love Hairtail fishing. Frank 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted May 11, 2022 Author Share Posted May 11, 2022 15 hours ago, Isaac Ct said: Great report and pictures, very nice feed as well. Those hartail have some gnarly teeth, I would hate to be on the receiving end of a bite😬. Well done. 12 hours ago, Restyle said: Awesome fish & write up! A bucket list fish for me - mostly to taste Cheers, thanks guys! I've heard if you do get bitten by one to apply their slime? When I first tried them I couldn't believe how good they tasted...a very sweet fish - Definitely something you need to have a crack at mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted May 11, 2022 Author Share Posted May 11, 2022 15 hours ago, XD351 said: Awesome report Brendan! You got some nice chromies there ! 12 hours ago, Larkin said: Well done, some nice fish! Great report 13 hours ago, masterfisho7 said: That is one great report and top photos Cheers, thank you guys! 🤙 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bessell1955 Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 Terrific photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted May 11, 2022 Author Share Posted May 11, 2022 13 hours ago, mrsswordfisherman said: Great report and pics. We should pick a date and have raiders join in for an evening of hairtailing! Thank you Donna. I'd be in for sure if something was put together!!! 👌 I never got to experience one of the old Hairtail Socials 😄 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted May 11, 2022 Author Share Posted May 11, 2022 7 hours ago, papafish said: well Done mate!! whens the next session~ got room for 1^^? Haven't really thought about another trip again just yet. We wanted to get a few in early this season before it got too cold 😆😄 Shoot us a PM and should be able to work something out 👌 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Posted May 12, 2022 Share Posted May 12, 2022 Super report. Top photos. Mean looking Critters. Well done. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Ct Posted May 12, 2022 Share Posted May 12, 2022 3 hours ago, Brendan Monks said: I've heard if you do get bitten by one to apply their slime? When I first tried them I couldn't believe how good they tasted...a very sweet fish - Definitely something you need to have a crack at mate. If that is true, it is the same deal with flatties. When you get spiked by one it hurts like hell but when you rub the slime from the underbelly of the flattie the pain goes away very quickly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankS Posted May 12, 2022 Share Posted May 12, 2022 Believe me ! If you get bitten by a Hairtail you will need a lot more than just slime, just ba brush against the teeth could take the cut to the bone. I have seen a hairtail within a hessian bag ( in the old days we always had hessian bags to wipe the silver from the body and to store them in ) and a guy without shoes stepped on the bag, unfortunately just where the mouth was, he needed 14 stitches in his foot. They will leap and lunge towards you IF you allow their tail/body to come in contact with the floor of the boat. These days when I catch them I cut the head off so the teeth are no danger. Frank 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsswordfisherman Posted May 12, 2022 Share Posted May 12, 2022 28 minutes ago, frankS said: Believe me ! If you get bitten by a Hairtail you will need a lot more than just slime, just ba brush against the teeth could take the cut to the bone. I have seen a hairtail within a hessian bag ( in the old days we always had hessian bags to wipe the silver from the body and to store them in ) and a guy without shoes stepped on the bag, unfortunately just where the mouth was, he needed 14 stitches in his foot. They will leap and lunge towards you IF you allow their tail/body to come in contact with the floor of the boat. These days when I catch them I cut the head off so the teeth are no danger. Frank Absolutely Frank They are very dangerous. One look at their teeth and you will agree. They do jump about in the boat too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenno64 Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 Great post! Good things come in 4s! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
campr Posted May 13, 2022 Share Posted May 13, 2022 I find hairtail one of the easiest fish to handle. No sharp fins or spines and no slime, just keep clear of their teeth. The trick is to grab them by the neck (?) Just behind the head and squeeze hard. They will convulse and whip their tail around a for a few seconds and thats it. They will be dead and no trouble to handle. Try it and let me know how you go. Ron 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papafish Posted May 14, 2022 Share Posted May 14, 2022 On 5/12/2022 at 9:00 AM, Brendan Monks said: Haven't really thought about another trip again just yet. We wanted to get a few in early this season before it got too cold 😆😄 Shoot us a PM and should be able to work something out 👌 Thanks mate! Ur a legend. Sent you a pm and see how we go from there🤙🤙 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsswordfisherman Posted May 14, 2022 Share Posted May 14, 2022 On 5/12/2022 at 8:58 AM, Brendan Monks said: Thank you Donna. I'd be in for sure if something was put together!!! 👌 I never got to experience one of the old Hairtail Socials 😄 Pick a date and I can help organise on here 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendan Monks Posted May 19, 2022 Author Share Posted May 19, 2022 On 5/15/2022 at 6:08 AM, mrsswordfisherman said: Pick a date and I can help organise on here I'm not too sure the best time of the year, but I'd guess a Saturday arvo/night would work best with most people providing weather/tides align 😁 See what others think, I'm easy! 😄 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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