For beginners! What are the best season and time of day for hairtail fishing?

The best season for hairtail fishing is from July to November. During this period, sardines, which are their prey, approach the shore, allowing you to target hairtail from breakwaters and other locations as they chase their food.

By the way, the peak season is said to be from August to October, when the largest number of hairtail approach the shore.

Hairtail can be caught all year round, but outside of July to November, it's difficult to target them from the shore. If you want to catch hairtail in spring or winter, you'll likely need to go offshore by boat.

Therefore, the recommended season for beginners is July to November. During this time, you can easily target hairtail from a breakwater.

Since hairtail are nocturnal, it's difficult to catch them during the day. During daylight hours, they are sleeping on the seabed, so it's best to target them in the evening or early morning when they become active.

In the evening and early morning, plankton become active, and small fish and fish that feed on small fish rise to the surface of the sea. The one to two hours around sunrise and sunset, when plankton are active, are called "mazume-doki" (twilight hours) and are considered the optimal time to target various fish.

Additionally, hairtail can be targeted even in the middle of the night after the sun has completely set. When night fishing for hairtail, using an underwater light will improve their biting, so be sure to use one.

Recently, small LED-type underwater lights have become mainstream. Flashing lights further improve hairtail bites, so why not give them a try?

When targeting hairtail, which primarily eat small fish, it's recommended to use kibinago (banded killi) as bait. Kibinago are small fish related to herring, and as mentioned, they are used as fishing bait.

Kibinago are inexpensive and their appearance changes little even with long-term storage, offering the advantage of being usable even after a long period of time.

Other baits include small sardines and cutlassfish fillets. Sardines are said to get more bites than kibinago, but they are larger in size, making them difficult to handle. Also, their price is not cheap, so it's not highly recommended for beginners to start with sardines.

Tackle is a general term for fishing gear such as rods and lures. Here, we will introduce the key points for choosing tackle suitable for hairtail fishing:

・Rod
・Underwater Light

Rods come in various types with differences in length and strength. Common rods used for hairtail fishing are eging rods and seabass rods.

Eging rods typically range from 6.1ft to 9.2ft (2.1m to 2.8m) in length. If you want to use an eging rod for hairtail fishing, choose a length of 8ft or more. This is because hairtail may not be present too close to the shore.

By the way, there are also rods specifically designed for hairtail fishing, so if you're thinking of getting serious about hairtail fishing, you might want to consider purchasing one. Also, the most commonly used type for hairtail fishing is a spinning reel, where the reel is positioned below the rod.

Those aiming for a big catch should not forget to choose their underwater light carefully, as it is an essential tool for improving hairtail bites.

As mentioned above, an LED type underwater light with flashing illumination is recommended. The flashing light is more likely to attract the attention of hairtail. Also, blue light is visible from a distance, so a blue lamp color is ideal.

There are also underwater lights called Chemiluminescent Hotaru that use glow sticks. These are disposable, single-use types, but their advantage is that they are inexpensive. They are perfect for those who want to try hairtail fishing as an experiment.

Hairtail fishing can be done from breakwaters and other coastal areas, making it attractive for beginners to start easily.

However, hairtail are also fish that you might not catch at all if you get the season and time of day wrong. The best time to fish is from summer to autumn, either in the evening or morning.

For bait, kibinago is a good starting point. It's the most inexpensive and a favorite food of hairtail.

Refer to the information introduced in this article to make your hairtail fishing debut.