# NSW: 04/06 Hairy Tales



## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

Just a quick post or it will never get done.

Meet up with Paulb on Saturday night for my inaugural hairtail trip. 
Apnearabbit was already there when we arrived and had one in the bag.

It had all the making of a good first trip with the rain setting in not long after we left and me not be able to find my water proof jacket that keeps out water so I had to use the waterproof jacket that isn't.
IAs much as I would like to say that I couldn't hear anything because it was so quiet up there, in fact I couldn't hear anything because the bloody house boat with the stag party was pumping out techno at full volume.
Anyway it appears hairtail are deaf so a few of them came out to play.
I picked up a 49cm tailor on the way up so I was already happy but popping my hairtail cherry first trip was a bonus.
I managed 5 with the 2 biggest going 130cm and 152cm.
The 152 was so close to putting me in the water that I did let out a yell when I thought I was gone but that's another story.
I'll add more detail later but for now here are some pics.


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Great stuff Keza, I hope to pop my hairtail cherry one day


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

Crazy fish. I don't know of anything over here that compares.
Dark...check
Cold...check
Rainy...check
Snakey fish w/ huge teeth...check
Perfect. Let's make a night of it.



> As much as I would like to say that I couldn't hear anything because it was so quiet up there, in fact I couldn't hear anything because the bloody house boat with the stag party was pumping out techno at full volume.


...and my beanie was folded down over my ears.


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

BigGee said:


> Those things are as shiny as old chrome bumper bars. What ridiculous looking dentures. :shock:
> 
> They must be good eating to be out in those conditions yeah?


I think they need a bit of a kick rather than just frying them up.
I smoked most of mine, kept it short so they are still moist, bloody delicious.


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## Wrassemagnet (Oct 17, 2007)

That's a big knife but I'd be more comfortable with a tomahawk with one of those nightmares in the yak 

The teeth are actually barbed??? WTF!


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

Full credit for their demise has to go to Bazz and the donger he gave me, it was totally in it's element and excelled at the challenge.


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## Marty75 (Oct 23, 2007)

Awesome Kerry, if there is a trip this Saturday night I am there!


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

WOW !!!!


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## CanuckChubbs (May 2, 2010)

That is fantastic. If you don't mind me asking, which part of Sydney waters did you catch them? I would love to get a few people together and give it a go. I remember last winter I went out on my mates boat overnight and I caught a hairtail but at the time I did not know what it was....thought it looked like something out of Aliens so I panicked and cut the line before pulling it into the boat. I know...silly Canadian.


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

Awesome Kerry. You gotta love a fish that needs a few dont argues before coming aboard. 
I thought it was about cold enough for you boys to start chasing these things. I wonder if they are up this way?


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## Imax (Dec 24, 2010)

Geez, they are big hairtails for the yak nice work.



paulo said:


> I wonder if they are up this way?


Certainly are Paulo. I hooked 3 the other day on the troll and landed 1 a couple of days before all just off the beach at Noosa. 2 were taken in the dark but the others were during the day. I think someone else on here also got a couple at Mooloolaba as well.


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## richmond (Dec 20, 2010)

Yeah, we've never seen so many Hairtail up here on the Sunny Coast as this year.
The mooloolah is full of them and there's been quite a few caught in the Noosa as well.
Night time and daytime captures have been common.


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

Good one Keza, there pretty good sized hairtails actually , i'm glad the "Bazzonker"did the job, it can also be used judiciously to remove some of those barbed teeth with a well placed blow or two . I was never really impressed with their eating quality, they may be nice smoked though


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

Actually there a pretty dissapointing fish to catch , as they dont run , they just pull backwards on your line and once you move them they come up pretty easily . When i had my power boat and was fishing Cowan creek every week , i used to up anchor and move off when i encounterd them whilst fishing for Jewfish , as i considered them to be a pest


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## Clarkos (Oct 11, 2006)

On jewfish gear they would be. But drop it down to light bream gear, then they get a bit more interesting, maybe even drag pulling. The fun bit is getting them in the yak without spilling blood.


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## KarlD (Apr 20, 2010)

Is there anywhere in the harbour you can catch those beasts, say up near rosvile, I've heard about cowan but its a bit far out for me. I'll love to catch one of those beasts.


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## Clarkos (Oct 11, 2006)

That's part of the mystery with them. Cowen and I have heard the odd story of Botany. Harbour probably isn't deep enough.


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## sbd (Aug 18, 2006)

The owner of my local tacklo happily relates the story of catching hairies hand over fist in Sydney Harbour in 1979 (near Clifton Desert). Haven't heard of any other harbour captures.


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## Southerly (Apr 20, 2007)

KarlD said:


> Is there anywhere in the harbour you can catch those beasts, say up near rosvile, I've heard about cowan but its a bit far out for me. I'll love to catch one of those beasts.


As SBD notes, in the late 70's they showed up in huge numbers in the harbour over 2 years. Clifton Gardens was popular but the real hot spot was North Harbour, caught through the day catches of 100 plus were common, I still have the scar on the hand to prove it. I have heard of them showing up occasionally since but never in such numbers.

David


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