# QLD: 21/5 Mooloolaba Hairtail



## KingDan (Feb 25, 2011)

Well the plan was to try around point cartwright for some snapper, launched at dawn from the moololaba boat ramp and made my way towards the mouth but was greeted by some big swell and a stiff westerly. I got through some big waves which gave me a rush of adrenaline before my rudder started playing up. Played it safe and paddled it back into the harbor to try and fix it. Couldn't figure out what was happening, tested and was fine in the harbor so I mustered up the courage and had another go. Got through some big swell close to peaking, I thought if I got into some deeper water the swell would drop. It didn't and the westerly had me drifting fast away from land so I played it safe and paddled back to the safety of the harbor.

I trolled my favorite tilsan pink lure back to the boat ramp hoping for a flathead, I got some weird tap tap hits and then the rod bent over. To my surprise pulled up a 1m long hairtail yakside, having no net at the time made landing it hard. Ended up flicking it onto the front hatch of the ob and introducing it to the negotiator (my shortened baseball bat).








Sorry bout the photos, something on the lense.

Trolled the pink tilsan for a bit more, it got a few knocks and went a bit heavy and thought it must be fouled. Wound it in to find a nice little flathead, being early in the morning I let him go.









Trolled back over the hairtail spot and got another, trolled over it again and lost the lure to one  i did a few passes back over hopping to find it floating but no such luck. Tried a 3" lime tiger stick bait and it too found the same fate on my 10lb leader. I changed to 30lb, but then the local land fishers had seen my good fortune and moved in on the spot preventing me from trolling it. No big loss, good luck to them, I had enough fish.

Marinating the hairtail in soy and ginger now for a fry up a bit later, will be nice to try something new.

Dan


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## Plasman (Aug 27, 2008)

Well done catching hairtail without wire, they,ll get through 100lb like a hot knife through butter. Never caught them on lures but used to target them in Newcastle harbour with the average size 5ft with the odd one over 6ft and they are scary beasts.
I think they're good on the plate just cut into slabs but alot of people muck around with them brushing the skin off. Dont bother it just peels off anyway.
Handling them isn't that hard, just grab your line then grip firmly behind the head like you would a snake(as seen on tv :lol: )
Despatch quickly with a donger though, those teeth can do some real damage as they have an anti coagulant like a flathead spike on them.
Awesome stuff


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## SamT (Feb 27, 2011)

Nice photo showing the toes curled up to keep away from its mouth. Not much room in a kayak to get away from things with teeth.


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## KingDan (Feb 25, 2011)

Thanks guys. Yeah I tried a number of lures and plastics, but they really only seamed to be interested in pink deep divers, not interested in anything on the surface, even though they were in the top 1m of water. 
The first one I caught, i don't think i bashed him enough over the head and he had one last vain attempt at my toes when I took the photo, gotta be careful with em.

Dan


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## Greeno (Dec 26, 2009)

Um I've never caught or seen a Hairtail before.. so I have a question. Why do you have to be so careful with them ? I'm guessing it's cause of their tail, but I am not sure.


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## andybear (Jan 15, 2006)

Greeno said:


> Um I've never caught or seen a Hairtail before.. so I have a question. Why do you have to be so careful with them ? I'm guessing it's cause of their tail, but I am not sure.


Nup!

Pretty sure its the other end that has the sharp bits. Never seen one personally, but the teeth look frightfull  :shock:

Cheers andybear


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## paulb (Nov 12, 2006)

download/file.php?id=54691&mode=view


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## KingDan (Feb 25, 2011)

Yeah they have some pretty scary fangs on em and they like to use them.


paulb said:


> download/file.php?id=54691&mode=view


Nice pic, a good example of them.


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## Greeno (Dec 26, 2009)

paulb said:


> http://www.akff.net/forum/download/file.php?id=54691&mode=view


Oh wow they are nasty teeth for a fish :shock:


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## sbd (Aug 18, 2006)

Nice work on the hairy Dan; and on a lure and during the day, priceless.



Greeno said:


> Oh wow they are nasty teeth for a fish :shock:


They're bad tempered too. The barbed front fangs look bad, but it's the teeth at the back which would make a mess of you, each one is razor edged both sides, and makes short work of fishing line (or fingers). Nasty.


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## 004dam (Sep 22, 2010)

Your keen bringing it into the yak..... dam angry buggers. We have been catching them non stop in the mooloolah river of late. I think we caught around 15 in an hour the other night and called it quits.


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## imnotoriginal (Jan 13, 2008)

Nice. I wouldn't have even let the little bastard in the yak! :shock: 
Joel


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## grinner (May 15, 2008)

a very strange fish, congrats mate

this clip (just watch for a few seconds and you'll get the idea) shows how they sit in the water looking up and hitting prey. hence a full moon is a good time to hunt.

i think the japanese call them cutlass fish and their bodies do look like a cutlass.


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## KingDan (Feb 25, 2011)

Nice pic there grinner, that one is alot bigger than the ones I was landing.

I never knew that's how they sit in the water, that is some good footage.

Dan


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## imnotoriginal (Jan 13, 2008)

grinner said:


> a very strange fish, congrats mate
> 
> this clip (just watch for a few seconds and you'll get the idea) shows how they sit in the water looking up and hitting prey. hence a full moon is a good time to hunt.
> 
> i think the japanese call them cutlass fish and their bodies do look like a cutlass.


Nice grinner. I'd heard they did that but I'd never seen it so clearly. Thanks for putting that up.
Joel


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## NufinFlash (Oct 8, 2008)

KingDan said:


> . I got through some big waves which gave me a rush of adrenaline before my rudder started playing up.
> Dan


mate check your rudder pin , my money is the big waves have bent the pin hence your rudder playing up ,

happened to me when i was about 2-3k out the front one time wasnt pretty comming back in


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## KingDan (Feb 25, 2011)

NufinFlash said:


> mate check your rudder pin , my money is the big waves have bent the pin hence your rudder playing up ,
> 
> happened to me when i was about 2-3k out the front one time wasnt pretty comming back in


Thanks NufinFlash, I have yet to look at it since I got back. You may be onto something there, it only was playing up when there was extra presure on it (waves & current). I will have a look at the pin and order a new one if needed.

cheers
Dan


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## NufinFlash (Oct 8, 2008)

yeah defently check it out, its what mine did in similar conditions.

there extrmely cheap to buy only a few dollars, the back hatch thingy lid has a space on the inside where you can store a spare pin for emergencies


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## KingDan (Feb 25, 2011)

Thanks guys, well I pulled the pin out of the rudder last night and it's straight but a bit chaffed and worn. I checked the rear hatch on my 2008 sh ob, no pins nor could i see a place to put one, will check again. I will order a few spares regardless.

The rudder only seems to get stuck on one side, sending me in anti clockwise circles but only when it has more than normal pressure on it (waves, current). Hopefully I can replicate the issue by with some pressure on the rudder and seeing what is going on because I am a bit clueless atm.

Worst case I will swap the jumbo rudder for the standard rudder and give the rudder system a good going over with innox and try it out in some strong current before my next offshore attempt.

Dan


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## NufinFlash (Oct 8, 2008)

heres a pic of what to look for , they dont come with a spare , but you should see the grooves where you can store a spare


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