The Hairtail Plague

[004dam]

As many sunny coasters would know the hairtail are here in plague proportions.
Me and a mate went out for around 2 hours tonight and ended up with about 15 hairtails.


My mate phil took a couple home for stir fry :\ no thanks.


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[Axl]

I cant say ive ever heard of them before are they edible? Are they some sort of eel?They look like they would be a bit of fun on light rods.

[004dam]

I cant say ive ever heard of them before are they edible? Are they some sort of eel?They look like they would be a bit of fun on light rods.


There ment to be good eating but I'm not keen on trying. They go alright sometimes they just come straight in though.

[Muddy Toes]

I cant say ive ever heard of them before are they edible? Are they some sort of eel?They look like they would be a bit of fun on light rods.

The jury will be split on the edibility of them......most will say yes but some will say no but i think the look of them will most likely put people off. The trick to cooking them is to get rid of the "chromeiness' off the skin.... some people rub them with a hessian bag or the likes.It gets rid of a lot of the fishiness.Once cooked they pull apart like fish fingers.I know a few people who aren't big on eating fish but will happily eat hairtail.As for the fight they 'walk' upright in a backwards direction if you can imagine it.

[Axl]

Thanks guys im off to Maroochydore next week for some R&R and I plan on taking an assortment of lures to flick arounf the mouth of the Maroochy river so I may get to see my first live Hairtail.

[BLOOEY]

This is bizzare, never heard of so many hairtail getting caught before. Getting them in the seaway too! Maybe all the rain, or some other factor?
Look like a bit of fun anyway 004dam. Ben

[murf]

they are only small hairtail though, so would be hard to get a feed off

cheers Murf

[captain red beard]

Hairtail = awesome bait.
I go for hairtail missions purely to keep for bait.

[BLOOEY]

Look as though they would be a good spaniard bait captain redbeard! Ben

[gavsgonefishing]

Blooey, we will find out tomorrow morn, the hairtail are wearing all the right jewelry tomorrow, just looking for mrs spaniard to wear it!!! (they are seriously big baits)

Gav

[BLOOEY]

Good stuff gav. Very keen to see how you went! Ben

[salty holty]

what is the seaway fishing like at the moment

[425reelmate]

Yeh caught in the Hawksberry river NSW some twenty years ago with my father. We used to go for a all nighter. We would us e full pillies on gang's to catch these monsters. There found in deep holes usally. We would only ever catch hairtail in one particular location in the colder months only.

The longest was over 6 foot. Comming home with over 20- 30 hairtail. The old man used to cut them into steaks and cook on bbq. Might have to do a sunshine run one night the put up a pretty good fight.

Well done there looks like a good size hairtail you nailed. How long?

[425reelmate]

Just one other thing, they have BIG BLOODY TEETH be careful. Use a mallet or something to whack over the head as they will just slither around otherwise if your in your boat.

[theangryangler]

Put the dead ones in a part filled bath tub and Scrub the silver stuff off the side with a light scourer B4 eating then taste much much better ;)

[Marlin_Mike]

Babies.we used to get them off the old Bunnerong Power Station in Botany Bay, in the deep water. Big ones up to 150cm. Great fighters, and good on the chew as well.

Use to scrape the skin off with the blunt side of the knife, cut them into steaks. Nothing wrong with them.

Mike

[Muddy Toes]

Sounds like these threads about Hairtail are sparking up some old....and cold memories of Coal and Candle, Jerusulam, and Cowan for alot of Ex-Mexicans.;D;D

[BLOOEY]

Just had a go in the broadwater got 3 and lost heaps. Biggest was around 150cm. Bizzare things. Will cook some up tomorrow. Ben

[sleepygreg]

You got that one spot on MT. The memories are very bitter-sweet........bitter = bludddyy cold nights and many innovative ways of trying to keep warm......sweet = those chrome bumper bars coming on at various stages of the night...plus the odd massive noah in the burley trail lit up by the phosphorescence in the water (those that share my memories will know what I am talking about). Who can ever forget the yahooing that cycled around the bay in the wee small hours as the schools of Hairtail circulated the coves. It gave you a timescale of when to expect the fish to arrive.

Greg

[blue boat]

watch out for their tails they are like a whip in the larger ones with a brush off the silever cut into cutlets and shallow fry they eat ok

[youngy]

Hi Guys, they turned up in the Broadwater a couple of weeks ago, costing a fortune in lost lures but a whole lot of fun.

Damn things will eat anything thrown at them but landing them without wire is a bit more difficult, here is one of the better ones so far, cheers wayne

[Marlin_Mike]

You got that one spot on MT. The memories are very bitter-sweet........bitter = bludddyy cold nights and many innovative ways of trying to keep warm......sweet = those chrome bumper bars coming on at various stages of the night...plus the odd massive noah in the burley trail lit up by the phosphorescence in the water (those that share my memories will know what I am talking about). Who can ever forget the yahooing that cycled around the bay in the wee small hours as the schools of Hairtail circulated the coves. It gave you a timescale of when to expect the fish to arrive.

Greg


Have to agree Greg. Many Many cold nights and mornings in Botany Bay. But man can they fight.

Mike

[004dam]

Hi Guys, they turned up in the Broadwater a couple of weeks ago, costing a fortune in lost lures but a whole lot of fun.

Damn things will eat anything thrown at them but landing them without wire is a bit more difficult, here is one of the better ones so far, cheers wayne


far out that is hugeee

[zealot]

i keep hearing from our southern mates that these are quite good to eat.
can anyone back up this claim?.
but keeping in mind that flake also tastes good to those of a southern heritage.

[BLOOEY]

Cooked some up this arvo and stand by my earlier statement. They look like good bait! Also taste like it. Ben

[Axl]

Hi Guys, they turned up in the Broadwater a couple of weeks ago, costing a fortune in lost lures but a whole lot of fun.

Damn things will eat anything thrown at them but landing them without wire is a bit more difficult, here is one of the better ones so far, cheers wayne

I'll bet they are a lot of fun at that size thats bloody huge and the teeth sheeeees.

[Somethn_Fishy]

Hey Youngy,

where about in the broadwater did you get them. I love catching hairtail and miss it heaps, they seem to have vanished from the Coal and Candle creek in the Hawkesbury and now I am a QLD I would love to get one.

Cheers'
Rick

[youngy]

Hi Ric, it is my belief that fish don't disappear, they get overfished and eaten.

This is what happened last time they turned up on the Gold Coast in big numbers 17 years ago, that time they were in the deep hole behind Seaworld and got massacred.

While we have been catching our fish on lures and we release them, there was a 1.65 meter one caught on Friday night, they are almost suicidal if you anchor up and use a pilly for bait in amongst lots of burley.

Will see what happens over the next few weeks to their numbers, the way they are going they could become a nuisance and maybe i can be a bit more forethcoming with exact locations, cheers wayne

[004dam]

I lost alot of gear on the weekend to them. This was during the day too. I hope they disappear very soon.

[murf]

Hi Ric, it is my belief that fish don't disappear, they get overfished and eaten.
cheers wayne

now I know where all the slimies went this year, someone bloody ate them >:(

cheers Murf

[Muddy Toes]

they seem to have vanished from the Coal and Candle creek in the Hawkesbury

Cheers'
Rick

There was a very steep decline in their numbers quite a few years ago when some commercial netters caught a heap off Stockton Beach and realised there was some money to be made out of them in that whole area.

[Heath]

Got that right!!!

Sounds like these threads about Hairtail are sparking up some old....and cold memories of Coal and Candle, Jerusulam, and Cowan for alot of Ex-Mexicans.;D;D

[halfmanhalffish]

Grew up in Coffs Hbr as a kid and approx 20yrs ago they had a hairtail plague of biblical proportions! Looking off the jetty there they were like tomato stakes as far as you could see in every direction! The harbour was like that for months. The average was 5ft long and from memory the largest one I saw through the fish co-op was 9 1/2 feet long( no sh#t). They lingered on for about 12 months in less and less numbers. Intersted to see if anyone here remembers it as well. Did make it hard to catch anything else however. Good fun on the end of a line, the big ones go hard!!!

[murf]

Grew up in Coffs Hbr as a kid and approx 20yrs ago they had a hairtail plague of biblical proportions! Looking off the jetty there they were like tomato stakes as far as you could see in every direction! The harbour was like that for months. The average was 5ft long and from memory the largest one I saw through the fish co-op was 9 1/2 feet long( no sh#t). They lingered on for about 12 months in less and less numbers. Intersted to see if anyone here remembers it as well. Did make it hard to catch anything else however. Good fun on the end of a line, the big ones go hard!!!

that would be a sight to be seen

don't remember hearing of them in the harbour at Coffs but a few were caught out to sea a bit further North way back then, I was originally from Newcastle and they were a target species in the harbour way back then

cheers Murf

[halfmanhalffish]

It was a bit of a kill-a-thon for the poor old hairtail. Have heard of a few captures in the harbour and marina over the years but only isolated cases!! Lucky I guess for all the other harbour residents!!!