The kids were asleep. I took the window and ran to the pier. An hour or two under the lights, and the hairtail came.
Pier Lights, Night Predators
Tachiuo — cutlassfish — are a classic harbour-light target. After dark, they follow baitfish into the glow, hanging mid-column and slashing upward at anything that flickers. A concrete breakwater under artificial light is exactly where you’d expect them feeding. That oversized eye isn’t decoration; it’s a night predator’s primary tool, and it’s why these fish don’t really start biting until the sun is long gone.
Working the Column
I fished lures — a metal jig and a small minnow, worked through the lit zone. The depth where the fish hold shifts with the light and the bait position, so I read the column first with a count-down before committing to a retrieve speed. Find the band where they’re stacked and the hits come in sequence. The problem is the teeth: those jaws are merciless on leader. Anyone targeting hairtail learns fast to run a wire trace or heavy fluoro bite section, or accept that some fish will simply scissor through and take the lure.
The Stolen Window
This wasn’t a planned trip. It was squeezed in after the household went quiet — a quick run to the pier, back before anyone noticed. That’s the rhythm of a lot of real fishing: not the dawn charter, not the multi-day offshore run, just the gap you steal when it appears. Tachiuo reward exactly that kind of opportunism. The harbour lights stay on, the fish come to them, and all you have to do is show up.