Catching Squid on your door step

By John Pellew
Manager of Yee Haa Fishing
www.yeehaa.co.nz

 

I love to eat squid or as it is otherwise known as Calamari, it also makes great bait.

 

My first introduction to squid fishing was a trip to Leigh harbour near Goat Island. My good fishing buddy Ye (Tony) invited me along. He is Chinese and is an avid and very skilled Squidder. He and his mates had been catching good numbers of them up there and big ones too! Asians generally speaking especially love to catch and eat squid. I was fascinated to say the least.

 

Over the years they have perfected the art of making the lures that attract them and the technique of fishing them in a way that is most enticing to the squid. The Japanese call this skill Egging. They have special rods and reels for this and are very particular about the way that they set up their rigs.

 

I’ve recently moved North to manage the new Yee Haa Fishing Shop in Panmure Auckland. My initial thought was that I’d be able to get out fishing more often around the Noise’s and the Aha’s, David rocks etc but the weather has been less than inviting up until now so of an evening when I get bored I shoot down to Mission bay and join the local squidding enthusiasts on the break wall next to the wharf.

 

Season:
The Squid start moving into the shallow water and Auckland Harbor bays around July for spawning making them available to shoreline angler’s right through until February. The season is quite a long one and the squid are feeding aggressively at during this time. As they move up the coastline.

 

Where to fish:
My favorite spot is Mission bay next to the Wharf and Kelly Taltons the water there is about three meters deep and fairly rocky, there is a breakwater that runs along the road side and the road side lights shine out onto the water giving light to the angler tying his knots and also acts as an artificial squid attractant ?

 

I climb carefully down the rock wall and perch myself on a rock there with a bucket and a rag, a few squid jig lures and my stimulate gel, which I’ll talk about a little later.

 

Devonport North Shore from the main wharf is another great place. Anywhere one the wharf is good and there are lights there, as you now know that this is an important feature. If you have a spot where there are no lights you can do one of two things, use a lumo glow body squid jig or you can take your own torch, make sure it’s powerful though.

 

Musick Point out the back of Howick off the little island by the channel when the tide is out is good you can access there easily and it’s a nice walk to if you are taking your family. Just watch out for the Ferry wake which can send the odd wave up onto the rocks.

St Heliers bay and Ladies bay are another couple of spots you can check out. Basically anywhere there is shallow water meeting a rocky shoreline for evening fishing and water deeper than 5 meters if you are fishing for them during the day because they are quite shy.

Leigh is my favorite spot for large squid and my PB is nearly a meter long! This one put up a good fight and pulled quite a bit of line too, I thought I had a small Kahawai on at first. Squidding

 

What gear to use:
In Asia as I mentioned before people spend up to a thousand dollars on squid fishing gear. We are quite lucky in this country because of the soft baiting craze we all have the perfect set up without having to spend another penny on new gear! Except the squid jigs and stimulate gel… now I promised to explain about this gel didn’t I.

 

It was very much buy accident that we got onto this… we were out at Mission Bay at the end of July when the squid were hesitating to really take the lure, they would follow it in all the way to the rocks but only occasionally take it at our feet.

 

I had been given a tube of this stuff called Trigger-X which is now re-branded Stimulate Gel which uses the same attraction scent as the New Zealand SLAM soft baits. We quickly rubbed a bit of this stuff on the lure and wham! The squid immediately hit it with force so we tried it again with the other guys jigs and the same response so we’ve been using it ever since. Every now and then I’ll fish without it to see if there is any difference.

So if you have a trout rod that is whippy in the tip or a soft bait set up either spin or overhead you are ready to go.

 

The Jigs:
These lures look like a small fish in a slight S shape or more like a shrimp or prawn, with little feathers plugged into the sides of them and a dozens of sharp needle point prongs that have no barbs and they face back toward the front of the lure.

There has been many years of development go into these lures. The way they are shaped is precise and the weight is crucial to the attracting and catching of these creatures.

They vary in size mostly according to the keel weight that is attached to the bottom.

Some lures are shiny and colourful and others have a mesh like material with coloured paint on. I have recently started fishing full body lumo lures, these work well when there isn’t much moon light out. Traditionally the lumo jigs are used at night and the shiny ones during the day but I’ve had good success both ways so mix it up!

 

How to Fish the gear:
It’s very easy actually. When you find a good spot with relatively clear water, cast out to the edge of the light or around ten meters distance then allow your lure to sink down for around 10 seconds or so. The idea is to create a down, up jerky retrieve and the fish aggressively attack the lure when it is sinking down again.

 

I try to fish a lure that will sink slowly enough without hitting the bottom during the retrieve. For 3-4 meters depth you can use size 2.0 -3.5 lure during the evening time and 3.0-5.0 for the daytime for getting the lure deeper and also battle the current.
The squid sit mid water and look both up and down for their food, they will often chase the lure for some distance until it makes the right motion that triggers them into attack mode. I’ve found that they like a jerky retrieve when the water is calm and clear because they are visual feeders.

When the water is murky or rough slow down you’re retrieve and keep up more of a constant slow wind so the fish can see your lure and it stays in the strike zone long enough to get hit.

 

When to fish:
In the evening you would do best to time a high tide with dusk and fish 1-2 hour either side of that tide providing access to the spot is ok. Squid like to feed and come in close to the shore during the slack water or when the current isn’t flowing very quickly as they aren’t powerful swimmers and this also helps them chase down bait fish and prawns which they predominantly feed on.

If you want to fish the daytime you can fish in areas with more current and deeper water say up to 10 meters and fish a lure that will sink sufficiently in these conditions.

 

Playing and landing squid properly:
When you hook on you will most often feel a little surge or pulling at the line, kind of a heavy feeling as if you have a lump of seaweed in the lure for want of a better picture. Lift your rod without striking and gently wind in.
Never let the line go slack or he will make his escape at that moment. When you have the squid at you feet you can gently hold his head up and let him squirt the black ink out till he has none more left, then lift it into your waiting bucket. That’s it you have your dinner fresh and ready for the pan! The leftovers also make for great bait to. Gook luck.