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Thoughts On Squiding In The Harbour


King slayer

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Hey raiders,

I was hoping for a little assistance on the topic of squidding in the harbour.

Firstly I am of the impression that squid only hang out at night where it's lit up, e.g. the spit. Is this right?

I've been having reasonable luck at some lit up structure at night but was wondering if there are other places to try pre-dawn.

Also my squid that I always work so hard for seem to get killed so easily by bloody pickers :mad3: , and i wonder why i bothered! leaving yakka's as the main bait, and as you know very quick and easy to catch. should I just stop bothering with the squid, get a few extra hours sleep and sick to yakkas?

I'm talking about bait for kings here by the way.

What do you guys reckon?

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should I just stop bothering with the squid, get a few extra hours sleep and sick to yakkas?

Mate we did ages ago, the time it takes to get squid is not worth the effort when they are taking other bait.

If you locate the Kings they will hit any well presented bait.

Having said that we are on the tail end of the peak season inside and numbers are even now starting to fall.

In a month or so the only way to raise a King may be Squid :)

Robbie.

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Catching squid takes some time but once you work them out, you can usually get enough for a days fishing in about an hour. I agree with Robbie that there's no point chasing bait you find hard to get when the Kings are happily taking something else though.

Bear in mind that this season has been a little unusual in the way the kings have been ravenously scoffing yakkas. Usually yakkas are a bit hit & miss inside the harbour whereas fresh squid is irresistable to them. I've had a few days on the harbour this Summer where the squid got ignored in favour of the jellybean yakkas.

In the last couple of weeks though, the kings have become more reluctant... they're visible on the sounder but not taking bait as readily. I made the mistake on Saturday of only catching yakkas and only got one hit all day even though there were heaps of fish around. From now on I'm going back to my usual plan of catching squid.

Squid can be caught at any time of the day or night. Find any spot near shore in the outer harbour, where the water is clear and there's a patchy bottom of sand, rock and weed... rocky headlands where they meet beach are a good starting point... and throw around a small jig (1.8 - 2.5) and you'll find squid. If you don't get any action in the first 5 minutes move to a different spot.

Pickers can be a real pain, particularly if you fish live squid too close to the bottom or too close to structure. If you're squid gets killed though, they still make fantastic strip baits and often stripped squid can be even more reliable than live squid anyway.

If you have a sounder, have a look around any spot you're going to fish first to see if there are any decent kings around before you drop your bait in the water.

I'm willing to bet that from now on you'll see a decreasing number of posts about kings being caught on yakkas and more on squid. Have a look at Cephs last report!!

Yes... It is worth catching squid.

Cheers, Slinky

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in the last 2 weeks the only bait we have had reliable hits on has been peeled prawns,mind you we use 6lb fire wire ,at anchor berly up and start with pinkys and work our way up[all the time having 2 liveys out the back witch have been totaly ignored ]even on sunday at the gap all the above 2 550 kings 1 750 bonito and zip on the liveys we have had rats feeding at the back off the boat only taking prawns

regards brickman

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in the last 2 weeks the only bait we have had reliable hits on has been peeled prawns,mind you we use 6lb fire wire ,at anchor berly up and start with pinkys and work our way up[all the time having 2 liveys out the back witch have been totaly ignored ]even on sunday at the gap all the above 2 550 kings 1 750 bonito and zip on the liveys we have had rats feeding at the back off the boat only taking prawns

regards brickman

If your name is not a giveaway, the fact that you use millimetres is a dead giveaway for a tradie. Love it.

Has anyone tried butterflying the yakkas? Any success?

I've always chased the squid but with mixed results. For me its a win win situation. :wife: loves to eat the squid, while the parents love the kingies.

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I only caught my first kingy at the social a few weeks ago and guess what I caught it on.

LIVE SQUID.

IMO it worked while some of the experienced guys got nothing so there have to be some benefits....

Happy fishing :1fishing1:

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I only caught my first kingy at the social a few weeks ago and guess what I caught it on.

LIVE SQUID.

IMO it worked while some of the experienced guys got nothing so there have to be some benefits....

Happy fishing :1fishing1:

id love to know some areas in the harbour that regularly yield squid; either from land or a boat please

havent had too much luck at balmoral just a couple of squid over 2 nights

thanks!

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