cuutlefish or squid in deep water

[Benzeenees]

While we were after kingfish - in 40 to 50 metres of water - we had the occasional heavy pull on our live bait which came up with its back/neck bitten out. Eventually the pull lasted long enough for us to see the culprit. It was either a cuttlefish or a big squid which let go about 5 m from the surface.

We tried using the squid spike things that you skewer a yellowtail with, but had no takes. Obviously they were only interested in live bait.

Has anyone had a similar experience and has anyone found a way to catch cuttlefish or squid in 50m of water.

BTW, a lot of the kings we caught had squid in them, but nothing as big as the one I saw.

One other question. On the sounder the schools of kingfish were showing up as blue and red masses extending from 40m to 30m. But before we encountered the kings there were extensive areas showing as blue spots - sometimes densely packed - between 50m and 40m. Any idea what this might be?

[ginko]

I get squid eating my livies fairly frequently when fishing in deepish water near headlands with a decent tidal current (at least at the surface).

You can get a squid skewer at any tackle store, and keep it handy in the boat for this occasion.

When you pull up half-eaten yakka, take it off the hook, stick this skewer through a filet of the now-dead-yakka and send it down deep. hey presto, large squid.

The really big ones do seem to be down deep: I pulled up a 1.6KG squid using this method.

Then the age old dilemma: eat it or use it for bait...

[A.dawg]

You know roughly how big with was and if u put ur skewer through the back of a livie it can still be a

Ive for squid so give that a go next time

[Benzeenees]

We're thinking of tying a skewer jig to a yellowtail with rubber bands or string. Inserting one of those skewers thru a live fish seems a bit cruel!

[lostproperty]

We had a big squid attack a livie our for a king, had a few attempts to land it but all we did was keep teasing the squid and brought it to the boat slowly, and used a net behind the squid, was an unexacting catch

[Jiggy]

If you want cuttlefish in deep water this is the 100% method that works for me; a raider jig in 65 to 100 grams. Drop it to the bottom and fish it using a slow yo yo method; if they are around it won't take long for them to find the jig. I find fishing over gravel the best spot to try this and you often get some big ones jumping on.

Squid sometime jump on them too, but fishing a squid jig tied to a paternoster while drfting seems to work better. In the deeper water they are definately bigger and time of day doesn't seem to matter to much.

Cheers

Jiggy