Ragged livey - what's the culprit?

[Robofish]

Raiders,

I went out the Long Reef on Sunday and on the way back dropped onto a new spot off north head for a quick couple of drifts over some rough ground (we were short on time). We sounded some fish, my mate dropped a live yakka down and I dropped a small jig. Nothing on the jig but my mate was hit straight away and misses it, he brings the bait up to check it to find some really jagged, deep gouges out right behind the yakkas head. We figured shark so down go two more livies on wire, I got hit and missed it and my mate hooked his, I call it for a shark but it turned out to be a kingy. Last drops for both of us, we both got hit and missed them only to find that both of our baits were ragged again. I should have took a pic but didnt - thinking about it since the bite or bites weren't regular and I reckon they could have been from big squid or cuttlefish - what do you guys reckon?

If it was a squid or cuttlefish they would have been pretty big and I wouldn't mind bringing one up. How would I do that in 35m? I thought about dropping a yakka on a spike but figure they would miss the jags if they are only hotting behind the neck.

Any thoughts or advice welcome.

Dave

[rjc123]

Yeah not a shark.. Yakka wouldn't come back in one piece if it was hit by a shark. Big squid/cuttlefish isn't a bad guess but i've had big bonito do similar things to livies. Bonito don't have thick teeth so if they are big gauges then i'd call it for squid/cuttlefish.

Cheers, Tom

[filthmonger]

Big squid for sure. They go for the spot behind the head.

[lostproperty]

Definately squid, they wont touch a squid spike - tried many times before and no luck, best advice is to try bring it up slowly if your lucky you will get it to the boat, and get a net behind it and bring it in, much harder than it sounds, only managed to get 1 this way before, just try keep the yakka off the bottom. Perhaps THE BUTCH might be able to shed some light on how he gets his squids @ LR down deep when he's out there ? I think he drops down a paternoster rig with jigs on it

[LungFai]

Shove one of these down the Yakkas throat, stake to come out the tail end or where you can get it out. Rig it up and send the bugger down. If it be a squid or cuttlefish it'll attack the head of ya yakka and get it's tentacles caught in the star spikes. Make sure you leave enough of a gap between spikes and head to impale the tentacles, i have seen many peeps forget to do that and the yakka looks like it is muzzled and ready for war

I usually make the stakes myself (out of chopsticks or other wooden rods) and buy the star spikes because the metal ones are heavy and usually come in a length i don't want.

[Robofish]

Thanks guys - will give it a go this weekend

Dave

[SargeRX8]

Ive had this happen many times, the beak bite behind the head. I tried the squid spike and I swear to you they do not touch yakka when they are dead. I bet you're striking pretty hard when you get the thump on the rod. Don't strike. Retrieve it as slow as you can and you will find very often this works, the squid will be hanging onto the yakka. From there you can either net the bastard(I'm land based so limited with reach) or you can drop a squid jig next to him and see if you can entice him onto that.

Definitely not shark.

[Day's Fishin]

Agree with most that 90% squid. Hard to catch drifting you need to be anchored. I don't agree that they don't touch dead bait as I have caught big squid on bonito that has been salted down from previous trips. Regards Jeff

[LungFai]

Agree with most that 90% squid. Hard to catch drifting you need to be anchored. I don't agree that they don't touch dead bait as I have caught big squid on bonito that has been salted down from previous trips. Regards Jeff

Agreed, I sometimes have a dead yakka on a spike (kinda hard to keep them alive once they are spiked ) out under a float while flicking out the egis'. If the squid ain't taking the lures they usually hit the yakka.

The spiked Yakka is a beaut alternative to the lures in shallow weedy areas, Yakka $0, spike $0.02c (chopstick), ring spikes/star spikes $0.30. Got Snagged? No probs $0.32 compared to a $15-$20 lure nuff said.

If ya got access to Gar fish even better, them be more streamlined and ain't so heavy.