My first legal Mulloway and nice size squid

[The Incredible Hull]

Apologies in advanced for the long post - It was a fun night for us =)

Fished Middle Harbour on Friday night with a good mate. We arrived at Tunks at around 5pm, launched the boat. As I was trying to start the motor, my mate notices fish in the water. I immediately think they could be yakka’s, so I decided to put on a tiny hook with a tiny piece of pillie. 3 seconds after lowering the bait down, I'm on! We pull up 3 yakka’s before the chopper tailor started to swarm in and busted our rigs.

We set off or some squid at spot 1 but it didn't produce. Decided to motor off to spot 2 for our nights fishing before the sun went down. I had my burley bucket in the water, which consisted of blended pillies and bread. We were in about 25m of water, I lowered the yakka down, rigged with 2 snelled 4/0's, top hook in nose and bottom hook under the dorsal. My other rod had 3/0 gangs with a whole pillie. We pretty much was getting smashed by chopper tailor all night. Before the bait would even hit the bottom it was getting eaten!

My mate eventually pulls up, what looks like a gem fish or a long tom??? No idea what they were, but they were about 20-25cm in length. He caught 2 of them, both went back into the drink as we had no idea what they were or what the size limits to go by.

Then... my big rod with the live yakka went nuts! I tried to jump over as fast as I could, but it was gone by the time I got there… Nooooooo! =( *sob* Pull up my rig to find the hooks are still intact, so I was thinking King or Jew just smashed it. I re-rig another live yakka.

So about 10 minutes later I'm sitting there holding my rod with the ganged pillie... when all of the sudden, it jerks out of my hand and it almost goes into the drink... I managed to stay calm and composed, firmly hold the rod and start to reel it in. I had my drag set a bit too tight but was too excited to realise. I get the fish close to the boat and it goes for a little run, awesome to hear the drag going off! I eventually get it up on top of the water after about a 5 minute fight, it’s a Jewie! And it’s definitely legal! I've caught small Jewies before at Hawkesbury, but never a legal one. Finally after so many nights of big fat zeros, I am absolutely stoked to land him! He went about 56cm, a PB for me =)

Rod= Shimano Tcurve inshore 5-10kg

Reel= Shimano Stradic FI 4000

Main Line = 15lb Daiwa braid

Running small sinker to swivel

Leader = 1m of 12lb Sunline

Hooks: Ganged 3/0 Mustad with a pillie (Hooks bent, I might research for some stronger ones)

Tide: Incoming tide, about 1hr before high tide at night – would have been around 8:30pm.

After that action, I caught another 2 legal tailor. We left the spot due to the chopper tailor just demolishing our baits. So we decide to move – and my mate hates the moving part, because he’s the anchor boy! Hauling up an anchor in 25m surely can’t be fun . I promised him I’ll eventually put on a winch =)

We motored to the Spit Bridge for squid. A few casts in and we each land 1 squid each. We spend another 20 minutes for nothing so we moved back inshore around Quakers Hat bay. I don't know if we were in the right spot or not, but it was completely dead there. We spend about 30 minutes here and called it a night.

Next night, we decided to hit up a wharf that I regularly go to, and try our luck for squid. We were casting away, but got nothing for about 1-2 hours. I told my mate, "it’s just one of those nights, it’s not because we're doing something wrong, and they just aren't here mate". About 20 minutes after... my drag starts going off! Now, I was a little confused cause it felt like I had a fish on my squid jig. This thing ran for a good long 15-20 seconds. I kept the line tight and up high, started to reel the line in and then it started to pulse. "Dude, it’s a big one, grab the net". As it got closer, I was praying for it NOT to be an Octopus. Got it to the steps and it was a big squid . The hood measured in at 30cm, another PB for me.

Rod = Shimano Catana 1-4kg

Reel = Shimano Sienna 2500

Main line = 10lb Nitlon PE braid

Tied directly on via a double uni knot to leader = 6lb Sunline FC rock

Jig: 2.5 Jig, Orange on top and white on bottom.

Tide: Incoming tide, about 30min-1hr before high tide at night – would have been around 10pm.

Salt n Pepper squid - It tastes better than it looks!

So glad that we fished most of the weekend, looks like gloomy weather is setting in.

If you want more details, please PM me.

Edited April 16, 2013 by The Incredible Hull

[LungFai]

Try scoring the squid before cutting into pieces, that way it opens up more crevices for the salt and pepper to penetrate

Ohh and have you tried lemon and butter over a squid under a grill? Great Beer partner

Edited April 16, 2013 by LungFai

[nbdshroom]

Grats on the two PBs! Also a detailed report. Any pics of the two unidentified fish? It could be a number of things including hairtail or pike.

[CarlRak]

Nice report and a great fish, well done.

[quintrex480]

great effort Dave and great report! well done on the PBs mate!

[PRED-ATOR]

WELL DONE DAVE : )

Top report mate and great fish!

[Formosan]

Good effort mate. ..Congrats for getting into the squids..because squid = kings and Jews.

[reubs]

Quality effort and quality report keep up the good work fellas!

[Scratchie]

Well done! that feed with the beer is making me hungry! Yum!

Cheers scratchie!!!