Squid and cuttlefish

[Pickles]

I had a recent pm from @Max_fish about squidding in the harbour and although this has come up many times in the past, I thought I’d share a few brief thoughts from my experience. Please - this is NOT exhaustive and only based on my experience and I’m not an expert, just love catching Kingies and the only way I know to consistently get them is with live bait and the best live bait is cuttlefish and squid.

"…………., squid (and cuttlefish) are like most species and some days you wonder what all the fuss is about as they are numerous and hungry and other days impossible to catch.

I usually use a 1.8 - 2.0 jig for cuttlefish, unless off shore or at South Head - It is illegal at Nth Head as this is in the Aquatic Reserve (SEE MAP) and extends all the way to the very front of Nth Head and a $500 fine if caught squidding there an I’ve seen fisheries taking photos on video cam  - I do tagging and fin clipping research for fisheries and know some of the officers and they are no longer lenient and  give a warning. If off shore for BIG cuttlefish, I’ll use a 3.5-4.5 jig and sometimes catch the 4-5kg models - real Crackens (see pics). These make the very best baits for kings as you can get 3 baits from each of the 2 candles and then at least 10 baits out of the head and cape. Unlike calamari though cuttlefish guts are NOT a good bait, whereas squid guts are the very best cut/dead bait.

Smaller Cuttlefish like the weed beds in the harbour, whereas calamari (green eyes) like the kelp beds. There is kelp on every headland, so it’s just a matter of finding where they are feeding and this changes, however they like clean water, so after rain a run in tide closer to the heads is much more successful in the harbour than a runout after rain, as the clean water lets them see the bait/ lure.

A really good “lure” is a squid spike with a 1/2 yakka (cut the tail off 1/2 way along the body) - I’ve caught heaps of squid and cuttlefish on this rig under a float suspended behind the boat, (the spikes at the head end). I try to have this about a foot off the bottom, but of course as the boat moves and drifts, this varies from bumping the bottom to several feet off the bottom. I know colour matters, but probably less than the movement of the jig and here, quality DOES matter and the more expensive jigs have a more lifelike fall (which is when the lure gets hit). Natural colours seem to work better for me and darker lures on an overcast day and lighter lures on brighter day (silhouette is more pronounced on a dark day if the lure is dark). So on overcast days I’ll start with a black or purple lure and on bright days a white or natural colours).

I started to get squid and cuttlefish by using Google maps and looking at the aerial shots of the “shaded” areas where the weed is. One outstandingly good weedy area is around the nets of the harbour netted swimming areas and also the bay between Benelong pt (opera House) Lady Macquarie chair.

Under the spit bridge is also a top spot at night time and the shore line opposite Dalbora Marina - but also big kings there and I’ve lost jigs, rod and reel over the side when left one in the rod holder unattended. The pics attached show a big variation in the size of squid and cuttlefish, some are in the harbour and some outside, they are common everywhere there is saltwater and reputed to be the largest biomass of “non-fin fish” and more common than even yellowtail, (I wish I could catch as many squid as Yakkas though).

Edited November 29, 2022 by Pickles
Pics

[noelm]

Cuttlefish (big ones) are great eating, far better than Squid (in my opinion) and strange enough, the "candles" that are soft when alive, are tough as old boots when cooked! but are great bait, a candle, with some suckers on the end, floating down is a great way to snag a big Snapper or Kingfish.

[Pickles]

3 minutes ago, noelm said:

Cuttlefish (big ones) are great eating, far better than Squid (in my opinion) and strange enough, the "candles" that are soft when alive, are tough as old boots when cooked! but are great bait, a candle, with some suckers on the end, floating down is a great way to snag a big Snapper or Kingfish.

Got to agree with you Noel - they are sweet and tender and if I wasn’t such an avid Kingie chaser, I’d eat a lot more of my fresh bait and spend more time catching the cephalopods (not all that excited about occurs though).

[bessell1955]

Great advice and sound information.  Thank you for sharing.