Musings of a squidding newbie

[R E G I C Y C L E]

Firstly, I am a squid newbie, who hadn't caught a squid until the session described below. In the last few months I have been interested in trying but had and still have not much idea where to start.

During the Christmas break, I spent a morning on the Hobie around the spit bridge area in middle harbour. It was on the whole an unsuccessfull outing, although I had follows from 5 or 10 bream over 40cm around the marinas. I've recently found enjoyment trying to tempt these big marina bream on hardbodies, although I've had limited success. Anyway, I digress as im getting off topic!

Near the amateur sailing club there is some small weed beds. I identified these as potentially holding fish, and was casting a natural coloured double clutch 48 around. At this stage of the tide (rising or falling I can't remember) the weed beds were in approx 1.5-2m of water.

Casting around some pylons in the water I suddenly noticed my slowly twitched jerkbait was getting followed by some odd looking darting objects, and realization dawned that I was looking at living squid for the first time. I twitched the lure very slowly over the weed which seemed to excite them enough to grab it. After 4 or 5 squid grabbing the lure then letting go at the net, one finally found the rear treble. I promptly netted the squid, which in turn promptly began repainting my Hobie a certain inky black tone. This seemed to spook the rest of the school and I couldn't attract another follower. If I had more suitable hooks on the lure, I would have caught more, or at least hooked up quicker. As it was it was probably 1 in 100 that I actually did hook up on the treble.

I tried returning with a squid jig, landbased a few days later, but strong wind put paid to any real attempt.

Now to the musings... all squid jigs I've seen are based around a prawn shaped sinking body. What if I was to re-purpose a suspending double clutch to catch squid in shallower water? A quick Google search brings up links for 'squid hooks' with an eyelet, which could be attached to a split ring. I think a single style hook would be the go, to try keep the weight balance of the lure as close to stock as possible. I would experiment with also removing the front treble on the lure as this would essentially be useless for squid. Unfortunately the single squid hooks are only listed in size large, and the listing gives no indication of true measurements.

I'll continue the search but I wanted to get input as to whether I'm trying to created a product that is already sold somewhere, or if it's worth pursuing? Feel free to add criticism, constructive or otherwise. Half of me feels like I should just learn to catch squid the normal way first, the other half likes inventing 😅

I also apologize if I gave away someone's secret squid spot🫣

Edited January 7 by mrsswordfisherman
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[Pickles]

Great post @R E G I C Y C L E, the product you are looking for does exist and I have used them in the past, (don’t remember where I purchased them on line, but made in Japan - like mot egi specific tackle)  I dont bother any more as, once you find squid, they are not that hard to entice to take a lure. My experience is that the real trick is to keep moving till you find them. They DONOT like fresh water, so when it’s been raining an incoming tide near the heads (brings saltwater in) works and and outgoing tide doesn’t. Having the correct size is important also, but as a general rule a 2.5 is often the “go to” size. I like yellow, white and green colours, but the “pilchard” in Yamashita works well.

[R E G I C Y C L E]

Thanks for the tips @Pickles. So squid won't necessarily hang around in one spot, or are they just on the bite some days and not others?

[Pickles]

9 hours ago, R E G I C Y C L E said:

Thanks for the tips @Pickles. So squid won't necessarily hang around in one spot, or are they just on the bite some days and not others?

The more time I spend targeting a species, the more I see patterns of behaviour, but the more diversity I experience in that behaviour. I do know that squid like specific habitats at different times of year and I quess this is due to life cycle, which if the current info is correct, suggests they hatch, grow, reproduce and die, all n 12-14 months, cuttlefish a bit longer (upto 2 years). To do this they have a voracious appetites and move around to find it. It makes sense that if there is food and cover (from predators) in a particular area they will hang around that area. 
SO, once you find where they are, there has to be a reason that they move from that area - food supply deteriorates, predation, change in physical conditions, change in environment. 
When I’m squidding I do what I do to find kingfish - go to where I got them “yesterday” and if they are not there, go to other spots I’ve got them before. Usually I’ll only spend 20 minutes in one location before I move on.

 

Edited January 7 by Pickles

[R E G I C Y C L E]

Great advice, thankyou!

[Max Power]

I watched a video the other day on the toob which may be of some interest to you @R E G I C Y C L E
Not sure if putting links to YouTube is allowed or not but admin please remove if not.