First squid

[TheFishyFisherman]

Was fishing balmoral recently and I filled the bait bucket with yakkas and set up a live bait rig. Only got two hits but there was no hookup  for the first one but I was on a decent fish on the second yellowtail. Some of the people that were fishing around me kept screaming at me to tighten the drag as I was fighting the fish because the drag was set at 1/3 the breaking strain. I tightened the drag to make them stop yelling at me because I wanted to concentrate of the fish but as soon as I tightened it, the fish freed itself off the hook. I was a bit annoyed at those boys who were yelling at me but I moved on because they didn’t know what they were doing (they were trying to catch yakkas on big hooks). Eventually it started to get dark and the squid kept on killing my live bait. I thought “why not try catching them and got out and orange squid jig and started casting and slowly working the lure back with a slow troll with jerks (never targeted quid before). I soon felt some weight on the end of my line and set the hook and began reeling in. Once I landed it I was excited at what I caught… my first calamari squid!!!! I measured it and the hood was 31 cm but the whole thing was 75cm. Had calamari that night.

Edited July 29 by TheFishyFisherman

[ireallylovefishies22]

Well done! That is a cracking first squid. Shame about the lost fish though.

[Ryder]

Nice big squid.

Thats good thinking making the change to target them. 

[Little_Flatty]

Well done on the squid and shame about the lost fish.

If you know your drag is set correctly, don't touch it! Repeat after me: DON'T TOUCH IT!

Sounds like you set it with a scale, which is better practice than 99.9% of the population. If you MUST apply more pressure, then gently put pressure on the spool with your hand. Then when you're out of the danger zone, you can let go and continue fighting with a correctly set drag.

[TheFishyFisherman]

1 hour ago, Little_Flatty said:

Well done on the squid and shame about the lost fish.

If you know your drag is set correctly, don't touch it! Repeat after me: DON'T TOUCH IT!

Sounds like you set it with a scale, which is better practice than 99.9% of the population. If you MUST apply more pressure, then gently put pressure on the spool with your hand. Then when you're out of the danger zone, you can let go and continue fighting with a correctly set drag.

Yes, I know. I was peer pressured by the other fishermen that were telling me to tighten the drag 🤣

Edited July 29 by TheFishyFisherman

[Peter KH]

5 hours ago, TheFishyFisherman said:

set the hook and began reeling in

When squiding, be careful when trying to 'set the hook' as you can easily slice those needle thin hooks straight through the squid tenticles and miss the hookups. Instead might be better to let the squid set itself, or just do a gentle rod tip lift to pin the squidging hooks.

 

Well done though, they are aways a great feed, how did you cook your squid?

[TheFishyFisherman]

Thanks for the tip. as for how I cooked it, I cut up the hood into calamari rings, dipped it in batter and bread crumbs and deep fried it. For the fins, they were cook as it is on a pan (never tried just-caught squid and I just wanted to see what it tasted like on its own when it’s fresh. Both of these were eaten on the same night with family. For the tentacles, I refrigerated them and made takoyaki later even though it’s usually made with octopus. 

Edited July 29 by TheFishyFisherman

[TheFishyFisherman]

1 hour ago, Little_Flatty said:

Well done on the squid and shame about the lost fish.

If you know your drag is set correctly, don't touch it! Repeat after me: DON'T TOUCH IT!

Sounds like you set it with a scale, which is better practice than 99.9% of the population. If you MUST apply more pressure, then gently put pressure on the spool with your hand. Then when you're out of the danger zone, you can let go and continue fighting with a correctly set drag.

Oh. I don’t use a scale. I just twist it until I feel like it’s 1/3 of the breaking strain. I just use my gut feeling so i guess im also in the 99.9% population 😂

[james Cutler]

Well done.