No squid after rain, plenty of pikes though

[sashkello]

Hi All!

Just a little summary of my last couple of fishing sessions in the dark. My main purpose was to try out a bunch of vibes & blades which I recently bought, as I haven't fished with them much before. Secondary was to try getting some squid, as I've ran out of the frozen ones I use as bait, not to mention that I do like eating them. 

I was trying squid jigs every now and then when switching between other lures and had no takes at all. The days I was fishing were after some rain, so I'm starting to get a pattern... The water was nice and transparent, with very little rubbish about, but still no squid. I rarely have a zero squidding session, and last time it happened a couple of months ago was also after a rain, so I wanted to make sure that it's a pattern and not just one-two unlucky days. This is all at night though, and in the areas frequented by arrows, so still to decide whether it holds for calamari. 

Concerning vibes & blades. I love fishing with them - there is less hassle than with plastics, and you always feel the action which tells you whether all is good or you got some weed or it got tangled, so less time wasted. So far, bigger Zerek fish-looking vibes didn't get any bites, I think that they are a bit biggish and would do good fishing for bigger fish which probably wasn't around this time. Same goes for blades, although I did manage a decent 30cm bream on first cast with no action after that. Smaller squid vibes however were quite productive, giving me another legal bream and a 32cm trevally within only a few casts.

For another session went to Balmoral late at night. There were big schools of sea pike; the water around the jetty was teeming with them. They were taking my squid vibe almost every cast, but for some reason hookup rate was pretty low. I like eating these because they are so easy to clean and have more meat than you'd guess by looking at them. Managed 4 of them well into legal size and threw a few smaller ones back. It was lots of fun because the water around the jetty was full of some kind of bioluminescent mass, which only lights up when something moves through it. So, I'd bring my vibe close and work it vertically right under my feet, and then I see a trace of luminescence light up and bam! - pike takes my lure. I was afraid they'd destroy my soft vibe, but it looks like new even after 20+ takes, so I'm becoming kind of a fan of this kind of lure. 

Made tempura out of the pikes and decided to try salting trevally in a mixture of some spices+brown sugar and lemon zest. The latter is one of the best things I've ever tasted and I'm not even exaggerating... 

[Pickles]

A great report @sashkello. You are correct about squid and freshwater. About the only place you’ll get squid after heavy rain is on an incoming tide near the heads, as this is mostly salt water undiluted by the fresh from the rain. An outgoing tide here is no good as mostly fresh on the top. Squid can’t tolerate fresh water and even if you catch squid outside the heads, put them in live bait tank and come inside the harbour, they die, because bait pump pulls water from the top and freshwater sits on top of the denser saltwater.

[Basil D]

On 11/19/2024 at 9:23 AM, sashkello said:

Hi All!

Just a little summary of my last couple of fishing sessions in the dark. My main purpose was to try out a bunch of vibes & blades which I recently bought, as I haven't fished with them much before. Secondary was to try getting some squid, as I've ran out of the frozen ones I use as bait, not to mention that I do like eating them. 

I was trying squid jigs every now and then when switching between other lures and had no takes at all. The days I was fishing were after some rain, so I'm starting to get a pattern... The water was nice and transparent, with very little rubbish about, but still no squid. I rarely have a zero squidding session, and last time it happened a couple of months ago was also after a rain, so I wanted to make sure that it's a pattern and not just one-two unlucky days. This is all at night though, and in the areas frequented by arrows, so still to decide whether it holds for calamari. 

Concerning vibes & blades. I love fishing with them - there is less hassle than with plastics, and you always feel the action which tells you whether all is good or you got some weed or it got tangled, so less time wasted. So far, bigger Zerek fish-looking vibes didn't get any bites, I think that they are a bit biggish and would do good fishing for bigger fish which probably wasn't around this time. Same goes for blades, although I did manage a decent 30cm bream on first cast with no action after that. Smaller squid vibes however were quite productive, giving me another legal bream and a 32cm trevally within only a few casts.

For another session went to Balmoral late at night. There were big schools of sea pike; the water around the jetty was teeming with them. They were taking my squid vibe almost every cast, but for some reason hookup rate was pretty low. I like eating these because they are so easy to clean and have more meat than you'd guess by looking at them. Managed 4 of them well into legal size and threw a few smaller ones back. It was lots of fun because the water around the jetty was full of some kind of bioluminescent mass, which only lights up when something moves through it. So, I'd bring my vibe close and work it vertically right under my feet, and then I see a trace of luminescence light up and bam! - pike takes my lure. I was afraid they'd destroy my soft vibe, but it looks like new even after 20+ takes, so I'm becoming kind of a fan of this kind of lure. 

Made tempura out of the pikes and decided to try salting trevally in a mixture of some spices+brown sugar and lemon zest. The latter is one of the best things I've ever tasted and I'm not even exaggerating... 

Generally you wont find squid after the rain as they like clean clear water, you find the calamari retreat to deeper water into the kelp, tghis what I have found with them and have got them in 60 foot of water at the bottom after the rain.