Science of Squid Fishing

Southern Calamari, Squidding, Egi, Squid Jigs, Melbourne Squid Fishing Locations,
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Andrews
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Science of Squid Fishing

Post by Andrews » Thu Oct 15, 2020 4:52 pm

Hey Everyone,

I wanted to share my experience chasing everyone's favourite, the calamari and highlight the science behind these awesome creatures.

Why chase calamari? They're top eating, fun to catch and I'm a sucker for science.

The Science of Calamari:

Southern Calamari, Sepioteuthis australis are easily identifiable by their anatomy of a long hood with wings extending the length of their body and tentacles attached to their heads. They can present a diverse range of patterns through chromatophores ranging from deep reds, to browns, oranges and whites depending on conditions.

Habitat & Breeding:
Southern Calamari favour inshore ecosystems with Southern and Western Port Phillip Bay consisting of multiple spawning grounds. They favour sandy weed beds and light reef with a preference of laying eggs in Amphibolis antarctica Wire Weed,Zostera spp. Eelgrass and other macro algae. They spawn multiple times throughout the year with peak seasons being in Spring-Summer and stay resident for one week before breeding again. Multiple female calamari will share egg clusters and lay over multiple days.

Behaviour and Diet:
Southern Calamari are voracious hunters which means they are always actively hunting prey. They travel in groups called shoals and are most active between dawn and dusk, but still can still be successfully caught during the day. Squid have incredible eyesight, are colour blind and hunt using detected changes in polarized light. This means rather than colours, they see the way the different colours disperse light waves. Research suggests that they can also detect vibrations in water (ie sound), changes in temperature and potentially feel temperature through their tentacles. This is also backed by squid favouring striking on a sinking fall.
Their diet consists of a mix of fish species and crustaceans.
Jigging for Science - Defining the spawning needs of calamari in Port Phillip Bay Report -Victorian Fisheries 2015
https://vfa.vic.gov.au/science-in-fishe ... hillip-bay

Locations:
You're looking for locations where you'll find a healthy ecosystem and all the environmental structure calamari love, like a mix of eelgrass beds and sandy breaks. I fish St Leonards pier which has a mix of eelgrass beds, sandy breaks and kelp reefs. Plenty of baitfish, crustaceans and shellfish are key indicators of a good ecosystem.
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Science of Jigs:
Squid may be color blind, but that doesn't mean they don't see difference between colour! Because they see polarized light they can better detect changes in light, contrast and have greater clarity in low light situations. Yamashita did some great research into what squid actually detect.
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As our squid jig drops, the amount of reflected light is scattered meaning what might be a vibrant jig outside the water becomes darker and harder to see the deeper it sinks. This is countered by jigs often having a base colour and then a secondary underside colour. This is also why underwater photography is often dull and lacks vibrancy.
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The temperature of light is another characteristic that can change the colour of your jig in the water. First and last light brings a strong deep orange colour transitioning into pink before reaching a strong white light during the midday. Certain colours and reflective materials or patterns work better when paired with a light level. These temperatures can also change depending on colour cover, say an overcast, partly cloudy or clear sky day.


Water clarity plays a massive part of fishing for calamari. A calamari's hunting abilities comes from their powerful eyes and despite their eyesight being way better than ours, we want to boost our chances to hooking up. Clear water favours squid fishing and sometimes can range from a deep blue to a deep green colour, this slight colour change will affect the refraction of colour.
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When it's clear, a natural looking jig that matches the baitfish present in the ecosystem will boost your chances of hooking up because that's what they're actively hunting. The dirtier the water gets, the brighter you'll need to go to be noticed by the squid. A rattle in the squid jig is another way to get the attention of a squid even when the water clarity is low.

My experience with jigs:
I'm a sucker for the science of squid jigs, but do have my favourites.
Bright sunny/partly cloudy days with a high clarity, I bring out the natural pilchard jig. The colour matches all the spawning baitfish that the squid are hunting. A darker colour black or olive works great on overcast weather as it creates a silhouette in the water.
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If that water clarity drops,or it's overcast and the squid have low activity, bringing out a pop of colour is often enough to get them to strike.
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The water clarity drops further or the light level drops, a bright pink with a rainbow foil gets it done.
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My jigs.
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Wind & Tide:
Squid need water movement, wind or tidal They're semi-buoyant which means on a wind or tide they will often drift with the water movement. You can use this to your advantage by casting up current and using the current to push you across the weed beds covering more ground on a single cast. This will also mean that your jigs sink slower.

Technique:
Squid fishing opens up to many techniques and the importance of understanding how your rod actions transform into movement of the jig.
My preference is a three rising whip which darts the jig once before popping it like a prawn twice. This allows me to move the jig higher into the water column for a long slow sink giving the squid plenty of time to strike. When they're picky this gives them enough time that often anglers will miss. Research done in Japan suggests that squid prefer to strike on a downwards sink than mid movement.
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Another action is under handing the whip movements which creates small little darts close to the bottom. One other tip is angling of the rod tip, the lower you hold the rod the closer it will sit to the bottom, so raising the rod tip as the tide drops helps prevent getting snagged.
Last edited by Andrews on Fri Oct 16, 2020 3:03 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Amateur Fisherman, South West Victoria / - Instagram:
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Re: Science of Squid Fishing

Post by Lightningx » Thu Oct 15, 2020 5:56 pm

Some great info there mate.
Thanks for sharing 😃
Cheers 👍🏻

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Re: Science of Squid Fishing

Post by Nude up » Thu Oct 15, 2020 7:06 pm

Nice article,it’s funny how people have their favourite colours and method. I prefer the 2 big lifts the let it sink. I fish 90% of the time off my boat and prefer to drift for squid whilst some people prefer to anchor I met a guy at the ramp one day and we had a discussion about squid he anchored and burleys for them.
I prefer yamashita jigs I start with the silver and blue back , gold with dots king George colours, reddy brown prawn colour then move on to yamashita rattle ones warm jackets etc.
I had to go to Waurn ponds today so I dropped into BCF to replace a few jigs I lost the other day and I bought one of the yamashita jigs with suspended piece of foil in it that moves with the movement of the jig that would reflect the sun causing a flash can’t wait to give it a crack.

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Re: Science of Squid Fishing

Post by Kimtown » Thu Oct 15, 2020 7:13 pm

Best post on fish-vic hands down.. thanks for the scientific info, there seems to be so little of this type of stuff for our staple Victorian table fish

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Re: Science of Squid Fishing

Post by ben475 » Thu Oct 15, 2020 8:37 pm

thanks for posting that info!

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Re: Science of Squid Fishing

Post by denis barden » Thu Oct 15, 2020 11:41 pm

Good post well done

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Re: Science of Squid Fishing

Post by westvic » Fri Oct 16, 2020 5:13 am

Thank you great post

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Re: Science of Squid Fishing

Post by Andrews » Fri Oct 16, 2020 8:37 am

Patterns:
Something I think that is worthwhile also discussing is patterns. Since squid see polarized light their perception is more of a greyscale contrast where colours fall between the shades of white and black. This is where patterns do make a difference, I took an example of the Yamashita Sutte-R squid jigs and grayscale the image to highlight how patterns will appear for them. If you compare the bright black BK, against the orange BWO and pink BWP from a colour perspective they both look very vibrant, but when greyscaled the pink BWP appears darker.
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Thanks Lightning!

I couldn't agree more Nude Up, I think for colour and technique it also depends on the environment you're fishing too. Say heavy weed vs sandy breaks. I'm a bit biased for the Yamashita Sutte-R size 3.0, I really like the range of colours and patterns, they swim beautifully and they're affordable since squid jigs can get very, very expensive. Silver/Blue back in that Pilchard is go-to for clear water, sunny bright days. I might have to check out that KGW looking jig. I was thinking over the past week about getting one with a rattle, I'd go a bright pink/rainbow foil for those murky bright/overcast days. If the clarity if low and the squid struggle to see the jig, maybe the rattle will be enough to get them curious. The flash ones look nice, I reckon they'd be beaut on a bright full day in water shallower than 5M. That's where they'd shine.

Thanks Kimtown! I think there's a science to fishing and squid behaviour and the best we can do to understand it, the better we'll catch them!

Thanks Ben475, Denis and WestVic!
Amateur Fisherman, South West Victoria / - Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/fishingandrew/ Sponsors: Yamashita Australia, Yamashita Maria Japan.

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Re: Science of Squid Fishing

Post by happyfriggincamper » Fri Oct 16, 2020 12:06 pm

Good post thanks, I've got to have a crack at squid, never really done it

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Re: Science of Squid Fishing

Post by SteveoTheTiger » Fri Oct 16, 2020 12:38 pm

Great post Andrews.

I LOVE squid fishing. Its fun, mostly affordable, easy for beginners and normally sets you up with fresh bait and a great feed. Sure the jigs can cost a bit, but they are a long term investment and a good jig collection will last years with only the odd replacement for a lost or broken jig. And you can use pretty much any old 6-7' light rod. I have my $150 Shimano egi rod, but i give my deckies a $50 Jarvis Walker and they catch just as many squid as i do.

And if you can teach a rookie how to cast then you can have them catching squid very quickly. In fact on a boat they dont even have to cast, just drop it over the side! I have had mates catching squid within minutes of starting their first ever drift.

Early on i was having trouble catching squid. I may have even mentioned it here in the old reports. But i soon learned that my biggest problem was not jig colour or position or anything like that. It was simply that i was not letting the jig sink far enough before trying to reel it in. It wasnt until i caught a few squid with the rod in the holder (while i did something else for a minute) that i realised what i was doing wrong. Since that epiphany i have rarely failed to catch at least one or two.

For those that havent tried it.. give it a go. It is addictive as hell.
The only thing better than serenity is a two stroke at full throttle!
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