St Leonards pier this morning 26/3/22

[Sebb]

After reading Andrews reports, I messaged couple mates to go to St Leonards pier.

Fished 6:30am-8:30am
High tide 8:30am
Moon 36%
Wind SE 15-20kmh
Various squid jigs, my mate had bait rod with chicken on 1/0 circle.
.

.
Few people fishing, saw one guy landed a good sized silver trevally.
I got two squid on 3.0 red jig, my mate dropped one good squid on white gancraft, dropped a trevally on the bait rod.

I put the squid in an esky with some water (no aerator), hoping to keep them alive. And live bait them for something big, but nah, they died.

Moved to another spot, used the squid as fresh bait, landed a 37cm pinkie.
.

.
Hooked a salmon while casting metal blade, lost it just under my feet, on surface. I had the drag too tight, probably ripped the jaw. Was about 40-50cm aussie slamon.

Mrs be happy enough to have some calamari rings and a pan sized pinkie.
.

.
And check this out. The squid is obviously dead with no guts and head but the skin is going funny.

https://youtube.com/shorts/gCw8QVCNOiI?feature=share

[Kenle]

Woooow that squid skin looks amazing

[Andrews]

It looks like you were able to get a nice mixed bag Sebb, calamari and fresh snapper, you can't beat that!

[Lightningx]

A nice pinkie and a couple of nice squid!
Well done seb
Cheers

[Sebb]

It looks like you were able to get a nice mixed bag Sebb, calamari and fresh snapper, you can't beat that!

Thanks.
Water was clear in the shallows but a bit murky around the mid and end section of the pier. It was hard. Few people fishing for squid and not landing any.
Heaps of fresh ink though.

[rb85]

Great work Seb

Could you just recycle the water it came out of?

Better yet twin hooks and a balloon then let it out....

[Sebb]

Never really kept a livey before, so I got no idea. Seen people and videos using aerator to keep fish alive but not for squid.

The plan was to use a live squid under a baloon or giant float or even just with tiny sinker. But they died in about 1/2 hr in the esky.
When I hooked the salmon, I thought I hooked a kingfish, haha. Tightened the drag, pulled hard. Got to my feet real quick, and no yellow on the tail. Knew it wasn't a kingfish. Still had the drag too tight. It opened the gob, ready to jump, shook it's head and off.
Got my heart racing for a while.

So the king remains on my bucket list. Probably for a long time. Can't really afford spending $300 on a charter anymore, especially after 2-3 trips on a charter specifically for kings and got donut.