St Leonards Calamari - Double Bag Out 13/4/2022 & 14/4/2022

[Andrews]

Hey everyone,

The holidays have arrived and since there may be a few fishos down this way, I wanted to give an update on the stellar squid fishing we've had the past two nights.

Half an hour after last light has proved the most productive, with large numbers of smaller 10 cm - 25 cm models moving under the lights and actively taking jigs. The two greatest difference between bagging out and catching 1 or 2 squid has been the jig size, and the action used to entice the calamari to strike.

Wednesday & Thursday 6:00-7:30PM
Heavy cloud, visible 95%+ full moon
low run in tide, high clarity with good water movement
Moderate S wind Wednesday, light E wind Thursday
White 2.5 Jig

Wednesday
Started out under the light and the current was magic, gently pushed the jig right to left and within 15 minutes the first squid was on the pier.
They went quiet after this for maybe 20 minutes, but half an hour after last light a good group of 8+ smaller hoods moved in. Bang! One after another and we're on six, friend caught one and the final one realising it was all alone swum away.
Quiet for another 25 and then a group of 4 came but remained very hesitant of all jigs. Seeing this behaviour and assuming all the jigs hitting the water were spooking them, I started casting behind the squid, letting it sink within 1ft of the bottom and darting tip and run which instantly caught their attention and four casts later we're bagged. Friends caught three between two, shared the squid between us evenly. The action change made all the difference.

Thursday
Started the same way, but with a very light E wind. There were maybe 9 of us under the lights and this time the squid came in larger numbers of ~12+ and two large groups 25 minutes apart.
Same action as the night before, casting past the squid, tip and running into view and then letting them commit and pull the jig as they were many people having touches only to have the squid drop the jig and swim off. First group of 12+ I managed a solid 5, seeing another 3 caught between 3 and the remainders swum away. Waited 30 minutes and a big group of 15+ showed up, nothing huge mix of 15 to 25cm hoods, and we are bagged within 10 minutes. Now these squid just wouldn't bite, and against I almost reckon there was too much action - jigs hitting the water, people cursing the squid, the lot). Letting the jig pretty much rest of the bottom way the goat this night.
If you had anything larger than a 2.5, they just wouldn't take it.

If anyones around this weekend down this way and wanting to chase some squid @ St Lennys, hit me up.

[Sebb]

Reckon the squid be better as we move into cooler months?
Do you think casting up current and drift with the current better, or down current and retrive is better? Or sideways?
.

[Lightningx]

Well done squid slayer
Cheers

[fisho999]

Reckon the squid be better as we move into cooler months?
Do you think casting up current and drift with the current better, or down current and retrive is better? Or sideways?
.
youdoodle-2022-04-16T20-28-44Z.jpg

**me staring in wonder at the scientific diagram before me**

[Andrews]

Reckon the squid be better as we move into cooler months?
Do you think casting up current and drift with the current better, or down current and retrive is better? Or sideways?
.
youdoodle-2022-04-16T20-28-44Z.jpg

I think it varies season to season, this year we've had massive spawns either side of the bay which have now reached the juvenile >20 cm mark, by the time mid-winter comes there should plenty of larger hoods around. I think it'll be a good winter.

Great question and I'd say it depends on the wind, tide and the squids behaviour. If they were active on the outside edge, against the current would be awesome for a tight line. I'm digging the diagram by the way!
The Wednesday night we had a moderate strength south wind paired with a run in-tide, while the squid really weren't biting on the outside of the pier. So the inside way the play.

I have punched up a diagram reflecting the conditions, white indicating the wind direction, blue reflecting the tide and the yellow/green visualising how I was casting that night.

You can see the current moving (right to left and inwards) along with the wind direction. I was casting two directions, one being dead into the wind and second being on a more 45 degree angle visualised by the green lines and yellow arc. My action was letting the jig sink and drift in the current before giving two tip and run darts to keep the jig at the same depth, just moving 1ft forward as it moved pausing before the lit up water.

[Andrews]

Well done squid slayer
Cheers

Thanks Lightningx,
Keen to see if they're still around mid-week after these 50KM North winds haha