Bush 'n Beach Fishing Magazine Location reports & tips for fishing, boating, camping, kayaking, 4WDing in Queensland and Northern NSW
The squid bonanza is here and the action is thick and fast. Many land-based anglers love chasing the beloved squid along rock walls, foreshores and islands. Moreton Bay provides many options when it comes to areas to catch these tasty cephalopods.
Jigs: most jigs will work however there are better performers then others, Yamashita jigs seem to be the most popular used jigs around our area. Natural colours are a go to during the high light (daytime) conditions. A jig from the 1.8 to 3.0 size is the best bet for sure fire catching.
Orange and pink is a must for the lowlight angler. The pink and orange colours contrast the best to the squid’s spectrum of sight. Remember if you are spotting squid that you don’t use t much light. They live by their eyes and will see you coming from a mile away so keep the lights off as much as possible.
Areas: Cleveland to manly have a huge number of squid roaming the areas and although you will get them most nights they do run In patches. Don’t be scared to move around a bit to find where they are. High tide is sometime a bit if hit and miss. Usually a rising tide or dropping tide is the ticke to seeing these squid land based. A dropping tide during winter will usually make the water clear up in turn making them easier to see
Islands: green island and peel island have always been a one stop shop for squid. They provide weed, rock and sand bottoms which all hold squid. Setting drifts in most depths from 1.0m to 5m will show you where they are sitting on the day. High tides to the slack tide and dropping tide is a great time to fish for squid as they push up with the high tide and have time when the tide stops to swim freely in no current.
Best care: catching a squid is great! But how you kill and store the squid is essential. Ikka spikes can be brought from most good fishing retailers and there are many videos on YouTube to show how you use them. Once killed keep them at room temperature until you get home. Clean them as soon as you get in the door to prevent the hood going tough.
