Squid fishing is fascinating for people of all ages and is an excellent way to introduce young children to the fantastic outdoor activity of fishing. Fishing for squid is one of the greatest because it is a year-round species.

Squid jigging is comparatively an old process that is still continued with added features and the latest technologies. Before, fishing was commonplace to pursue squid with multi-prong wire jags (people called them jags, not squid jigs) baited with a potato sculpture. This may sound unbelievable considering how they used to go squidding these days, but it's true, and it worked. The twisted wire shaft on those archaic jags was long enough to fit a decent-sized potato, which was delicately impaled to sit just above those dangerous barbed hooks after being cut down with a vegetable knife into a torpedo form.

In the contemporary era, the squidding scene has undergone a significant transformation. Squid fishing used to be done with handlines before but now people use a specific squid jig setup and reel to do the job.

Squid habits

It's worthwhile to briefly consider what makes the southern calamari tick before moving on to explore the amazing world of new-age squidding. These fascinating beings have two hearts, a brain that is proportionately far larger than that of the majority of fish, the ability to alter their body coloration quickly, an exceptionally high development rate, and a fairly short lifespan. Their eyesight is around ten times as sharp as ours, but they can't smell that well. Squid are essentially the aliens of the underwater realm, to put it simply. Planning your subsequent squid-hunting excursion will undoubtedly be made easier if you keep this in mind, or at least some of it.

Sight and smell are two of the physiological traits stated above that are most important. This implies that the clearer the water, the better, and that natural fish baits don't really have a distinct advantage over artificial ones. As squid primarily hunts by sight, foggy water reduces the probability to detect your squid jig and attacking. The squid is one of the world's fastest-growing cephalopods in terms of growth rates. The ordinary squid (carapace length of between 20 and 25 cm) is typically between 8 to 12 months old, whereas many of the truly monster squids we occasionally see in southern Australian waters may only be 18 months to 2 years old. They live on the edge, reproduce frequently, grow quickly, and die young.

While southern calamari can occasionally be found in water as deep as 30 metres, their prefered habitat is between the depths of 2 and 6 metres. They prefer to reside in and around seagrass meadows, especially where cork weed and tape (ribbon) weed are common. The bulk of the squid fishing occurs around the coasts, where there is still a tonne of tape weed present despite the clear and extensive degeneration of inshore weed areas.

How to catch squids from the boat?

The process of squid catching with squid jig hooks is typically made simpler, though not always more enjoyable when you set out in a boat. Although it's possible to catch a feed year-round, the most fruitful time for squidding is frequently late autumn through winter and into early spring. For larger calamari, June and July are the best. The probability of landing a good bag is excellent as long as the inshore water is clean, the wind is calm, and there is adequate tidal exchange. The optimum wind speed for a proper drift is less than five knots. However, by releasing a sea anchor (drogue) that will considerably limit the drift rate, you can squid successfully in stronger winds. It's crucial to drift at a speed that will enable you to troll squid from the weed beds with your squid jig down deep, which is much more challenging in a boat going too fast.

Fishing with the wind behind your cast will cause the boat to drift down on the jig rather than draw away from it, which is another smart move. Fishing on the leeward side will yield the best results because most boats will drift side-on to the wind. Each time it is used, it occasionally attracts more calamari than the standard casting setup. However, you would like to make a small adjustment to this setup. The jig set beneath a float typically rides up a little higher as the boat moves because you're continuously drifting, which isn't ideal. Simply put a 28gm ball sinker above the squid jig setup to offset this, and the work is done.

Squid jigging at its best

The best piece of advice Rui Fishing can deliver is to always have a good variety of colours on hand because there will be times when one colour scheme will outperform all others. It is vital to take good care of your squid after catching them to provide the highest possible flavour. Contact Rui Fishing for all the necessary equipment to get the tender squids always.