Squid fishing - let's go!

For the Eging for Squid team, a lot of missions to hunt down the squid are spontaneous ones – dictated by calm nights, slight winds, and sometimes even the traffic…

The spontaneity of our eging missions is all made possible because there is minimal gear required for squid fishing. Egi rod, reel and jigs and you are set to go. We keep our gear in the car most of the time so we are always ready for impromptu trips before or after work. All it takes is that slight itch to fish.

We recommend adopting this practice during the squid season because not all of us are lucky enough to have the time to plan trips in advance. But where there’s a will, there’s a way. For example, for those working close to Auckland CBD, near the Eastern bays or who go through these areas en route to and from work, there is a very good opportunity to sneak a quick session in before your other commitments keep you away from the water. We’ve heard of some people who stop off at Tamaki Drive, Murrays Bay Wharf, Harbour Bridge and other central locations during the rush hour as to avoid the traffic on the way home. More often than not, there will be no complaints when you come home slightly later than usual with a fresh feed of squid in hand. Therefore, it’s helpful to be aware of the tide times and weather to make the most out of your pit stop.

A general rule of thumb is to look out for westerly winds on the mainland. Considering we fish for broad squid on the east coast, westerlies clear up the water and are easier to find shelter from. Depending on the location, peninsulas and islands offer more areas where you can fish with the wind behind you or even better, shelter from it.

There are a lot of apps and websites out there for checking the weather, but we are big fans of Windy and MetService. Windy is great as there are additional features which provide you with the swell and wave direction and height for a particular location. This is particularly useful when fishing on rocks that are in the open as it can get very dangerous, or at the very least unpleasant, when there are swells approaching. The MetService rain radar is also great for those questionable looking days as it gives you very reliable information on the way the rain clouds are moving.

One Friday we deviated from the usual end-of-week shenanigans, which generally involve various activities that lead to us spending way too much money. Luckily, at the last minute, seeing the gentle westerly winds and good tide times, we realised it was looking primo for a tame squid fishing session at Takapuna Boat Ramp. Although the water was not as clear as we’d been hoping for, it was good enough. We decided to make things interesting and hosted a very impromptu competition that went from 6pm to 9pm, with the biggest squid of the night receiving a large assortment of squid jigs as the prize. Considering the announcement was made just shy of two hours prior, we were pleasantly surprised with the turn-out of people. The whole place was lit up with head torches and the light from the streetscapes nearby, making for a very beautiful sight.

Unfortunately, it was one of those nights which we see too often in squid fishing where the action was very slow. For some reason, the squid appear to sense the congregation of people and play hard to get. After about an hour we heard some yells and lo and behold, a nice squid appeared on the surface, caught by an angler named Kevin Morris. It was a nice specimen with the squid looking around 400g – a very good size for this time of the year. For the next two hours there was very little action. There were instances of very small squids hanging around in between the rocks in front of us. They could be seen showing interest in the jigs, but were too small to take the offering. It is rather amusing watching them dance around and then bullet into the jig only to bounce off over and over again. If you focus enough, you can feel their gentle tap. Familiarising yourself with this feeling is beneficial when not sight fishing so you can tell whether squid are in the vicinity and can be prepared to strike as soon as you feel that pull. Knowing this feeling is especially important when the squid are shy and are only tapping the jig as you have a limited window to hook up before they let go.

The night ended with Kevin walking away with his well-deserved squid jig goodie pack, and the smile said it all. Although it wasn’t the most productive night for the rest of us, being surrounded by the sound of the crisp rod whipping noises made by fellow kraken hunters and the memorable banter that came with it, made it all worth our while, so we want to thank everyone who took the time out of their schedule to partake in the comp.

A good sized specimen for this time of year, estimated around 400g, caught on a size 3.0 jig.

We find that size 2.5 is still the magic number for jigs at this time of year and generally we start casting with this first. Depending on the current, depth, wind and general squid sizes being caught on the night, we may experiment with different sizes as well. Make sure to dress warm and always keep your head torch charged for whenever those spontaneous trips happen! Happy squidding!