Squid fishing tips for Spring

Despite winter throwing some curveballs, the Eging for Squid team have been out and about, exploring plenty of new squiddy spots, and finding some extra species along the way…

Winter 2019 certainly had a false start with the weather being all over the place, only offering small gaps when it was calm enough to head out. This posed a particular challenge our regular group of eging aficionados, as the short windows of pleasant weather didn’t always translate to clear waters, with the silt not getting a chance to settle. We know the general rule of thumb is that squid prefer to inhabit clearer waters.

We experienced a fair share of dry runs as a result of the poor weather, with numerous unsuccessful attempts, especially at Ben’s favourite areas of Mission Bay and the Harbour Bridge. One night, however, Ben decided to give it another crack, despite the water still not being 100%. When the jig sizes in 3.5 and 3.0 were not getting hits, Ben opted for a smaller 2.5 sized jig in the red-head colour. Not long after, he finally got a hit – not a monster but a gentle tug similar to that which we experience earlier in the season. Although the landed squid wasn’t huge, it was good to finally break the dry streak the team was suffering following the whirlwind of bad weather in the latter part of the winter season.

Rudee, who had recently come back from an overseas holiday, got straight into the action. He tried further up north around the shore but, in similar fashion to the rest of us, his first few trips went amiss. But with new toys to play with – the new Squid Attack 2 jigs, which are in the lower cost range and great for prospecting – he decided to venture further up north where the grounds are much more foul with rocks and kelp. We typically try to avoid these areas, although have been highly successful on our couple of trips up there – but we also donated a fair share of our expensive jigs to Tangaroa. With these new jigs, there was little to lose and everything to gain! Despite trying out the lime green colour, then orange, then pink – the classic bright colours as the water wasn’t that clear – none were getting hit. After trying out the red head, however, the bite soon followed, with models between 400g and 600g being caught. The size and number of the squid were both lower for us, but there are always going to be periods of slower fishing so hopefully, as we progress further into spring, both the weather and fishing improve.

Spring squid come in a range of sizes. This one must be a late bloomer.

On that note, as the water heats up, as does the activity of some of our more familiar pelagic species (such as kahawai and kingfish) making the squid fishing even harder. From past experience, a sudden drop in squid activity is a good indication that these pelagic hunters are on the loose. But a more obvious sign is the surface activity produced when baitfish are being flung into the air, coupled with violent splashes or seeing a large dark shadowy figure passing in the vicinity. The feeling of helplessness that follows, especially when the only gear on hand is a light eging rod and a couple of squid jigs, can make the trip very disheartening. This is particularly true when fishing in areas which require a long drive and traversing difficult terrain to access.

We have recently adopted the practise of going into every fishing trip with getting the most bang for our buck. Usually from late September/early October onwards we expand our arsenal for eging missions with additional weapons. We have our topwater gear on the go, all set up on the side in case there is surface activity or we see a passing school of kingfish. It’s also great to break up the trip by casting lures in between eging sessions, particularly when the squid bite does suddenly die off which is, of course, a good indication that something bigger might be lurking underwater that’s deterring them from coming out to play.

Kahawai lures are a must and are very easy to pack in with our squid lures. Using eging clips is advantageous as the squid lure can be quickly switched out for the kahawai lure. Fighting these fish is great fun on eging tackle, and as long as the drag is set loose enough, the rod and clips will easily handle these fish. Then when the kahawai activity dies down, squid lures can be put back on and back to eging it is.

It's better to be overprepared as the kahawai and kingfish increasingly make their presence known.

It is not just kahawai and kingfish you have to be worried about, but snapper too. There have been numerous times where we have felt a violent pull followed by a barrage of bites as we were bringing in a squid. The next thing we know, the squid is missing half of its head because it’s been hammered by snapper and other fish that were after a free meal. In those instances, it’s imperative to bring the squid in as quickly as possible to salvage as much of your catch. It is a great time of the year where you can get a mixed variety of species by just using lures off the rocks and the boat. As always, reading the conditions is key to maximising your trip success. Extra gear is extra luggage, but when those little opportunities do present themselves, taking advantage of them is what makes these sorts of trips memorable.