Your not wrong about the sea lice Jaz and yes I think are more prevelent during a full moon.
Have you ever fished the bite between Pt lonsdale and Queenscliff this area is the ducks guts for squid and would have to be the number one spot in the bay for leatherjacket parrot fish and squid because of the healthy weed beds
I used to get heaps from here when I had a boat and still get a few from the beach, you should see the look on peoples faces when you pull up a big squid from the beach.
If you have a small boat you might want to consider fishing under the light house at night or just near the pilots jetty this area really fires up for squid
22-07-2005, 04:02 PM (This post was last modified: 22-07-2005, 06:06 PM by Jazman.)
I've never fished the bight but a few friends swear by it for HUGE spawners in season. I reckon I'm a good chance of going to St Leonardstonight. Do you reckon a northerly wind will impact the fishing.....I'd prefer a southerly/sth westerly, but a 15-20 knot northerly is forecast.
And....as if I didn't have enough squid jigs in my tackle box already, I've invested in another expensive jig. I forked out $25 this arvo for an EGILEE Frocky 2.5 in pink (see picture below). It looks extremely cool, it glows, it has a horizontal swimming action, and a small chamber on the weight which supposedly creates bubbles when you jig it. And the finish of the jig is not the traditional cloth, it's some sort of felt type material. Anyhow, I'll let everyone know if it was worth the money I paid for it.
I brought two pink jigs in a twin pack from BigW for $3.98 yep thats right not even four bucks. the barbs are of good quality not flimsy and are coated I lost one when I didnt close the clip properly and I only lost 2 bucks not 25.
Squid cant tell how much you pay for a jig and I have found that the cheap ones last just as long as the expensive ones, they all rust at the eyelet where you put the clip through eventually I have never paid 25 bucks for a jig although I have been given a few expensive ones I find their action and the way the sit in the water are no different than the most expensive one even though the makers state different with yo zuri challenging the angler to compare the way one of their jigs sit in the water compared to any other brand, my expiriment found no difference at all. Mate when you can catch squid on a paint brush handle painted white with a few barbless fish hooks tied to the end or a jag with tin foil wrapped around it then what you pay for a jig just dosent come into it. Its all color and even that theory is a bit on the nose because squid are only supposed to see in shades of grey so how they tell blue from green or pink from red is anyones guess I think it might have to do with what shade of grey they see, ATT GLEN if you can add some light on this theory please do but I saw a doco on squid and the marine biologist stated that they only see in shades of grey so this might blow the color theory right out the water so to speak, with all my expirience I still cant work this theory out
I am not sure if they can see color or not but I would have thought that they can, ....otherwise a lot of research done by marine scientists on squid fisheries (and jig colour) has been totally misguided! I would be very surprised if the authors of all those scientific publications testing jig colour didn't even know if squid were colour blind or not! how embarassing would that be for them! hahaha!
I will try to find out a more definitive answer for you.
I found the following abstract which suggests that firefly squid have color vision -
Quote:Compensation for longitudinal chromatic aberration in the eye of the firefly squid, Watasenia scintillans.
Kroger RH, Gislen A.
Department of Cell and Organism Biology, Lund Vision Group, Zoology Building, Lund University, Helgonavagen 3, 22362 Lund, Sweden. ronald.kroger@cob.lu.se
The camera eyes of fishes and cephalopods have come forth by convergent evolution. In a variety of vertebrates capable of color vision, longitudinal chromatic aberration (LCA) of the optical system is corrected for by the exactly tuned longitudinal spherical aberration (LSA) of the crystalline lens. The LSA leads to multiple focal lengths, such that several wavelengths can be focused on the retina. We investigated whether that is also the case in the firefly squid (Watasenia scintillans), a cephalopod species that is likely to have color vision. It was found that the lens of W. scintillans is virtually free of LSA and uncorrected for LCA. However, the eye does not suffer from LCA because of a banked retina. Photoreceptors sensitive to short and long wavelengths are located at appropriate distances from the lens, such that they receive well-focused images. Such a design is an excellent solution for the firefly squid because a large area of the retina is monochromatically organized and it allows for double use of the surface area in the dichromatically organized part of the retina. However, it is not a universal solution since compensation for LCA by a banked retina requires that eye size and/or spectral separation between photopigments is small.
jazman,im very new to this whole squidding thing so i am full of questions.where did u buy that cool jig from?has anyone gone for a squid close to melb lately?i was going to head out tonite but the wind picked up and it was cold <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/crying.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />
I am not sure if they can see color or not but I would have thought that they can, ....otherwise a lot of research done by marine scientists on squid fisheries (and jig colour) has been totally misguided! I would be very surprised if the authors of all those scientific publications testing jig colour didn't even know if squid were colour blind or not! how embarassing would that be for them! hahaha!
I will try to find out a more definitive answer for you.
[quote name='bream addict' date='Jul 23 2005, 11:37 PM']jazman,im very new to this whole squidding thing so i am full of questions.where did u buy that cool jig from?has anyone gone for a squid close to melb lately?i was going to head out tonite but the wind picked up and it was cold <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/crying.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />
I went to St Leonards pier on Friday night. It was pretty cold and miserable, there was a moderate north westerly wind, and the water was quite murky. I fished from 11.30 until about 2am, and didn't catch anything. I think this was because the water was dirty.
I know that a few people think I am crazy to spend so much for these 'premium' squid jigs, but I totally stand behind my decision. In the few times when I have used these jigs in a 'head to head' trial with cheapo jigs, the expensive ones have outfished them comprehensively. If you can consistently catch squid on cheapo jigs then by all means keep using them, but in my opinion the benefits of buying a better quality jig far outweigh the cost.
I bought that jig at JM Turvilles, on Franklin St in the city. They have a great range of different jigs.
thanks for the replies fellas,supersquid,when u say u fished most of the pier at st leonards was it cast and retrieve or were u throwing out jigs under floats?baited or artifical?how high is st leonards pier,do i need a landing net?
By all means if you find you have better luck with the lure of your choice by all mans use it
If the water was dirty you will find that would have put the squid off the bite but I have been out a few times with my dad and fished in what can only be described as coffee clored water and bagged out ( this was in the days before bag limits)
We caught 65 squid in just under two hours the water was putrid and how the hell the squid could see the jigs was anyones guess.
Might head out in the next few nights when this moon fades away. which might have been another factor why you didnt get anything but yet St Leonard is pretty hit and miss
hey guys,just a quick report,went for a drive down to queenscliff and then went back to geelong via indented head etc.we stopped at the pier at qc and no one was catching anyhting ,there would have been about 40 poles out,so headed down to have a look at st leonards and the water looked good so threw out an egilee and after bout 20 mins landed a nice one,then another a bit smaller i was there for about 1.5hrs,a few other blokes but i was the only one who got a squid <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />,then went to portarlington there was hrdly any ink on the pier and no one catching anything,water was dirty so went home,pretty good day that was more for exploring than fishing <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/xyxthumbs.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />
For a newbie, can you please give advice as to the best location and time of day to catch squid in the Melbourne and surrounding bay area at this time of year (July/August).
[quote name='supersquid' date='Jul 31 2005, 09:19 PM']Thanks for the report Bream Addict
Portarligton dosnt fish well for squid on the best of days but it does get its good night although very few and far bettween.
02-08-2005, 02:12 AM (This post was last modified: 02-08-2005, 02:41 AM by supersquid.)
[quote name='Gaby' date='Aug 1 2005, 05:02 PM']For a newbie, can you please give advice as to the best location and time of day to catch squid in the Melbourne and surrounding bay area at this time of year (July/August).
ConditionS will be very good Thursday and Friday at Queenscliff as West to Southwest winds at 10 to 20 knots with high tide at about middnight on both nites give half hour each way of.
These are my favoured conditions for this area and you are in for a good chance of getting some nice squid
I'll probably be there myself
Definately try Queenscliff Pier Try the last few hours of a rising tide at night or early moring choice of lure or bait depends on the mood of the squid but suggest a pink or green lure fish under the last light for big ones
Big Cuttle fish have also been caught from here of late
St. leonards peir has seen a few squid here and there but not in good numbers as yet
As for other parts of the bay I havent heard of too much except the occassional squid around the Mornington area
02-09-2005, 03:22 PM (This post was last modified: 02-09-2005, 03:24 PM by MICKEY G.)
Hello fellow squid men
I love fishing Qeenscliff pier winter summer you name it but only at night on a rising tide.I find it best in the shallow water two or three feet under the first light. I thinck supersquid hit the nail on the head with the coffee colored water..But they are almost always small..I believe the real big ones are to be had near the end of pier in the clear deeper water....
I love fishing Qeenscliff pier winter summer you name it but only at night on a rising tide.I find it best in the shallow water two or three feet under the first light. I thinck supersquid hit the nail on the head with the coffee colored water..But they are almost always small..I believe the real big ones are to be had near the end of pier in the clear deeper water....
The water at the shallow end of the peir can start to churn up during the rising tide as the swell increases and the waves start to meet the shore, but this is a good place to fish if you are about 10 to 20 feet away from where the water starts to get clearer with a depth of two to three feet this is a good spot to fish
I prefer the deeper end of the peir at the landing under the last light right on the steps especially if theres a big swell with the tide coming in because the landing gets washed out is conditions are right.
Im going to be headed out there in the next few days as conditions are promising
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