2017 Rhode Island Squid Report

[Gilligan]

I was introduced to squidding in 1976 on Martha's Vineyard, and have been squid fishing there every fall since then and sometimes in the spring, occasionally done real well in August, but I can't stand the traffic there in summer so I usually don't do that anymore. Been to Stonington a few times. Many years ago I bought a styrofoam ring with an automotive sealed beam in it with long wires to hook up to your car. Never really used it. Most dock lights suit me fine, and where there are really bright dock lights I find often the "edges" of the light are best for me. If the water is really deep and the lights are bright I do well fishing away (casting) from the dock or fishing deep. Have seen huge schools come up right under the lights and caught over 250 on a few occasions. My best night ever was under much dimmer dock lights and I won't say how many I got, but it was a ridiculous amount in five hours. I have seen those green underwater tubes, my fishing buddy bought one, was a real disappointment to us. You are right, I don't own a light. Like I said, often I am the guy quietly bailing them in the shadows, although I am also sometimes in the middle of a bunch of squidders when they are in and the word is out. My fishing buddy, his two boys, and myself all use similar rigs, jigs, rods, and line, and have made a lot of pilgrims walk away in disgust. On the other hand I have lent a lot of people good jigs for an evening and their catches definitely rose considerably. Jigging technique is also important, I have switched rods with guys doing poorly and done better than them with their own rigs. Sometimes I give a young kid my rod just so they can have some real fun when the squid are there, they are amazed at the difference gear makes.

 

When I first started the prawn type jigs were not available and we used 1-1&1/2"x1/4" dowel rods with a small screw eye in each end and a small treble hook on the business end. We used whatever rods we had that were usually fiberglass 6-7' with 10-15lb test. We still got full buckets on many nights, but I think the squid were just much more plentiful back then.

 

 Martin and Ruta, if the water is deep and the current swift I switch up to a longer, stiffer (6-6&1/2') rod with 8lb and a 1-2 oz sinker on the bottom and one or rarely two jigs above the sinker, as the folks you mention used. A friend of mine does well this way and ties his jigs directly to the running line while I prefer a  2' or longer leader and if two jigs the long leader on the bottom and just a small dropper loop on the top jig, but I hate the tangling action of the two jig system and I am not vertical dropping, I have to cast out to the channel. This is my favorite daytime rig for fishing deep in the Edgartown channel. Sometimes just a split shot a foot ahead of the jig works very well if you have to get deep and there is current. I always carry a small dispenser with different size split shot. My fishing buddy is better than I am with the split shot method. I don't know what you mean by weighted tube jigs, could you send me a pic of one? No matter where you fish or what you fish for there will always be somebody who blows your doors off. Like when small boat fishing and the person on the starboard side catches more than the guy on the port side and both are using similar rigs. Luck will always be a big part of our game. If you see the couple wailing them again, maybe it will be your turn, or you have to look more closely at their rigs and technique. I hope everybody gets full buckets tonight!!