Newport Ri 2016 Squid Season

[Gilligan]

Personally I don't really care for a lot of lights,and I don't like those underwater greenish light tubes. I have often caught many more squid fishing in a dark spot of a dock while others were using bright lights on another place on the same dock and caught few. I have slain many in total darkness. I do like lighted docks, and quite often do best jigging where the light "edge" is rather than directly under the lights. I am largely a dock fisherman and do understand that boats use lights with great success, but when dock fishing I prefer a little light to a lot of light. Janz is right about color, whatever they are hitting is the best color. If I only had two jigs to fish with I would carry a long discontinued Martinetti wood body jig with an orange back and white belly and a white smooth body (no cloth cover) Yamashita Naory Range hunter 1.8B also no longer available in this country. I also don't believe an overcast sky is better than a sunny sky when daytime squidding, I have caught thousands under a bright sun, when they're there and hungry they don't care about the sun. There are also "stick" jigs made from a short piece of 1/4 inch plastic tubing about an inch to an inch and a half long that work very well sometimes, usually in white or milky translucent plastic. Colman's Squid Jig Warehouse sells what they call a "bullet head" jig which occasionally will out fish the shrimp/prawn style jigs and are a must in one's arsenal, and the usual colors of white, pink, orange, and green often work best. When fishing the smaller prawn style jigs four pound test line with a tiny snap (no swivel) on a tiny sensitve rod will out fish all other rigs. (this is for single jig fishing here in the northeast) When I started squidding forty years ago there were no modern prawn type jigs and we used a 1/4" by 1&1/4" piece of dowel rod with a screw eye on each end and a small treble hook on one end and the dowel was painted white, and we caught thosands with this simple rig. Occasionally I see an old timer still fishing this way and doing well although I hardly ever use one.

[dabeers54]

nothing in Bristol last night

[postmansquid]

Wednesday the 8th fished for about 8hrs and managed a little over 70 ranging from medium to large, 12-15   :ink  inches.

Last night fished for almost 4hrs and managed 98 :ink   big tubes. Great 2 nights of squid fishing. Can't wait for next outing.     

[angler]

hi postmansquid

did you fish from a boat or shore / bridge?

my wife and i were fishing from GI friday's night from 10 pm to 3 am. very slow night and only got a couple of dozens. squid were not feeding from the bottom almost the entire time and very hard to catch. others fisherman were not doing good either.

[postmansquid]

from a dock.

[dabeers54]

Come on postman where were ya

[Retired squid]

Come on postman where were ya

He caught them in Massachusetts, not R.I.

[dabeers54]

And

[AT Grimaldi]

   

 

For sale - Boat Squid Fishing Lights

 

Up for sale is a pair of 1000 watt halogen lights mounted on wooden gelcoated brackets.  There are four (4) 500 watt lights total.  Two per side.  Each pair is powered by a single 100 three pronged plug to plug into your generator.  There are also inline switches mounted to each bracket.  They are designed to go in your rod holders or could be hose clamped to a T Top.  Their purpose is to get the light away from the boat, giving you more space on board and getting more light out there to attract more squid.  They are really great.  I am just changing up my setup to all LED.

 

Attached is an image of the lights on my boat at the trailer.

 

Price is $125.  They are in East Bay Rhode Island.  Call six one seven eight three four five zero three four with any questions.

 

 - TJB

 

[CephBirk]

Sunday and Monday night at GI Bridge were pretty rough. Very few people there, windy, and little to no squid. Last night at the Jamestown DEM was pretty good though. Caught 5 squid in about an hour which is pretty good for me!

[folkcafe]

Sunday and Monday night at GI Bridge were pretty rough. Very few people there, windy, and little to no squid. Last night at the Jamestown DEM was pretty good though. Caught 5 squid in about an hour which is pretty good for me!

Wife and I were there Sunday and it was pretty miserable.  Viewed the weather report but decided to go anyway because we had a new underwater light to try out.  Caught nine between 3 of us.

[angler]

Hi Folks,

Can anyone be so kind to provide a little update on how GI is doing?

Squids are still around?

Many Thanks!

[K.O.]

Angler,

 

I went to GI on last Friday from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m.

There were about 10 people on the bridge.

I got 10 in 3 hours (20-30 early in June).

We can see a lot of squids, but they are very careful and seldome bite jigs.

The spring squid season is  coming to an end.

[angler]

Thanks for the notes, KO.

That's what I thought. Game fish is in and the squids are spooked.

See you folks in Fall!

[CalamaroItalia]

Hello my friends! I have a quick question ... can a net be used to fish for squid? For example, if I'm fishing from shore, dock, or low bridge, can I use one of those big round cast nets (that drops around a pod of squid) or even a long "scoop" net? Thanks!

[Matsquidman]

I am almost certain you can not. Check RI DEM Website. Think you need a commercial license to net them.

[Gilligan]

 I am not sure about laws, but I see people using cast nets fairly often in MA. Some guys do OK but others do poorly. Often there is bottom junk near docks that snag the nets. The small mesh nets sink too slow and the squid escape, it takes a skilled thrower with a proper mesh and weighted net to catch them regularly. One thing for sure, if you use a cast net from a dock where people are jigging you will become very unpopular very quickly since the noise and motion scares off any squid that aren't in the net rather quickly. If you think you can get them with a dip net have at it, you will be amazed at how hard they are to catch that way. When you see hundreds in the water and think you could just easily scoop them up, it just ain't so. As soon as a handled net goes into the water they will disperse. There is a reason that jigging is a very effective and widely practiced method of catching squid---it works!!

[CalamaroItalia]

Thanks for the info, Matt and Gilligan, very helpful! I don't think I will be netting anytime soon, lol!

[redsox]

Hi:

 

I am new to squid fishing, well fishing in general and have a few general questions. I've heard Goat Island is a great place.

 

What should I buy for a rod and reel and line (mainly squid)? What should I buy for a jig? Or is a three-pronged fishing hook ok?

Can I squid fish at any time (i.e. 2am)?

Is the area packed 24/7( will I find a spot to sit off the bridge)? Am I allowed to park nearby?

 

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

Thank you

[BillG]

Hi:

 

I am new to squid fishing, well fishing in general and have a few general questions. I've heard Goat Island is a great place.

 

What should I buy for a rod and reel and line (mainly squid)? What should I buy for a jig? Or is a three-pronged fishing hook ok?

Can I squid fish at any time (i.e. 2am)?

Is the area packed 24/7( will I find a spot to sit off the bridge)? Am I allowed to park nearby?

 

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

Thank you

 

A lot of these answers can be found if you just read through the previous years' Newport threads. However, I will give a brief summary. Goat Island is a great place to squid jig, except when it isn't a great place. At times, the crowds and the parking can be a problem, but that is only usually true from early-May to mid-June on weekends plus every day when they are really running. There is nearby parking on the bridge for free plus metered parking on the street. For the most part, all the non-metered convenient parking is Newport resident sticker parking only from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Most people will get there and set up an hour (or so before sunset and jig until they don't want to or fill their bucket or call it a bust. Sometimes, they will hit in broad daylight, but that's easier to do in a boat where you can go to them rather than hoping they come to you. Lastly, you can use any inexpensive, light rod/reel combo spooled with something like 4 lb. test fluorocarbon. You will want to get some decent jigs from a real bait and tackle store. It's tempting to get the ones for $1.97 from WalMart, but those are usually ineffective. You might find the bigger Yozuri Ultra jigs in some box stores (Benny's has them behind the registers) for $4-5. Those work, although most say they are too big when the squid are small or finicky. The prawn-style (Yozuri minis, Yamashitas, Japanese imports) in a 1.8-2.5 size are, according to consensus, the "best". Unfortunately, the "best" will cost you between $10 and $35. A common treble hook is highly, highly unlikely to "catch" any squid. And, if they did, the barbs would mean that you would have to rip the flesh to get the hooks out which will cause you to be sprayed with ink.