Safety Beach, VIC

[Wes]

Fished off Safety Beach this morning 3 Feb 2003 and after the whiting run looked for calamari next to Mt Martha headland.



Hooked into 2 arrow squid, 2 calamari and a decent cuttlefish.



The arrow squid had its mate following, so after landing the first one, I dropped the jig into its mouth and pulled him aboard within 10 seconds.



All jigs were left to drag along the bottom far behind the boat.



Cooked them up tonight as crumbed rings dipped into chilli sauce .... Mmmm

[Wes]

Tried Safety Beach again on 12 Feb 2003, water was extremely clear, sun was hot, wind was variable, tide was falling towards low.



Hooked two calamari of medium size. I was watching them in 4 metres of water. When I dropped a jig in front of one large calamari, it shied away. Normally they are inquisitive and will inspect a falling jig. This one was scared. So I changed the colour from orange brown to blue green and hey presto, dinner.



Drifted through hundreds of salmon up to 2 kgs, but none were interested in any lure, sinking, trolling, spinning or floating. Tried bait without a sinker and still no result. Wonderful to watch, frustrating to fish.



Tried the reef 3km off Mt Martha and hooked into 5 arrow squid. These are now marinating in milk waiting to become a strir fry with chinese vegetables.

[glen]

Do you often catch arrow squid around this area?



I have yet to catch one in Victoria.



Glen :i :i

[Wes]

Arrow squid are quite numerous in Port Phillip Bay.



You do need a boat to get into the waters where they frequent. Usually, they will attack your schnapper bait when you retrieve. It feels like a dead weight and all of a sudden the bait is free. Octopus do the same.



I catch them in 17 metres of water and when they are on they are very aggressive and easy to catch.



Most fisherfolk who use a boat will catch arrow squid sooner or later. If you need more info, email me.



Regards



Wes

[Guest]

Wes,



when you say you fish in 17m of water do you mean you drop your jig down near the bottom or just a couple of meters under a float out the back of the boat?



i always have a jig under a float out the back of the boat whilst targeting snapper etc, whenever i fish areas where squid might be about.



AK

[Wes]

Arrow squid hunt at all levels of water.



I drop a prawn jig down until I know that I am near the bottom. Then I let it float about. I also try a pilchard rig (stainless steel rod with spikes at one end) with any bait that I can find, gars, pilchards, flathead fillets etc. Usually lose my bait to bottom feeders but occasionaly find a school of squid.



I did find that a squid jig will catch fish if you are fast enough. When fishing the bottom with a squid jig, retrieve it fast and maybe a flathead or couta will hit it. Remember to keep up the pressure on the line and reef the fish into the boat. As soon as the line goes slack, they will throw the jig and, like magic, land in your bucket.



ps I do use a fish finder and hunt when I see action near the bottom.



Also, I rarely use floats for squid when fishing from a boat.



Regards



Wes

[Guest]

Thanks for that Wes,



Next time I will drop a jig down just off the bottom while I await for the snapper baits to be taken <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />





AK

[Wes]

Tried to find a squid dinner at the top of the tide at Safety Beach on the afternoon of Sunday 16 March 2003.



The drift was fast with a westerly blowing and all I managed was a good bite and a tentacle. So I tried for flathead and caught my dinner that way. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol' />



Rather nice to be back on the water but dissapponted with the squid. I should have tried early morning or late afternoon. :blink:



Yes, I used a green jig. The blue one didn't get a touch.



Regards



Wes

[Guest]

Went out from Safety Beach today Tuesday 25 March and bagged out on quality calamari.



All up we scored 9kg of calamari. Thats 3kg of cleaned hoods. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol' />



About 4 were at 1kg each and the rest were medium to small.



Some were caught at the top of the tide on a multicoloured jig and the majority were caught on an orange jig including the larger ones on the run out tide.



The large ones hit hard and we lost some bigger than 1kg.



Finally the drought is over. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol' />: <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':ink' />: <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol' />:



Will try again on Wednesday since the weather is so fabulous. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':lol' />



Regards



Wes

[Wes]

Went out again on Wednesday 26 March 2003 off from Safety Beach into the same spot as yesterday.



The two of us took about 15 calamari from 7:30 till about 11:00 in the morning. The water was clear as usual with a slight breeze starting from the top of the tide till past halfway to the bottom of the tide. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



Jigs that worked were the multicoloured jig with green head and an orange prawn coloured jig. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



All calamari were good to large size. Then we went and caught a good meal of flathead before drifting near the mussel farm to clean our catch. Whilst drifting we hooked into 3 arrow squid and using a tentacle from one of these, we hooked a good size flathead. We lost a decent cuttlefish and finished for the day.





The calamari magically turned into crumbed rings and were deep fried for dinner.





<img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> YUMMMMMMM!!!!! <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />





Regards



Wes

[Wes]

Well, you would not think there were any fish in the water. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



Went out today, Friday 28 March 2003, as usual from Safety Beach.



Left at about 7:45am on the rising tide with dark clouds threatening at a SE wind running at 10 knots.



Got one calamari, three flathead, 2 pinkies. The rest were too small.



The flathead were very shy and the calamari were non existent.



Am I rapt that we got a decent haul three days ago. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



Still, you can't catch a bag of fish on every trip. Even the flathead need a day off.



Regards Wes

[Wes]

Heard that schnapper were on the move, so went out early Sunday morning.



Stuck it out for 6 hours and bagged a pinkie (1.5kg), a dozen flathead and a squillion banjo sharks.



Didn't even try for calamari as the wind was blowing at 15knots and that's too fast to drift.



Still had a nice dinner of fish and chips. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



Regards



Wes

[Wes]

Got up at first light on 1 April to enjoy the light breeze off Safety Beach. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



Hooked into 4 calamari in 40 minutes. Then an arrow squid. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> Then nothing. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



The tide was out, the water was clear, the drift was slow. My orange prawn jig worked a treat. Then nothing.



Went off in deep water to get some flathead. All went OK. Came back for 2 more calamari, again on the orange jig. The green jig did nothing.



Oh well, looks like the jig is up. (LOL) <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />: The calamari know my jig on sight after the caning I gave them last week. It must be number one on the list of jigs to be avoided.



Will try again on Saturday.



Regards



Wes

[Wes]

Sunday 6 April 2003....what a magic day to be out on the water. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



Went off Safety Beach at 8:00am and picked up three small calamari. The tide was falling towards a LOW low and the water was murky. The wind was from the NE and fluttered past at about 5 knots. Not much more happened so we went out off Mt Martha for some flathead. Caught enough to make about 1.5kg of flattie tails and went back for calamari. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



Since the wind had died down, we went into the deeper part (8 metres falling to 5 metres) between the mussel farm and the takeaway shop. The drift sent us slowly towards shore. The tide was back on its way in.



The orange prawn jig got hit straight away with a good calamari. The lazy drift allowed us to catch 6 more with a total of 9 for the day.



Four of the largest calamari added up to 1.5kg. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />: The other 5 added up to 1kg.



Tonight's dinner is two flathead fillets(100gm each) ,four tubes cut into rings, crumbed and deep fried together with home made chips. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



What a magical day. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



Regards



Wes

[supersquid]

awwww Wes knock it off will ya your making me drool

all that and home made chips gee some of us live the good life lol

Next thing youll tell us that you washed it all down with a crownie or three

LoL

[Wes]

Tuesday 22 April 2003. Again off Safety Beach in the morning. The tide was rising, the wind was 0-5 knots and the water was extremely clear. You could see clearly to 8 metres.



Tried the green jig and got no result. Switched to the trusty orange prawn jig and whammo! Picked up about 12 small calamari over the weed beds next to Mt Martha. Moved to the weed beds next to the mussel farm and picked up 4 large calamari. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />: <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



Interestingly, I anchored in 8 metres of water looking for whiting. While there, I dropped my jig to the bottom and jigged with good success. I normally drift and jig, keeping my jig close to the bottom. <_<



How successful are the rest of you guys and gals with your techniques?



I use a flexible rod and no stretch line which gives me an instant feel if a calamari pulls my jig. I have seen other techniques, bit I only tried anchoring and jigging today. I must do it again to see what works better for me.



Oh yeah, I also got a good feed of flathead.



Regards



Wes

[Wes]

Friday 25 April 2003, went out from Safety Beach at 8:00am near the top of the tide.



The wind was 10 - 20 knots from the East and swung about to the North East in the early afternoon. The water was very clear, but the tide ran fast. Combined with a strong breeze, the calamari were hard to find on the drift.



Nevertheless, three of us managed to haul about 18 calamari in. Not easy work, but we had a good day.



The best jig colour went to a blue green; about 12.



With this sort of weather, I don't have time to eat my catch.



Regards

Wes

[Guest]

Wes,



I too was out @ Safety Beach/Mt Martha on 25 April (Anzac day) from 6:00 - 11:00am. We caught 11 squid between 5 of us. All pretty small (20-30cm long). Caught them all on orange and pink jigs. They did not seem to like the green or blue jigs.



We had two larger squid, but we lost them as we were pulling them in. Also caught a banjo shark, but threw it back in and two 30cm flatheads. Heaps of small pinkies which had to be thrown back in the water.



All in all a good day considering we are heading into cool season.



Happy squiding.

[Wes]

With this great weather, I couldn't say no to a quiet dangle. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':angry:' />



Again off Safety Beach on Tuesday 6 May 2003, starting at 9:00am until 3:00pm. The tide was falling towards a neap low and the water was extremely clear. Visibility was excellent down as far as 8 metres. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



The wind started at 10 knots, but quickly dropped off. The swell was unusual because there was not enough wind to set it off and not enough ships were going past to muck up the water.



Well, after a lot of hard work and plenty (plenty plenty) of colour changes to the jig, we caught 5 calamari. <_<



So we got the dirts and caught a bag of flathead and went home. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':angry:' />



Colours that worked were orange and one on a pink jig.



Water temperature was 17 celsius.



Regards



Wes

[Wes]

Safety Beach on 16 May 2003, bagged out in 2 hours. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='B)' />



Any jig, any style.



My mates went the next day in the morning and bagged out also. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':o' />



Since there was no wind, we tried drifting for flathead off the R1 reef marker. Well, we got our feed of fish and something else. <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='B)' />



I pulled up what felt like a big flathead, when about 3 metres from the surface, the line when almost slack. A flathead was at the end, but he had 2 big chunks of flesh missing behind his head. Yep, an arrow squid had bitten him twice. Just then, I saw an arrow squid break the surface. <_<



Like I said before, arrow squid are varacious predators.



Thought I'd share that experience with you.



Regards



Wes