2019 Massachusetts Squid Report

[fishermonkey]

Tried from Hyannis docks last night for an hour (around midnight)... nothing... 

[Snaildarter]

Fished on a head boat yesterday. Nothing in Falmouth or Woods Hole. Got to Hyannis  where the fleet was and we bailed them for 3 hours until having to go back to New Bedford. Had 2/3 of a bucket. Had we gone straight Hyannis we would have had another 4 hours of fishing and I probaably would gotten 1 and a 1/2 to 2 buckets.

[GWIslander]

Snaildarter,


What is the name of the head boat you went out on? Was it a day trip or night time? I am dying to get in on the Hyannis bite. Thanks.

[briscola]

Briscola...best screen name and bio pic...not everyone will appreciate!

Thanks. I have that on the side of my boat and the only person that ever commented on it was an older italian man in a fishing boat. I always have an extra deck of cards in the boat for fans of the game

[kamikazekiddo]

Fished Mashpee on Sat am. Marked a lot of squid but they wouldn’t bite. Water was very dirty. Caught our fill of scup. Went off of Hyannis With the same result. Got almost our limit of tog, up to 6#.

[IAMFISH]

I was out Thursday and the water was dirty then too, fished earlier in the week on Tuesday and it was good squidding during the day bite.

[briscola]

Went to Hyannis dock last night, still very slow

[Reel Good Charters]

Fished last Wednesday and loaded up all morning.  It died off around 11:00 and we called it a day.  When we arrived at the ramp in Hyannis all of the night guys were coming back in with bucket fulls also.  Had friends out Fri/Sat and they did not do well, complained about dirty water after the storm.  Amaizing to me how much better all the Asian fisherman do they we do using what appears to be same size / color jigs and setup, but for every 1 we catch, they catch 3-4, really amazing.  My het's off to them with all the respect.  We got our buckets but have to work much harder / longer.  Wish I knew their secret.  :-)   They are great fishermen.

[alaskanaturally]

Fished last Wednesday and loaded up all morning.  It died off around 11:00 and we called it a day.  When we arrived at the ramp in Hyannis all of the night guys were coming back in with bucket fulls also.  Had friends out Fri/Sat and they did not do well, complained about dirty water after the storm.  Amaizing to me how much better all the Asian fisherman do they we do using what appears to be same size / color jigs and setup, but for every 1 we catch, they catch 3-4, really amazing.  My het's off to them with all the respect.  We got our buckets but have to work much harder / longer.  Wish I knew their secret.  :-)   They are great fishermen.

Perhaps it's genetic. Been doing it a lot longer.  The first time we squided in North America was from GIB. I was fishing next to a Vietnamese fellow, He was catching them one right after the other while I couldn't even get a touch. Finally asked him what I was doing wrong. After watching my jigging technique and examining my rig, he said, "Everything looks fine." I dropped in and immediately hooked up. From that time on, I caught as many as he did.  Guess all I needed was an expert's validation. Perhaps you should try the same thing: Ask an expert.

[IAMFISH]

Fished last Wednesday and loaded up all morning.  It died off around 11:00 and we called it a day.  When we arrived at the ramp in Hyannis all of the night guys were coming back in with bucket fulls also.  Had friends out Fri/Sat and they did not do well, complained about dirty water after the storm.  Amaizing to me how much better all the Asian fisherman do they we do using what appears to be same size / color jigs and setup, but for every 1 we catch, they catch 3-4, really amazing.  My het's off to them with all the respect.  We got our buckets but have to work much harder / longer.  Wish I knew their secret.  :-)   They are great fishermen.

Ok, heres our secret....we marinate our jigs in sweet soy sauce. Lol, J/K. Many of those guys/gals fish marathon sessions through multiple tide changes and fish mostly at night time. I hear water was still dirty as well, I might try again this weekend but well see.

Good luck everyone.

[IAMFISH]

Ok, heres our secret....we marinate our jigs in sweet soy sauce. Lol, J/K. Many of those guys/gals fish marathon sessions through multiple tide changes and fish mostly at night time. I hear water was still dirty as well, I might try again this weekend but well see.

Good luck everyone.

One thing that I find really helpful is using an old toothbrush to keep your jigs clean from debris and I always do well looking for sandy bottom.

[alaskanaturally]

Ok, heres our secret....we marinate our jigs in sweet soy sauce. Lol, J/K. Many of those guys/gals fish marathon sessions through multiple tide changes and fish mostly at night time. I hear water was still dirty as well, I might try again this weekend but well see.

Good luck everyone.

That's true. Not sure about the marinade but the fellow who validated me, though I fished next to him until about 12:30AM, was leaving the bridge with a full bucket when I got back out at 7AM. It's really mainly the statistics of being in the right place at the right time with the proper jig and technique. The longer you fish the higher the probability of success.

[1BigSquid]

Got out on Saturday for the first time n squid from 2-5pm  in hyannis, we were just out there for the first time wasn't really care about catching squid except jugging down the beers and getting a sun tan, but managed with about half bucket with 3 of us.  not sure what we were doing in the beginning but wen we saw other guys next to us jig we jig. def. fun.

[IAMFISH]

Going back out Friday day for some scup then switch over to squidding at sunset. Anyone else heading out?

[Newbie10]

I am going Saturday night for the first time! Since I am not local to the Cape, does anyone have suggestions of what docks/piers are getting hit this season. I will be fishing from shore and do not have any lighting equipment with me. I have been reading prior years fishing reports, and have assembled this list of places that have had good fishing in the past:

 

Woods Hole, Hyannis Harbor, Wychmere Harbor, Falmouth Harbor, Sandwich Marina Bulkhead, Stage Harbor Bridge, Nut Island Pier, and Goat Island Causeway.

 

Any recommendations as which to go to would be greatly appreciated, and good luck to everyone.

[GoneSquidding]

Hi IAMFISH

 

I want to head out too, but my boat trailer got stuck in the swamp after the heavy rain. If you need company to share the cost with, I am happy to head out with you.

 

Ping me if you are interested 978-394-7425

 

GoneSqudding,

 

Happy fishing

[IAMFISH]

Gonesquidding,


Ahh, Ive got a full boat going on Friday. Theres 4 of us plus the coolers. Sorry, good luck with your trailer.

[Reel Good Charters]

Too funny - loved the JK about the soy sauce!!  :-) .  

 

That said, there's definately something else beyond being in the right spots at the right time and doing marathon session through multiple tides, because I'm usually one of the first ones out that and then it turns into a parking lot and I am fishing the spots but watch those 'experts' bring up 3,4, or 5 for every one I bring up and we are right next to each other.  Go figure.  I'm impressed by them and they have my respect, just still thinking there is something slightly different about the riggs or technique.  I typically fish the smaller jigs, mostly 2 plus a small 1 or 2 ounce sinker, sometimes 3 jigs.  I have the jigs about 16-18 inches apart with the bottom one just about 6 or 7 inches above the sinker.  Seems they like to grab jigs when they are 'suspended' or floating down so I try to let them sit or sink before jigging and taking up slack line.  All of that said, they still outfish me by a mile.....  :-) :-)      

 

For different reason, but like GoneSquidding, my trailer is down.  I'm looking for one of the charter boats to see if they have any walk on room.  Anybody know of any boats that run out of Hyannis or Falmouth or close? 

[alaskanaturally]

We're not experts but have fished for these critters in a lot of different places including Australia, Mexico and Seattle. The only consistent thing about it is that one has to remain flexible. So try marinating in fish sauce or oyster sauce if soy is not working. All kidding aside, it really pays to change what you are doing if you know squid are there and you're not getting any. Like RealGood, we tend to use smaller jigs. One night last year, everyone around us was catching and we were not. Then we observed that they were using very large jigs. We switched weapons and starting getting them as well as the others. Another time we watched a fellow getting one or two on every cast. We'd get one every so often. We noticed that that fellow wasn't using a sinker. He had an unweighted Coleman jig on the bottom with a small prawn above it. We switched over  to his kind of rig and sure 'nough after that we caught just as many as he did. We've had many such experiences over the years.

 

The take away from this is to be observant and stay flexible.

[GoneSquidding]

Reel Good Charter

 

It is definitely wrong when you fish next to the guy keep pulling 3 or 4 times as you do, base on my years of experience of squidding, When the bite is hot, it doesn't matter what type of jig big or small, blue or pink you have as long as they look like a bait, but it matters how fast you pull and unhook the squid because squid only come as a wave, they bite for a certain time and stop. However, when the bite is shy, meaning the squid is picky, you need to know if they bite at the bottom or top or middle, and use sinker accordingly, not sinking too fast to scare them away or take too long to reach the bottom. one more thing, try multiple color of jig to see what color they hit on and change accordingly.

 

Good luck squidding