Busselton, WA - 2nd timer

[Kahless]

Hi all,

Earlier this year I caught the squidding bug down Busselton. For the first time ever I had access to a Tinny (instead of being stuck on land) and since I was having no luck with the King George, I tried Squidding and beginner's luck kicked in and I cleaned up. My family loved the squid, and I had a ball.



I have been meaning to give it another crack in the Metro area (Perth), but this weekend is going to be my first opportunity, so I want to get my plan of attack in place.



In the boat I had a baited spike just floating around the boat while I was actively jigging everywhere around me until I hooked up. I found I had more on the jig (maybe because that was where all my effort was focused) but had some monsters on the baited spike.



Would this same plan of attack work off the shore, or should I just pick one method and go with that?



Beyond that I need to travel a fair way to get to a spot (I am in the hills) so I need to pick somewhere and stick to it, and from what I have read on these forums Hillarys seems to be not a bad spot, and it is probably the easiest to get to for me.



Whether speaking specifically about Hillarys, or Marina's in general, should I be fishing into the marina or out into the open ocean, or perhaps into the marina near the opening? In the boat I had the advantage of being able to look for the ground I want (and being on holidays I had all day to keep finding spots) but because I plan to go late afternoon / into the night, I am not really going to be able to see what ground I am jigging over. Also should I look for the best spot, or the best spot with lights? I can take my gas lantern on top of my head torch if people suggest that might make a difference?



Finally, should I pick a "squiddy" looking spot, and stick to it, or move around if I haven't got any in half an hour or so? I know when I am beach fishing, I tend to plenty of scouting to find the "fishiest" looking spot and just perservere, knowing that the fish will come when the time hits, and they always do <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':boat:' />



I am planning to go out Friday or Saturday night, as the whether seems to be going to hold either of those nights. Fingers crossed I can pick up enough to feed the family so I can get some more leave passes.



Sorry for the long winded post, but I tend to do all my fishing on trips and holidays that allow me time to have success. In the past I have never really had much success with the one off metro fishing expeditions, so want to give these inky suckers a red hot crack.

[glen]

hi Kahless! welcome to the forum! hopefully some of the WA people can help you out. I moved this thread to the West Aust section.



cheers, glen <img src='http://www.squidfish.net/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/xyxthumbs.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':boat:' />

[Peter Hugill]

G'day matey,



Well looks like you caught the bug just like all of us! If your boat based you don't have to venture out far, any marina will have some good spots. You ideally need to find broken weedy ground usually around 4m depth although you can catch them in water as deep as 20m. Try using quality jigs while you are jigging for them, you will feel the diffence in the action and also in the amount of squid you catch! As for the floater a baited spike should do the trick although i tend to just use a size 2.5 jig and i have landed some monsters too!



Hope this helps!



Cheers,



Pete

[Kahless]

I headed down to Hillarys Friday night. Had a look at the AQWA jetty, but it just didn't look very fishy to me, but fishy and squiddy might be two different things. Were plenty of blowies hanging around anyway. I then chucked out a jig on the southern side of the harbour, but I didn't have any touch on the jig at all with the surf coming in, light as it was.



That was enough for me to head to the Northen side, and I decided on around the Disabled platform. Started around 5-ish, and had two decent sized ones in my bucket before night fall, probably around 5-30. Finished up at 7-30 without another touch. I tried several different colours, adding a glow stick about 6-inches up, and plenty of different retrieves, but to no avail. Either I got lucky with the 2 I had, or they went to bed at sun down.



When I fishing up, I headed back aroung to the AQWA jetty, and there were half a dozen people there who hadn't got any at all. They were a bit annoyed when I said I had two from the other side.



Is it usually a lot quiter for squid after dark, and would I be better off putting more effort into from around 3 or 4, rather than that close to sundown and night?