LIFT YOUR SQUID GAMES!

Whether you chase them for bait, to eat, or for both purposes, Steve Starling reckons it’s always possible to sharpen your squid games by applying a few simple tips.

Squid of one sort or another are found right around the Australian coastline: from the shore itself all the way out to the edge of the continental shelf, and even well beyond. There are quite a few species, although the ones of most interest to South Australian fishers and seafood fanciers are the southern calamari and the Gould’s or arrow squid.

These short-lived squid (most survive for just a year!) are active predators, using their complex and very light-sensitive eyes to hunt small fish, prawns and even fellow members of their extensive cephalopod tribe. (Cephalopod, by the way, simply means “head/foot” in Latin, referring to the fact that these critters’ “heads” connect directly to their “feet”! Remember that little gem for you next pub trivia night.)

When I was growing up in the 1960s, squid were mostly viewed as a very useful bait by the majority of Aussie anglers. Happily, our massive multicultural influx across the past half century or so has helped open our blinkered eyes to the many wonderful ways these molluscs can be prepared for the table. These days, whenever I land just one squid, I’m always torn between what to do with it: food or bait? Catching a couple more generally alleviates the need for such a tough decision, as I know I’ll have enough for both uses!

Once upon a time, squid were caught by skewering a whole fish such as yellowtail, slimy mackerel, tommy ruff, garfish, mullet or pilchard on a metal spike with a multi-pronged “jag” assembly attached to the bottom end. This rig was cast out and either suspended under a float or retrieved slowly until a squid grabbed it. This method still works well (and it can be very effective on larger squid), but it’s less commonly practiced these days. There are easier ways…

Later came simple plastic, torpedo-shaped squid jigs that were typically all white in colour, or sometimes two-tone red and white. These spin-offs from the commercial squid fishing industry worked, although not all the time, and not especially well.

I still vividly remember the arrival of the first Yo Zuri chin-weighted, prawn-shaped squid jigs on our shores many decades ago. Like so many breakthrough Japanese tackle innovations, these things completely and utterly transformed recreational squid catching. There were even pundits at the time who predicted that their incredible effectiveness would result in at least localised squid extinctions. Rather like the similarly dire predictions that ganged hooks would be the end of tailor, soft plastics would wipe out all flathead, and forward facing sonar would quickly empty our waters of all fish, these “sky is falling” predictions proved unfounded. But there’s certainly no denying that the new generation of jigs heralded by those first Yo Zuris changed squidding or “egi” fishing forever… and for the better.

Southern calamari (left) and arrow squid are closely related, but in many ways very different

Today, these amazing jigs or jags —now made by a host of manufacturers —continue to evolve and improve ever y year. They’ve also spawned a whole genre of specialist fishing techniques, and even led to the emergence of specific squid tournaments, not to mention dedicated squid catching gear and accessories.

Whether you take it that seriously, or simply prefer to throw one beaten up old jig in the bottom of your tackle box “just in case”, there are a few very simple things you can do to dramatically improve your chances of finding and catching squid, wherever and whenever you fish. I’ve briefly listed my “seven deadly secrets of squidding success” below, but I’ve also dedicated a nine-minute YouTube video specifically to fleshing out this important subject in much more detail. You can zip straight to that video on your mobile device right now by scanning the QR code hereabouts, or search up my “Starlo Gets Reel” channel on YouTube and easily find it there. I really hope you enjoy it, that you get something from it, and that you end up catching more squid as a result… I’m pretty sure you will! Tight Lines.