G`Day Mark ,


YES you are total ,, right ,, fished at the Pin for years for bream ,, the blacker the night the better the fish size , unless you fish the top of the sand flats of a night time after the high tide ,, of late i have been fishing up at the Swains Reef ,, dark nights are great for squid ,, most fish sut-down of a night , but there is the change over from light & dark times ...

Fished out bush for years as well ,, murry cod bite well on DARK nights !

Have a look at eye size on fish

still thinkin & dreamin of fishin ,

pete

Hey Pedro,

ah cool - looks like my theory is mostly right then
I just went out fishing today (almost new moon) and caught a bunch of nice big snapper just before lunchtime.

They didn't have anything in their stomachs. They also weren't very picky and took any bait I offered: pilchards, squid and mussels.

Last time I caught some at the same spot just before full moon around the same time. Their stomachs were full with mussels and crabs. They didn't want to take any bait - except mussels.

So I assume they were feeding at night during the full moon and could afford to be picky.
This time they were hungry as they couldn't find any food during the night and took anything.

They were hard on the bite during the major time.

btw. I want to get a bit more into squid fishing. The season is starting up.

I caught a few on squid jigs before - but rather inconsistently.

How do you catch them in those dark nights?
Do you got to jetties or fish from a boat with lights?

I think the reason it's easier to catch them during dark nights is because they search and congregate around light sources.
Like brightly lit piers for example.

But during bright nights they are spread out and can feed anywhere they like, as the moon is the brightest source of light.

Match the hatch...

Last time they were only eating mussels...This time they were taking almost anything...Next time they might only like deep fried banana.

I could throw mussels into a bath tub full of snapper all day long...but if they are not eating mussels on that day ? ...You have to match the hatch if you want to make the catch

Squid fishing is easy.

Yeap, for night time a jetty is good. Yes, you will need lights. Pee in the water...you read right, pee in the water. Yes, urinate in the water. I don't know why it works, I have never looked in to it. Just shine a light like a torch into the water and pee where the light is. You will see the squid come in, then just drop your jig right where you have just peed...It is good to have a few mates with you and plenty of drinking water (or beer) so that you have a steady supply of pee.

Day time is also good for squid. I use a mirrored bobby float. Don't try to "work" the jig. Put it under a mirrored bobby float and let the water movement do the work. The mirrors get the squids attention and when they come in for a look, they find a "prawn" (your jig).

well I would probably skip the peeing part. I actually want to eat the squid and not use it for bait
So if everyone pees in the water where I want to fish, it just might put me off my dinner, LOL

been thinkin this is a sorted out site !!???
Trust your times & bite dates ,, THEY WORK ...

G`Day ,
Most of my squid fishin has been out on the reef , ie Swains , they use them for fresh bait WORKS WELL can even be used for balloon baits , as well as top nibs before tea time !

They can`t see red light , they use the lights of a vessel to attack small fish which they catch out of the dark !

You can tell if squid are arround if you have a pillie that has hand the meat all taken of the fish & leave the bones !

They attack a live fish at the back of the head at the top !

Love a feed of fresh squid ....

still thinkin & dreamin of fishin ,

pedro

haha - I do all my fishing during the major or minor times, since I started FR almost 10 years ago

When it comes to squid, I think my problem is not the timing but finding them. Or maybe the season hasn't really started yet...
I used to have a few spots where I could catch them at about this time of year. But I moved and need to find new spots.

Used to catch them from my kayak in the mornings when the minor times aligned with high tides and with little to no current and wind. The area I'm fishing now looks even better for squid with lots of weed beds and a rocky shoreline.

But casting squid jigs around hasn't proven successful so far. I also couldn't see any swimming around.
The eaten up pilchard is a good tip. I must try that.

I normally fish with gulp soft baits. At my old spot I could tell when squid were around because they left lots of
triangular bite marks and almost stripped them down to the jig heads. They really seem to be attracted to the gulp scent (maybe that's why peeing in the water also attracts them?).

Here at my new spots I had the same happening to my soft baits. But when I switched to squid jigs... nada.
So I assume it either wasn't squid and instead some other little picker fish, they're just not interested in the squid jigs or I don't get the jigs down to the right depths.
Next time I'll try to rig a soft bait onto a squid spike and see if that gets any attention.

Well - I'm still on trial and error, every place works a bit different I guess.
I won't give up until I can catch them more consistently.
I think from September onwards their numbers and size will increase.

G`Day ,
Been fishin for 60 +++ years , started with cord-line , then a bit of platusp which we untancled over a week or more , &^ put on a old coke glass bottle , seen the pin run of bream a few times , decades , fished out bush at Cubby Station for a few decades on the rivers that run through the area , got smart & went to do a few charters out of Gladstone , think 2 - 3 decades ago .
You would find that squild will run ( lay eggs ) at the change of tempture , i fished on charters April - May then August to Septermber each year for a few decades.

All the above i used the moon phase to work out times to fish till your site came along !

Had even bought a computer that did that & told of the tides in any area , but it is past its use by date now & can`t sort out its self , think the maker is long passed on ?

You can buy a shaft that has the squid barbs on it , just put it into a fish from the back to the mouth & try the line on ..

i e just like a live bait , we caught many a tub of bait out there as well as a few feeds for before tea .

still thinkin & dreamin of fishin ,
pedro

thanks for the great tips pedro, I must try those baited squid barbs.

I'm kinda thinking that my squid jigs are too light weight and don't get down to the bottom quick enough.
It seems that squid hang around at the bottom more than mid water.

August is coming up - so let's hope the squid season is coming into full swing in New Zealand

sounds like you had a great life of fishing. Are you still getting out much?

"Pee in the water...you read right, pee in the water. Yes, urinate in the water. "

I'd love to try that except ... other fishos (strangers) might be around (when fishing from a jetty) and there might be ladies too. What would they think LOL? I'd absolute try this if I'm the only one fishing LOL, thanks for the tip!

About the peeing into the water bit I'd just got an idea that popped into my head now ... pee into a coke bottle at home and bring it along. That way it doesn't matter if there are other people around. They won't know what's in the bottle I'm pouring into the water LOL. I'll give that a go next time I get a chance to go fishing.

Give it a try.

I don't know if it is the pee that attracts the squid or if it is the sound of pouring water. But the bottle idea should work.

Hi itsaboat,

Here is an interesting article about attracting fish by peeing into the water.


https://learning.knoji.com/how-to-catch-fish-with-asparagus/

Interesting

As I said before, I have never looked into it...all I know is that it works and I have been doing it for years, in fact decades...If you want to catch squid pee in the water !!

Thanks for the link. A short article, but worth reading (and does not look like it was "cut-n-paste") which is a nice change.

Interesting that the U.S Gov was using asparagus in that way...Makes sense. I wonder if folate and other B groups might have a similar affect ?

Asparagus is well known for it's affects on urine. Notably the colour and smell. I wonder if a B group supplement might have similar affects for attracting fish?

Haha I take B complex daily so might be able to experiment with it. Not sure if the temperature of the urine matters, if so peeing into a bottle at home might yield a different result LOL.

Make sure you don't forget and take a sip or two

Nah, but you can have a few sips if you like.