Ballina squid

[The_Tub]

Just wondering if anyone knows where or if you get squid around ballina,i always see them at the co-op and wouldn't mind having a go at catching some.A mate of mine lives at port stephens and gets them regularly.Get a good feed and some good bait aswell:)

cheers mal

[rabbi]

Yeah Mal,
Just go north on the Pacific highway coming into Ballina and you will see a shop on the right. Get some Red bait out and you should get at least 1.5kg in a matter of minutes.;D
I have never caught any squid in this area as yet but have come up with some huge cuttlefish(good for nothin).
If there were any weedbeds left in the ocean you may have a chance but with all the trawler action once again unlikely.

I used to do a lot of snorkelling on the headlands and never saw any but plenty of occies.
Cheers, steve

[mattooty]

I used to see a handful of bottle squid snorkeling around Yamba off the headlands very occasionally but that was about the closest i've ever come to catching a north coast, big river squid.
The general consensus is that the shelf is too far out? I have heard of blokes in both the Richmond and Clarence having occasional success in whiting spots every few years but they reckon there's no correlation between the times they turn up and season/weather/SST/currents.

[bondy99]

Would love to get some squid and occys myself. good tucker especially occy with greek salad hmmmmmmmmmwhaaaaaaaaa

[mattooty]

Occy's are a dime a dozen on most of the rocky headland reef systems. Just gotta have a good eye for them. Some days you can dive and see them every few feet, then others when you're looking for them you won't see one for months.
The squid are all taken fairly far offshore on the trawlers.

[The_Tub]

i was thinking water temerature maybe to high but it sounds like the best spot to go for them is the co-op

[stonecold]

We use to get the occasional one on the close reefs at evans of an arvie at this stime of year mate. We' would start retrieving pillies with the back of the neck bitten out. On the odd occasion we'd get the culprit back to the boat and into a net. They were far from thick. I've seen a few small bottle squid at woody head while snorkelling but apart from that I havn't come across anyone in 30 years that catches squid consistantly. Occys on the other hand

[rabbi]

We use to get the occasional one on the close reefs at evans of an arvie at this stime of year mate. We' would start retrieving pillies with the back of the neck bitten out. On the odd occasion we'd get the culprit back to the boat and into a net. They were far from thick. I've seen a few small bottle squid at woody head while snorkelling but apart from that I havn't come across anyone in 30 years that catches squid consistantly. Occys on the other hand

Nothing like trying to wrestle a rubber eating occy out of a kayak out to sea, hey mate!
I thought the b#$#@*d had me!!:-?

[rabbi]

Would love to get some squid and occys myself. good tucker especially occy with greek salad hmmmmmmmmmwhaaaaaaaaa

Mate why would you want that fishbait when theres some big salmon out there.

Mmmmm, Salmon with greek salad:)
Steve

[onerabbit]

Plenty of occys in the Richmond around Xmas time,
just use yabbies & pretend you are fishing for something else.

Muzz

[The_Tub]

hey stonecold

i've seen afew at woody aswell while snokelling with the kids,the salmon are like ants at the moment[plenty of them] the last time i put a yabbie on i was fishing for bream on the porpise wall and caugth a 10kg jew,it was an unlucky fish on the light gear i was using

[stonecold]

Uncle steve...that occy did have you.....it was just playing and you didnt have enough arms and legs to keep it interested...! did some one say salmon:P I havnt caught one for a day or so and Im having withdrawls....NOT

[bondy99]

Salmon is nooooooooo match for occy.

No blue ringed mongrels. after good size ones. I hear aand seen some people kill the buggers instantly by biting them between the eyes...not me, I cut their head off first, then get the parrot beak away.

[bondy99]

Mate why would you want that fishbait when theres some big salmon out there.

Mmmmm, Salmon with greek salad:)
Steve


Must be the acquired taste buds waken me up

[banshee]

Haven't targeted them as such but any that I've got have come from 40 to 60 feet in close at Evans between Kahors and South Reef while floatlining for Snapper.The first sign that they're about will be very short pulsing runs on the Baitrunner....sort of a very fast zzt,zzt, then nothing or a dead weight that drops off as soon as you start winding.When this happens I'll generaly put a pillie or two at the back of the boat on a very short leed of five or six feet while I rig the jig,a lot of the time they will come up and sit in under the boat and fly out to the bait,when this happens it's a simple matter of 'switch baiting' them with the jig.If they don't rise you can prospect with the jig but it's not nearly as productive.As I said though I don't target them and the best for me is three......most of the time though I only snag the single.I've only ever got them in winter and size is always around the eighteen inch mark.

[rabbi]

Salmon is nooooooooo match for occy.

No blue ringed mongrels. after good size ones. I hear aand seen some people kill the buggers instantly by biting them between the eyes...not me, I cut their head off first, then get the parrot beak away.

Yeah mate,
You should have seen the size of its tentacles:o.
Im lucky to be alive!!

I dont know if it was a blue ring occy but it was fairly cold out out there and I was too busy fighting it off to have a look!!
Cheers, Uncle Steve

[stonecold]

Cmon Steve it just wanted a cuddle.

[bondy99]

Hmmm, poor old occy only wanted a bit of attention

[rabbi]

Yeah, right!!
The first thing I thought of when I got it up was Sauteed occy with a nice Thai sauce but after 10 minutes of wrestling with it my thoughts turned to me being on that tv show " When animals attack" :P

[stonecold]

I had the camera ready mate...just in case ;D