MAH

The washers on the plunger of bait pumps deteriorate pretty quickly. But no need to rush off to the tackle shop, just pull out that old pair of thongs you kept for DIY projects.

Put the thong on the ground and place the end of the bait pump on top, then twist back and forth while pushing down. It will soon cut a perfectly sized circle, which you can use as a replacement washer.

2 hours ago, TENNANT said:

I think a fish would find it a lot easier to swallow a nipper if it took it from the tail end, it would have to be easier to to get down their throat.

I rigged it like I do for live nippers. With a nipper I always hook the tail first. When a nipper is trying to flee they swim backwards.

Tried the new softy plastic this morning. Not a success, but also not a failure.

I'm certainly not BJSlick and fishing the morning tide off the beach for YFW on metro beaches is new to me. I normally fish for YFW in the afternoon on shallow areas with the rising tide flooding over the sand. Metro, my normal patch is Kingston Park, using nippers. I also fish the YP quite a bit for YFW, Moonta Bay between Simms Cove and Rossiters Point, or the sand spit at Black Point. So this is new territory for me.

Also, I don't usually use soft plastics, on metro beaches I use nippers and on the YP I use nippers or seaweed worms. My favorite bait are the seaweed worms.

I was going to try the Savage Gear Manic Creature rigged on a worm hook and a sliding sinker, plus the Zman Crawz on a ned rig. But I decided to concentrate on one and went with the Savage Gear.

The rig was Daiwa Bassers Worm Hook #1 attached to 8lb leader a palomar knot. The leader had a float stop and small bead to stop the sinker from sliding back all the way to the hook.

The soft plastic presents really nice on the hook.

One problem was the tail would slide back towards the hook mouth and bunch up. I solved this by adding a float stop which helps keep the soft plastic looped over the offset. You can see in the photo a normal hook and one that I added the float stop to.

The day wasn't a success because I didn't catch my target species of YFW, but that has more to do with my lack of knowledge about where they would be schooled up. It did however entice a few small STs. So it does catch fish, I just need to try one of my normal patches to see if I can catch YFW with it.

Most likely I will wait until the new year and give Kingston Park a go. Then a bit later I'll be trying Black Point. Tomorrow it's the yak in the morning at Brighton for some squid.... maybe I'll take a few soft plastics and drop them over some broken ground.

I did a quick test of the buoyancy. Although it floats, it's not enough to get the ned rig to stand up, so I'm going to use the worm hook with a sliding sinker, much like my standard YFW rig when using live nippers.

I'm also going to buy a pack of the Zman TRD Crawz in bloodworm to use with the ned rig and try both side by side. I'll report back how I go.

Looks like Thursday will be my first chance. Plan is to start in front of the Broadway kiosk and start moving south. Will try and get there at 5.30am for first light, with high tide at 7am.

I bought a pack of Savage Gear Manic Creature soft plastics in bloodworm UV. They look a lot like a nipper/bass yabby and I'm going to try them on the metro beaches to see if YFW will take them.

I've got a couple of choices to make about rigging them.

I could ned rig it.

Or I could use a fairly standard sliding sinker YFW rig (which seems to be what Americans call a Carolina rig).

If I go with he standard YFW rig, do I use a standard long shank hook and thread it on like I would a live nipper. Or do I use an offset worm hook and a semi-weedless rig with the hook partially exposed.

Suggestions welcomed.

1 hour ago, SurfcaztR said:

One of the locals at Pt Noarlunga jetty (Gordo)telling me just watch that guy,he'll catch some fish sized or under then take it to his car and come back and resume fishing.And he did a few times,happening all over the place.

This sort of thing really pushes my buttons. I fish Glenelg jetty quite a bit and see similar things happening. There is a bloke that is seen as a local garfish guru, but I see him regularly slip small fish into his white bucket of shame. He knows what he's doing, he doesn't measure them and just slyly slips them into the bucket.

Just from my own observations, at Glenelg, most people are doing the right thing measuring crabs. But some "old timers" are taking the mickey with the fish they are keeping.

2 hours ago, Wert said:

saw certain groups who between them probably kept well in excess of a thousand undersized crabs

What are they doing with all these crabs? Are they selling them?

And good on you for having the courage to step in and release some undersized crabs.

On 15/12/2021 at 6:00 PM, Wert said:

Do they all feel the same diameter also? Per above I have reservations about most specs given on braid packaging. How hard can it be to just accurately state breaking strain and diameter?

No, the Platypus definitely feels thicker and the Duel feels the thinnest. The Duel feels more like some 6lb line I have that is listed as 0.07mm.

I'm with you, I just want to know the true breaking strain, so I can use the thinnest line I need, rather than underrating the braking strain and ending up with heavier line.

My Emeraldas reel supposedly can fit 200m of 0.6 PE. The Platypus braid I have it spooled with is supposedly 0.6, but there is no way I can fit 200m.

Last night I was tying a few hooks ready for the warmer weather and had out my box of lines. I looked at the braids I had;

• J-Braid 8 - 8lb
• Shimano Kairiki 4 - 10lb
• Platypus P8 - 10lb
• Duel Hardcore Pro X4 - 12lb

All nice braided line and all bought specifically for different purpose. But when I look closely, they are basically the same diameter (either 0.13mm or 0.14mm).

I've been using Platypus P8 and quite like it. But it's certainly confusing, it lists the breaking strain, equivalent mono diameter and the actual unknotted breaking strain.

Its a PITA not knowing what the real strength of the line is. If they published the proper data, I'm sure I could go down in size/lighter line and not risk bust-offs. This is what I think is really happening, by under promising the performance of the line, we say to ourselves this line is great, I never break-off, but it's not really the quality of the line, but that it's over rated to begin with.

I've posted a couple of reports of local land based squid fishing and thought I'd give a run down of the rig I use.

So lets get the obvious out of the way, you don't need anything fancy to catch squid, and a handline with a jig will catch you squid. However, if you are land based fishing from popular metro spots, there are some upgrades that will increase your chances.

Rod

Number one item I would suggest is a long rod capable of flinging a jig a long distance. Every man and his dog will be covering the same area with their casts, but if you can cast further and search an area others can't reach, you might just hook into that big squid no one else has been able to tempt. My rod of choice is an 8'9" medium heavy Emeraldas. These are nice quality rods, good blanks, Fuji K guides and a good action for squidding. I've tried a 9' medium NS Black Water and a 8'3" medium light Atomic Arrowz egi rod. The Emeraldas has been the best all round in terms of quality materials, build quality and performance, however I feel the NS Black Water was a better rod in terms of performance (particularly for price), but the build quality lacked a bit (the rod joint was a little too lose). I wouldn't buy an Emeraldas if I was paying the local price of $250 for the entry level model and would opt for the NS Black Water instead. But I bought a rod built for the European market from OS for $165 landed.

Line

After the rod i think the next important part is the line. Again, I'm mainly interested in casting distance, so a quality 8 strand braid is the way to go. I'm using Platypus P8 0.14mm, Australian made and owned, and there is an Ebay seller who usually has it for a good price. When I bought it, the guy chucked in for free a small bottle of Line Butter line conditioner. For leader material I use 15lb Duel HD fluorocarbon. Ideally you would use a lighter mainline and leader for both better distance and sensitivity, but it's a trade off with strength for pull jigs out of snags.

Reel

The reel isn't too critical for squid fishing, it's basically just a winch for dragging in the squid. However you do want a reel that allows line to come off easily for long casts and also lays the line evenly on the spool when retrieving the line. It's hard to go past either Shimano or Daiwa. My reel is an Emeraldas LT 2500 double handle, not necessary, but I paid only $153 including shipping. The drag on the Emeralds is well suited to squid fishing, as it's nice and progressive, so you can easily dial in the drag for different jigs. When whipping the rod up to make the jig hop, ideally you want the drag set so gives a little so when you strike you don't lose the squid from ripping out the jig out or ripping off a tentacle.

Jigs

In my opinion, jigs are the least critical part of the set-up. You can spend a fortune on jigs, but I think it's more important to have a selection of reasonable quality jigs rather than just a couple of expensive jigs. Firstly you will definitely lose jigs to snags. Secondly, if you are not catching anything you might change your luck by changing your jig to a different color. Having several different coloured jigs should increase your chance of success when its slow (but you will also use the same jig 80% of the time and you only need a selection for the remaining 20% of time). I have lots of jigs (again bought cheap from OS or locally from Rui), different colours, different weight/sink rates). I've made a laminated cheat sheet for my tackle bag so I know which jig is which.

Terminal Tackle

Not critical. I like to use a quick change snap with a swivel so I can easily swap jigs. I'm currently using a snap swivel by Rui, but there are many other brands.

Occasionally I add chin sinkers if the current is strong and it's difficult to get the jig down deep. Strong wind can also make it difficult to get the jig down deep because it catches your line. You can use a small 00 ball sinker just above the snap swivel, but I'm currently using Nakajima sinkers which have a simple quick connect.

4 hours ago, vogon said:

Where did you get the last 2, I haven't seen them before?

They look the business

 

Amazon.

We have Amazon Prime for eBooks, video streaming service, etc. As part of the Prime package you can order many products from the overseas stores and not pay postage if the order is $49 and over. Order a few SP and ned rigs and it doesn't take much to get to $49. You can also pick up some of the SPs for a pretty good price. I got the 3 packs $23.37.

No tips, but I have bought some SPs, ned rigs and cheb rigs to try this summer for KGW, flatties and YFW. No idea if will work but I'm going to have a go.

The SPs I've bought are TRD Crawz, TRD Ticklerz and TRD Tube.

Or if anyone would like a longer rod I have brand new 8'9" Daiwa Emeraldas S 89MH-AF.

Asking $180.

Did anyone receive a fishing related Fathers Day Gift?

My son (9 years old) gave me a selection of squid jigs. Amazingly they are all jigs I would have selected . My wife knows I'm a hard person to buy gifts for, so we have a simple arrangement; I buy what I want and store items away in a cupboard, then whether its my birthday, Christmas, etc,. and people ask her what to buy me, she can just go to the cupboard and grab an item. It's a win win, she doesn't have to shop for me and I get what I really want .

The jigs are a mix of rattle, UV, and different weights for different sink rates. There are 3 size 3.0 rattle jigs that are slow sinking, 6 sec/m, for some shallow rocky areas I fish. The Yamashita Egi  OH K is a really nice jig, extremely well made; it is UV reflective and has a little fin at the back to help it stay balanced when sinking. This is a pretty heavy jig for a size 3.5 at 22g (the Daiwa size 3.5 are 18.5g), and has a sink rate of 3sec/m so sinks twice as fast as the 3.0 type S by Daiwa.

I've got several jigs with a rattle. Can't say for certain if they make a difference. I normally put a rattle jig on at the start of a session and on several occasions I had a hit on the first couple of casts, then nothing else for the whole session. This suggests to me, if a squid is about the rattle jig gets their attention.

I like the rattle jigs by Duel and Daiwa. I have one by Rui that I'm yet to try.

I've noticed that jigs are getting a little scarce. The place in Japan I normally buy jigs from has run out of most popular jigs.

On 11/08/2021 at 6:59 PM, SurfcaztR said:

I'm currently running the Berkley 9X in the 0.8 dia for squid.Using the Emeraldas reel but want to try the Sephia 3000 and due to arrive soon.

Snap!

I have an Emeraldas I'm just about to re-spool with 12lb Duel Hardcore Pro X4

And I have a new Sephia BB C3000SDH that I'm going to spool with 10lb Platypus P8

On 12/08/2021 at 8:42 AM, Wert said:

As a genuine fishing  fanatic and equipment connoisseur (my favourite "book" as a kid was the Shimano yearly mag with all the gear featured) I am genuinely interested to know if there is any benefit to the shallow spool so please SHers, educate me.

I like shallow spool reels, but most of my fishing is finese or squid. Even with a shallow spool reel I fit 150m to 200m of braid, as it's mainly 6lb or maybe 8lb, except for 12lb for squid. I just prefer not to have backing line. And I'm not worried that YFW is going to spool me.

Certainly worth it if you buy some braid and some lures, plus maybe a cheap reel. Last order I did I picked up a double handle Shimano Sephia reel for $176 vs the $300 in Australia.

Depends on exchange rate and which jigs you want. Last lot I bought were just Daiwa and YoZuri and they ranged from $8.91 to $10.70. Other times it might be about $12. It works out to be around the same price as the Rui jigs, but you get the higher quality jigs.

The jigs I've posted are all pretty pricey in Australia and I wouldn't buy them if I couldn't get a really good price from Japanese online stores. Problem is you need to buy in bulk to get the shipping free, normally about US$100/AUD$135. It's a lot of money upfront but OK if you have mates or if you are buying a few squid jigs, a couple of poppers, some minnows, vibes and some soft plastics. This is what I do, stock up on a range of items, buying doubles of a few favourites as you know you will lose some to snags. Then when I need to replace some jigs one or two at a time, I buy Rui jigs, until it's time again for a big order.

Last one is a Yamashita jig. This is from the OH K range. It's an excellent quality jig. Really nice fine cloth which supposedly holds heat better and is more attractive to squid. It doesn't show up in the photo but it has a reflective lateral line, much a fish. At the rear you can see a small clear plastic "keel" or hydro-fin as YoZuri call it. Supposedly this helps stabilise the fall and point the  jig into any current. Other subtle elements are the additional balance weights at the top of the barbs and the holes in the keel weight which give additional points for attaching sinkers and allow you to vary how it sinks. I have this particular jig in both standard and shallow versions.

The jigs below are Diawa jigs and they are superb. The attention to detail is probably the best in the jigs I own. The quality of the cloth, the excellent paint jobs underneath, the variation in colour of the feathers and flush set eyes all add up to a high quality jig. Both of these jigs are rattle jigs. The green jig is a glow in the dark jig, but its a bit muted compared to the Rui red head. The Daiwa jigs have their tow point set horizontally compared to vertically for most jigs and I find it's a bit harder to put on and take of a snap like a Breaden snap. The jigs have a really nice fall and dart. They are some of my favourite jigs.

When compared to other brands higher end models, the Rui jigs are not to the same standard. Below is a YoZuri jig. I think the basic YoZuri jigs are very overpriced, but some of the other jigs like the one below are excellent. It doesn't show in the photo, but this jig has a very sparkly shimmer that I haven't seen in the Rui jigs I've bought. It also has a rattle. There is a wire that goes around the sinker, which YoZuri calls a snagless sinker. Unlike most jigs it doesn't have feather like fins, but rather solid rubber like fins that glow in the dark. This particular jig is phosphorescent (glow in the dark), whilst others in the same range are fluorescent (reflect back whilst under UV light). On their own, these elements don't make these jigs better than Rui jigs, but it's the combination.

I wouldn't buy a standard YoZuri jig, but, I really like the higher end jigs.