Episode 543: Gold Coast Squid With Clint Ansell

Clinton’s Top Gold Coast Squidding Tips

• It’s a misconception that squid fishing is only good on the run-in tide because the water has to be clear. Clint has found that squid can be caught on any tide, but you need to match jig colour to the water clarity and sky.
• It’s always worth looking for squid around weedy areas, but arrow squid especially like to be over undulating sandy bottoms in water of around 3-4 metres in depth, where they’ll hug the bottom to stay out of the current. Tiger squid are usually more common in areas where there is structure, especially shallow rocky shorelines with rock and weed.
• Squid can be caught on the Gold Coast at any time of the day or night, although the hottest bites often seem to occur in the mornings.
• The days around a full moon are often less productive, perhaps because squid have fed more heavily through the night.
• Squid often sit vertically or on a slight angle when they are off the bottom and can be picked up on a sounder. When they are closer to the bottom they’ll often be more horizontal and harder to pick up with sonar.
• A strong wind and lots of stirred up, muddy water tends to make squidding difficult, but otherwise they are catchable most of the time. Smaller to medium sized tides tend to make it easier to catch squid, on bigger tides, look for places where the run is not so strong.
• If you find schools of winter whiting on your sounder there will usually be some squid not too far away. Keep moving and covering water until you find squid.
• There are charts available online to help with lure/jig colour selection, but Clint finds purple coloured jigs are good in cloudy conditions, white or green/gold is good early in the day with orange and pink being effective later in the day.
• When a squid takes your jig or lure you will feel the rod load up and it will usually hook itself. Play the squid with a light drag so as not to tear the hooks out of the tentacle and play it gently to the boat side.
• If you lose a squid part way to the boat, drop the jig or lure and often it will be taken again, either by the same squid or another one following. Likewise, if there is more than one angler in the boat, a jig dropped over the side on a second rod whilst a squid is landed will often result in a double hookup.
• There’s no point leaving a squid in the net at the boatside to empty it’s ink as they can ink almost continuously. Try and point them away from the boat and despatch them into the icebox quickly.
• Use the main motor to reverse into the wind if the drift is too fast.

Clinton’s Recommended GC Squidding Tackle

• There are lots of squid rods on the market, but they tend to be better for land-based anglers, rather than boat fishing.
• A basic 7’, slow action rod, 2000 size spin reel spooled with light braid finished with a metre of 10 lb fluorocarbon leader is perfect for boat fishing.
• Clinton like to use a small lure clip to enable him to quickly switch to a different colour jig, which happens often until he figures out what they’re taking on the day.

Clint’s Squid Lures and Techniques

• Ecogear squid jigs in sizes 2.5 and 3.5 are great for the Gold Coast as they have a slightly faster sink rate than some other brands and can get through the current more easily. Green and gold is often an effective colour.
• The easiest way to catch squid is to cast the jig out and put the rod in the rod holder whilst you work another rod with a lure! Often the lure will make the squid aggressive and they’ll take a jig more aggressively.
• A soft vibe such as the Samaki Vibelicious (75mm) in baby squid colour or a small blade such as the Ecogear ZX will catch plenty of squid if worked close to the bottom near a school. Clint likes the UV squid colours in the vibes and fishes them vertically with tiny twitches. The squid will grab it and let go, so just keep working the lure and the squid will keep grabbing it repeatedly until they get hooked.