Squid Fishing Masterclass: Trolling Squid In Moreton Bay

Greg’s Tips For Trolling Squid

• Understanding the habits of squid resulted in Greg thinking about how to be more effective at catching them. He questioned why nobody was trolling for them and set about perfecting the technique.
• When the tide is high squid tend to spread across a large area of flats and seagrass beds. Greg noticed that as the tide fell the squid would retreat to the main channel in places where there was patchy weed. Around the bottom of the tide this concentrated them in trollable habitat.
• Squid Fishing is productive in Moreton Bay in winter, but over summer they become less abundant. Trolling is an efficient way to find the squid during summer. Once they’re found the angler can continue to troll or can switch to drift jigging or casting.
• In Moreton Bay, trolling the edges of Rainbow Channel, Rous Channel, the Moreton Island shoreline and the reef edges from Mud to Peel Island is a good strategy.
• Wherever in Australia you’re trolling for squid, work along the drop-offs from flats and weedbeds. Clean water of around 1.5 to 2.5m (up to 3m) deep with patches of weed is perfect – you’re looking for areas where there are signs of prawns or baitfish.
• Squid look for places where they can get out of the current. Neap tides give the best opportunity, but squid can be caught when the current is running by using a heavier jig and working with the current where possible.
• A paternoster rig with a small jig on the top dropper and a larger one on the bottom dropper is one of the more successful rigging techniques for squid, but is prone to tangling. An advantage of this rig is that floating weed tends to get caught on the knots rather than fouling the jigs.
• Ideally, troll as slow as possible and select the jig weight so that the lure is within half a metre of the bottom. Squid use weed clumps like other species use reef. They’ll sit in the pressure point where there is little current, and they can see prey approaching.
• Any part of the day can work, but wind can create issues with managing boat speed and therefore jig depth.
• When you hook a squid, turn around and troll back. If you don’t catch one on the return trip, turn around and troll back over. There’s a chance that the lure is swimming deeper or shallower when you motor in the opposite direction.
• If you’re having a quiet day, persist! Sometimes you’ll go for hours without a touch and then suddenly come upon a school and catch a bunch of squid in a short time.

Greg’s Squidding Tackle

• A 7’ long, fast tapered, soft tipped rod will help reduce the likelihood of the jig tearing from the squid’s tentacles. Otherwise, run a lighter drag to help compensate.
• 6-10lb line with a mono or fluorocarbon leader. Greg likes fluoro for casting but reckons mono is fine when trolling.

Greg’s Preferred Squid Jigs

• Squid are less fussy when trolling as they have less time to inspect a jig that is moving relatively quickly, compared to one that is cast and worked back.
• Colour can be important. On bright, sunny days Greg prefers light brown or orange jigs (or grey). In low light conditions or on an overcast day he prefers bright colours such as purples, whites, bright orange/pink or green. Mix it up though, squid have a habit of changing the rules.
• You can use reasonably light jigs if you’re employing the paternoster rig. If you’re not using a paternoster then go for heavier jigs (#3.5 or #4).
• Greg finds it doesn’t make much of a difference what brand of jig is used when you’re trolling, with one exception. The Duo D squid jig is heavier than the others, lacks the feathers on the side and has a line tie on top of the head. These characteristics make it a deadly trolling jig.
• Sometimes small jigs will catch smaller squid and often the bigger jigs will take bigger squid, but not always. It’s not unusual for a squid to be caught on a jig bigger than itself.