Hi readers of the ‘Local’ Newspaper
Even though there is a little bit of rain still hanging around, we’ve had some fantastic days and weeks of beautiful winter weather. Perfect conditions with light westerly winds!
We have had lots of reports of good numbers of Winter Whiting in and around the Cockle Banks and some of the deeper holes around Moreton Island. Along with the Winter Whiting, there are still plenty of good quality Dusky Flathead around. White Patch being one of the prime places to catch some excellent fish. Anglers have been targeting these on soft plastics, shallow diving hard lures and live baits.
Tailor is still in good numbers, especially off Sandstone Point, Red Beach, and Skirmish Point, mainly on the troll with shallow diving hard body lures ranging from 9cm up to 12cm in length. Once you find a School of these, mark it on your Sounder because they school up and you will easily find them again in the same location.
With our perfect winter and good quality water conditions it is time to go out and chase Squid. Squid fishing is to the point where it is completely removed from dragging a $2.00 squid jig from a Servo on conventional tackle. Squid Rods range from 8-9ft in length and are a bit stiffer than Lure Fishing Rods. The first reason is a long cast. The further you can cast, the more Squid you will catch, by simply covering more water. The longer Rod imparts more movement on those upward lifts.
A fast and violent Jig movements that covers the bottom 50% of the water column will attract much more interest. As a result, the technique involves casting as far as you can over the weed beds, in 4 to 10 metres of water and letting the jig sink deep until just above the bottom. To do this you will need to do a few test runs and time how long it takes for your chosen jig to sink in the chosen water depth.
Let it sink until just short of hitting the bottom and lift it with a fast rod tip lift. Drop the rod whilst winding in the slack and pull the jig towards you, then lift it again quite aggressively. Let the jig sink again for several seconds and repeat the process of a sharp lift. Keep tension on the jig throughout the entire process.
You will be surprised how aggressively Squid will attack that fast-moving jig.
Enjoy fishing and remember to catch only what you need!
Danny and Michelle
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