I have been watching several interesting clips on match fishing in Europe, and in particular the UK. Generally the bait used for surfcasting is different to here in NZ, worm baits figure highly as do soft and peeler crab baits. One thing comes through loud and clear, the number of top match men who just use a small sliver of squid to tip off their baits.
Squid never figures highly in the bait I carry, only once can I recall when fish rejected all else in favour of squid and that was behind Murphy's Motor camp, at Matata. The odd part being squid is a perfectly natural bait, it is found around our coast in great numbers, so really by using it as bait the angler is offering a perfectly natural food source.
Now it's the squid tippet that intrigues me, is this an actual bait or is it a flashy white attractor that brings the fish to whatever the main bait you have on the hook?
In as much as it will upset some members, I intend to run an experiment the next time I put the torpedo in the water. I will bait all the hooks with my usual offering on one set, then on the second set I will use the same bait and a small squid tippet. This won't be for a little while as I have a lot on at present but the result could be interesting for when surfcasting. It occurs to me the robustness of the squid will also serve to keep the main bait in place whilst casting.
Any thoughts on the use of squid, have any of our members found success and how do they use it?
Re: De Bait.
Posted by James HB on 23/4/2013, 11:39 am, in reply to "De Bait."
The reason why most people don't use squid is that its a fairly one dimensional bait with snapper the intended target. Having a piece of squid on will prolong the time you have a bait fishing.No excuses, just get out there!!
Re: De Bait.
Posted by Rex HB on 23/4/2013, 3:37 pm, in reply to "Re: De Bait."
Fresh squid at Pakn Save Hastings in their fish bins. $6.99 per squid. Fill your boots with em!.
Re: De Bait.
Posted by hbfisher on 23/4/2013, 4:31 pm, in reply to "Re: De Bait."
i use baby octopus from hbfs you pay $5.50 off the net ,you get around 12-15 hole baby octopus, very tuff bait good catch rate now and then, nice to use i chuck and hand fill into water jug with some water and they come apart nice and can get a good bait presentation,thats one of the favor baits on my torpedo.
Re: De Bait.
Posted by Dodd on 23/4/2013, 5:49 pm, in reply to "Re: De Bait."
When fishing on westcoast of Welligton, squid was the choice for Tarakihi. 1/0 hook and tubes of squid from the wholesale, couldn't beat it. I think the grade was U10 from memory. Eating grade stuff NOT the crap in the packets!!!
Re: De Bait.
Posted by Neville Haglund on 5/5/2013, 12:11 pm, in reply to "Re: De Bait."
Use squid all the time up here and intend to use it off the beach as first choice.Snapper love it particularly before spawning,there's something in it they need to spawn. Try this one,two hook rig,either 5/0gamma circle or 7/0 gamma octopus. Cut the tail off a pillie and gently insert it up into the squid.Sew the bottom hook through the squid going under and over the back done of the pillie.When you reach the head just go through one side of the squid and through the back of the head of the pillie in the boney bit.tighten each stitch singularly and gently.Now rap a couple of turns around the second hook and insert through the squid far enough from the mantel so you can get a couple of half hitches around the squid and shank of the hook.The bait will end up like a cylinder and not cast that well but on a Kontiki it would be deadly.
Re: De Bait.
Posted by Hangler on 5/5/2013, 1:05 pm, in reply to "Re: De Bait."
Thank you, Neville. I am somewhat intrigued by the way the Europeans just use a small sliver of squid to top off what the main bait is. I am wondering if this squid tippet is actually taken for its food value, or is it the shiny white of the meat acting as an attractor similar to why many people here use beads as attractors?
Forty years ago I was quite successful in the European surfcasting scene. In the south of England the mainstay of beach caught fish was the humble flounder, these would always figure highly in tournament catches. I would never fish without having some beads of my trace, no different to now, but then by far the most popular beads were imitation pearls.
Again I am tempted to believe it was the flashiness of the pearl that attracted flounder to the bait, which was generally beach worms. Pearls also worked well on other fish such as bass, pouting and silver (channel) whiting.
Thanks for your reply, I will certainly give your suggestion a try on the torpedo when surfcasting slows. At present in Hawke's Bay, and Napier in particular, the action on rods is extremely good.
Re: De Bait.
Posted by Neville Haglund on 5/5/2013, 1:57 pm, in reply to "Re: De Bait."
There' definitely a connection between pearl /silver / flashiness.I'm actually a very serious GT (giant trevally ) fisherman and it just so happens that one particular surface Stickbait generally out fishes all others.It's Japanese,resembles a flying fishes action and does of course have a silver sparkly under side and black top.It's called a Carpenter Gamma and comes in various sizes. I'm looking forward to taking beach fishing seriously and it's a great way to make new friends in a town I have never lived in before.
on 23/4/2013, 9:10 am
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