What a cracking 2 nights spent down at Fishing Fever in Modialloc.
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| Intro |
Both nights saw approx 30 more people captivated in squid fishing as this sport grows at massive rates in this country and in particular Victoria. It still amazes me the amount of people who keep coming night after night to learn more about squid and egi and a great sign of things to come as the enthusiasm increases from anglers all over Australia increases. It was a real buzz for me to be invited to speak along side Lee Raynor (Store owner, TV presenter and one of Australia's best all round anglers) and Gawaine Blake (one of the best fishing minds and Bigtime Fishing Charter operator) as both people I have a lot of both respect and admiralty for the work they do and have done for fishing and squidding in Australia.
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| Lee becoming one with the squid LOL |
The night kicked off with Lee introducing myself and Gawaine and explaining what topics would be covered on the night, then we got into a bit about what egi actually is and its relation to squid, we also covered the history of egi and how young it is to Australia considering egi has been around longer than Australia has been occupied by white folks. This was important for the people attending to know as it related to about 60% of what we referred to throughout the night.
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| explaining tapers and parabolic action |
The next 10 minutes were used to go back to basics explaining some of the many simple ways to target squid in Australia, everything from handlines to egi rods was covered before getting into the nity grity of the technical side of things. From gear we went back to understanding the squid a little more and talked about lifespan, species available to us in the bays and offshore, a bit about the squid vision and how they stalk as visual hunters. You could see that the message was sinking in for the people attending and how many dots were starting to connect, most of what we were talking about was already stored in their heads but the putting it all together was taking place before my eyes. A truly amazing experience and one that I hope to see as we continue squid seminars around the country.
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| Lees Kit |
Most people in attendance had all heard of egi rods but still no one had ever explained how they worked and why they were required, we got to show the people my favorite rod (Gan Craft Violence Jerk 7'6") and Lees preferred stick (Breden Spice, Wicked Game) and how they differed and the actions that can be achieved by using them compared with the run of the mill graphite bream stick. Lee got his car kit out to show people that egi fishing is not such a hard task and that you only need limited gear to get out and do it, most of what he needed for a squid session could fit inside a neat bum bag.
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| me getting jiggy with it |
Next came the part that always terrifies me in buildings with low roof lines, the action the angler needs to impart, for those who have not yet been exposed to this style of fishing is very aggressive, especially the Gan Craft style that seems to be somewhat more aggressive than most, probably why the rod is called a Violence Jerk because you really need to violently jerk the rod to get the egi to dance and do its thing to excite the squid enough to eat the egi. Sure enough when I started to crank the rod I clipped one of the cast marlin fins on the roof, lucky I had my rod in my hand and not a low quality one as it could have ended in a tip explosion. The expression on faces when they realized how aggressive I actually work the egi was hilarious, explaining that they call it a squid jig for a reason and the reason is that it should be jigged not dragged.
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| Striking a pose not pointing out my stomach size |
I should have taken a few pics of the pizza's that arrived at this point as they were brilliant, not often you find a good pizza place and this place is a cracker (must get the name off lee), every one full and content with pizza we got stuck back into talking about egi and why they do what they do, why they are made as they are made and recognizing the difference between egi to help with purchase.
Was great to have heaps of questions asked along the way as it is always a good indication that people have a genuine interest in what you are talking about and can start to share your passion all up the seminar went for about 2 hours including a feed. We all stuck around for a chat and cleared up any more questions while Lee was kind enough to offer a further 20% off all squid and egi gear on both nights.
I thoroughly enjoyed both nights and look forward to the next one in a tackle store near you, for those keen to get into fishing fever for a look at their crazy range of egi gear they can be located at 517 Main St Mordialloc, for opening hours contact the store on 95909899 or check out
the Fishing Fever web site.
For those interested in doing one of the Gan Craft on water experiences with myself and Gawaine, you can contact me via email ecofreak@bigpond.com or 0417590547. Gawaine can be contacted on
bigtimefishingcharters web site
I managed to get out for a quick session yesterday afternoon with a mate Daron, Daz has been squid fishing for years but has only recently grasped the more aggressive action needed to swim the egi as designed and clearly he has got it sussed. We started off heading to an area known for big squid at this time of the year but upon arrival it was clear that recent rain and big winds played a part in the water clarity with the water holding lots of sediment, we had a quick cast but it was made obvious in a short time that the water clarity giving approx 1 meter of sight below the surface was not going to assist in getting any big squid from distance, a short move to the Queenscliff area brought a similar conclusion so a trip back towards Portsea was called. he water was much clearer here but looking around we observed plenty of other boats in the area and no one had rods bent or were landing squid. Daron landed one half decent model around a kg but the water was fast as was the wind, thoughts of a location with slower water and better wind were at the front of our minds. A quick move to a location known to us both well and sure enough in a short time the squid turned on. I dont know how many we landed but there was enough for Daron to have a feed (I dont eat fish or squid) and plenty to go back to finish off what they were doing there in the first place, making more squid.
Last nights trip did do one thing, it helped with a bit of data I have been looking at on squid patterned spawning. The location we fished in the southern part of Port Philip Bay was a spot I have been going to a lot over the past few months, on previous trips I have noticed the size of the squid were smaller than on previous years for the time of the year we were fishing. The water temps have been warmer in the bay than previous years and although the squid were bigger in size in the past they were in less numbers. This year they appear to be smaller in size but in higher numbers in the same area. 2 months ago the squid we were catching were averaging the 18 to 25 cm size yet now the same area is producing squid averaging 35cm. It appears that the resident squid from 2 months ago have remained in the same area, from the squid kept as food when cleaning we noticed an abundance of females with egg's and some fertilized eggs. This would indicate that the squid were were catching 2 months ago were preparing to spawn in the same area and had done so as the water temp changed. This is a great sign of things to come as we know that at least one other spawn will happen in October as the water temp goes up a bit, we also know that squid were in spawn as early a June when some bigger male squid were caught with sperm packets ready to distribute. In the past we were of the belief that squid only spawn over a 2 month period yet from this years catches we have been able to show that it is now occurring over a 4 month period.
I was fortunate enough to spend an evening at the Greenvale Angling Club in Melbourne's north west on Wednesday night to talk all things squid, great club with plenty of interest, was great to have heaps of questions asked especially by the kids in the group, always good to see the kids getting right into the swing of things and keen to learn all things fishing, gives us all but in particular the recreational fishing industry a bit of hope for the future. I also shared the floor with the guys from That's Fishing TV who shared the ins and outs of the TV program how and when it all happened and the trials that they go through making the show, they also parted with some info about Western Port and the rigs they use to catch what they catch for more info on thats fishing go to www.thatsfishing.com.au. We were all made to feel very welcome by every one, big thanks to Ray Caruana for the invite on behalf of the club, Gan Craft for supplying some give away's for every one and most of all the members for their open minds to the ins and outs of fishing with out them there would not be a club to talk at.
It doesn't get any better than this, over the weekend I was fortunate enough to spend a bit of time with a few mates on the waters of Western Port, fishing regardless is a blast but when you get to do it with ya mates its all the more enjoyable, there is something about a fishing brotherhood where its not about who has the biggest or best rod, or who has the flashest egi, its about getting out and having a laugh and enjoying the basics, casting and retrieving without a worry in the world and spreading the ink and by spread the ink we mean spread the ink. After a cool slow start to the morning where I arrived almost an hour later than I was meant to with nothing but a bit of ribbing from the boys I hung my head with guilt as they laughed at my messy state. As the sun came up a bit so did the squid I had an absolute ball with no pressure. The water was a mix of clean and dirty depending on where we were, there was hardly a breath of wind and the current was so slow that at one stage we had to turn on the motors a bit to help the drift, if any one is interested in getting a few mates together on a squid charter most of Melbournes normal snapper charter folks will be running squid charters, on this occasion I was fortunate enough to be in the company of Gawaine Blake from BigTime Fishing Charters. That said we have 3 Squid charters/tuition trips coming this weekend 30th and 31st July for those interested please contact Gawaine at BigTime Fishing Charters on 0411 103 367 to book your spot to avoid confusion with bookings. If contacting from overseas please contact me on +61417590547 or ecofreak@bigpond.com, for folks booking through Japanese Travel Agencies please quote egikuma in your email or over the phone so details can be arranged around your travel itinerary. Here are a few photo's from the magnificent day on the water
This morning saw the second group from the Gan Craft on water experience hit the water, launching a little earlier than last time the group met Gawaine Blake from Bigtime charters at 0600, Hasting Boat Ramp in Victoria was cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey at that hour, the troops were glad they did not have the wind we had the few weeks earlier as well as the cold. We headed out the Hasting Channel and turned left towards Tyabb Bank, one thing that was noticed was the full moon high in the west as we made our way off, not the best moon for squid fishing in Australia but we battled on regardless. The first squid did not take to long to come into the boat but was hardly the larger ones we were hoping for. As the sun started o rise we anticipated a few more squid but they held off on all lures, there was a fair spread of colors and sizes with various styles of working the egi, was a very slow start to the day. A nice sight for those of us who braved the cool weather was a rare meeting with a couple of whales slowly moving up the Port breaching along the way, I was hoping to get the perfect tail shot with a zoom lens but these big mammal visitors just didn't read the script.
