Calamari – An anglers obsession

by Jarrod Day on 11 Jun 2011 Jarrod Day gives us an insight into how to catch an assortment of Calamari.

Catching Victoria’s Xos Calamari – Part one:

They might be the chameleon of the ocean, have eight legs and have a better aim than a sniper but what is it about calamari that gets anglers so obsessed.

While some are happy to sit on a pier casting the odd jig about on a lazy Sunday, others are up before the birds start singing just to get the jigs into the water on first light. I am one of those self obsessed anglers and can’t explain this obscure fascination for spending so much time on the water fishing for them but one thing’s for sure, they are a lot of fun.

Southern Calamari are widely spread throughout the Southern half of Australia from Bundaberg on the East coast to Shark Bay, WA. Being quite a shy creature, they inhabit weed beds, reefs and can also be found around structure such as the local pier or anchored boats.

For years, calamari have been an easy target and back when I used to trundle off to the Portsea Pier in Port Phillip Bay in my younger days, it wasn’t uncommon to see a good dozen anglers sitting on their 20 litre white buckets jigging vertically an assortment of coloured jigs attached to the end of a 10 or 13ft pole.

Those were the days, simple methods caught the fish. Back then, the fishery was relatively untouched. There wasn’t the assortment of jigs there are today and anglers still got their few for that night’s dinner.

Today, things have changed considerably. I was sitting in my lounge room just a few days ago going through my assortment of jigs and pulled out my original collection. Yep, jigs that would stun anglers at their sight, you remember, the old coloured oval with a set of prongs on the bottom, the type you’d probably only find in a antique store these days.

That aside, like everything, fishing tackle and lure technology gets better and there is no doubt that today the jigs that are produced, not just visually look the part but sink and dart in the exact way any baitfish would if in the water, no wonder it is easy to catch calamari.

Talking Jigs
When we dive into the world of calamari jigs these days, be prepared to be blown away. There may be a wide variety of brands and sizes but colours, where do I begin.

When I first began my calamari catching career most of the jigs revolved around orange or pink and if you didn’t have either of these you’d be in all sorts of trouble. Nowadays and to what I think was almost the evolution of colour, jigs have had a rather large overhaul and while the original orange and pinks still exist, more natural colours have taken their place.

Japanese tackle manufacture Yo-Zuri were the makers of the original artificial jigs and are still a leading brand today. Their high quality graphics and cloth covered jigs give a more natural feel and look to the jigs which calamari just can’t resist.

There is a lot of talk about which colours work best at different times of the day and for the amount of calamari fishing I do, I still can’t pick a trend. In saying that, I do have my go to colours which serve me well. I find darker coloured jigs work more effectively during first light until about 10am and on dusk and if I am fishing in the dark, a brown or black coloured jig tends to prove itself worthy.

Although jigs have come of age in the colour department, they have also in size and sink rate. During different times of the season, different sized jigs will work more effectively.

When calamari are in plague proportions and smaller in size around the 10-30cm hood length, smaller jigs in the 1.8 and 2.5 sizes are perfect. Mind you, these two size jigs also have different sink rates. A 1.8 size jig weigh’s around 5g while a 2.5 weighs anything from 10-12g. With some jigs on the market a 2.5 10g size may be available in a standard sink rate at around 3-4 seconds per meter but the same jig can be brought in a slow sink rate at 4.5-6 seconds per metre.

This is a huge bonus for calamari anglers and as we all know, calamari can be very shy for the majority of the time. On bright sunny days and in shallow water I have seen plenty of times schools of calamari milling around a retrieved jig right to the boat. You can see them approach the jig and just when you think they will attack it, they retreat back a meter or so unaware if they should eat it or not. Even then, your jig may land on the bottom before they will take it and once again miss the chance at hooking them. This is the situation where a slow sinking jig will benefit. Providing you have the same colour jig in a slow sinking weight, you can quickly tie it on and re-cast out. Even at the boat, you will notice, the shy calamari that once was, will now have more of an opportunity to take the jig as the slower sink rate will keep it in the strike zone for a longer period.

Later on in the season and by increasing the size of the jigs to size 3.0 and 3.5 will lead you to the bigger models. Obviously if you are in search for larger calamari you will need to fish locations were they frequent but by using the larger sizes, you will stay away from the majority of smaller ones.

Larger jigs also come in slow sink and fast sinking rates. I tend to use the slower sinking jigs in shallow water allowing more 'hang time' in the water column. Where I target large calamari, I am fishing where there is current and heavy weed and reef. The longer the jig can stay almost motionless in the water, the more chance I have at hooking a larger calamari. Having a motionless jig in the water allows the calamari equal time to sneak upon it grabbing it from behind in its natural hunting instinct.

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