Catching Victoria’s XOS Calamari – Part two

by Jarrod Day on 17 Jun 2011 Jarrod Day explores the realm of catching Victoria's inky species, the Southern Calamari

Calamari in Victoria are a year round option but are more in abundance during certain months.

While calamari can be found on nearly any reef or weed bed, the larger ones are more concentrated around Queenscliff, Portsea and Sorrento in Port Phillip and throughout all of the weed banks in Western Port due to its heavy tidal movement.

Midsized calamari tend to be found in anything from two to five metres of water on a high tide and when the tide begins to change and abate, head out into six to seven metres where the reef or weed beds extend.

Calamari will head into this deeper water, following the bait fish that move out of the shallows to hide. The same goes when the water is silted up due to heavy rain and or wind. Generally the deeper water isn’t as stirred up. Working the shallows in the silted water may see you put in a lot of time and effort for little result. Do some groundwork, find the cleaner water and you’ll find success.

Larger calamari however like current and although the tide can be moving fast, they are best to be targeted around two hours either side of a tide change. Some days you will find they go well on the last of the ebb tide while on others the first hours or so of the flood might be better. These times will always differ and it is up to the angler to figure out their feeding patterns.

Larger calamari can be found in shallow water but for most of the ones I have caught the depth can range anything from five metres to 12 metres. In any depth over seven metres, allowing a free sinking jig to get to the bottom could lead to snagging the jig.

You can’t count down a jig in this depth to keep it off the bottom as you will have tidal influence to contend with. To get the jig down and to prevent snagging your jig use a method called drop shotting. Drop shotting enables the jig to be tied directly to the mainline allowing a meter tag line hanging off the tow point of the jig. A sinker can be tied to the bottom of the end of the mainline and it is the sinker that will run over the weed and reef allowing the jig to hover above it. This is a great technique that keeps the jig in the strike zone longer and can also be used with smaller jigs.

Spawning calamari enter Port Phillip Bay to breed around the end of October. They only stay for a month or so and it is during this time, anglers armed with larger jigs have more success.

In saying that, in April and May of 2010 an unexpected run of unusually large calamari turned up. These were up to 3kg’s in weight and stunned anglers at their size. What I found most amusing was the amount of ink they can cover you with in one squirt.

These calamari have for some reason remained in the Bay and what is very unusual is where you would normally target the larger versions, we were finding them in even shallow water as deep as only a metre.

Yet, for anglers that want to target calamari, the simplest method is to cast onto the weed beds or reef. What we need to be aware of is boat anglers are casting into the shallows from deeper water, what about land based angler.

Well they too have plenty of options. Land based anglers can still access these productive grounds. Walking the rocks and or beach for that matter allows you to have instant access to reefs and weed beds. Just because some anglers are fishing from the boat doesn’t mean they will catch them you land based anglers wont. It is quicker and more effective to flick from the rocks than to get the boat out.

Technique

While jigs have evolved somewhat over the years, so has the technique in which to catch calamari. While the old double jerk technique still works. The idea is to get the jig to dart erratically in the water. The whole reason for using an artificial jig is to fool a calamari to think it is a baitfish and for this to happen the jig needs to act like one. With the introduction of specifically designed calamari fishing rods, the new technique almost becomes natural.

Firstly, calamari rods known as 'EGI' rods and usually longer in length starting at 7’6', 8’ and 9’.

While the 9’ is more so for land based angling, the 7’6 and 8 are ideal boat rods. Some might ask why use such a long rod, well that is simple. The long rods enable the jig to be worked correctly. When the jig is in the water, each jerk makes direct contact with the jig forcing it to dart both side to side and vertically providing your line is tight when jerking.

The rods are lighter than most graphite 7’ soft plastic style rods and use the latest in graphite technology. EGI rods are generally stiffer in the tip enabling better jig control and have a softer action. This soft action benefits when setting the barbs into a calamari.

While most anglers use braided line, these have no stretch resulting in jig ripping out when striking. The softer action EGI rods absorb this resulting in more calamari landed. All the guides on EGI rods are low mount which enable a further cast as less resistance upon the guides and all EGI rods have split long cast handles to allow anglers to cover more water with a cast.

When using the rods, after the cast is made you can count down the jig. For the most part, you need to know the depth of water you’re casting into. There is no point counting to five in five metres of water before retrieving the jig, this will only have it a meter or so down and not in the strike zone.

Once the jig is about where you want it, lift the rod in a flicking motion three times up in the air. While doing this, wind the handle of the reel one full handle rotation at a time keeping the line tight. Allow the jig to sink again and repeat the process until you can see the jig, then re-cast and repeat the process.

When you can see the jig near you and maybe one retrieve away, take good notice of the action during the retrieve, this will put things into perspective.

Calamari fishing has certainly evolved and like all styles of fishing it was only a matter of time before it did. Still, I am not one to say that only these expensive jigs will do the job but they will certainly increase your success rate.

If you are heading out in search of big calamari, don’t be shy to try a larger jig. Larger calamari are greedy when it comes to food and smaller jigs may be passed up.

Port Phillip Bay is now alive and well and crawling with these eight legged freaks. If you haven’t caught calamari before, now is the time to start experimenting with these new techniques.