Photos: Spero Kartanos.
The cold has arrived, and so have the cuttlefish in big numbers! They are always so much fun to catch close to home.
This month, find the cuttlefish around the eastern side of Wellington Point and King and Green Islands. All you need is a whiting rod, a couple of squid jigs with some orange in the body, a ball sinker above, and a drift in the 20 to 28-ft mark. Drop the jig to the bottom, lift it about a foot off the bottom, and wait for the tug. But be aware you will miss lots of cuttlefish as they tend to take the jigs around the middle rather than from the back where the prongs are. It’s still fun, anyway. You can try the razorback squid jigs with prongs on their backs, but I tend to use my all-time favourites like the Daiwa nude in the prawn pattern in red and orange and the Yamashita pilchard colours (the macula red works as well).
If you don’t like Indian ink on your boat, ‘cuttlefishing’ is not for you! Their ink is ten times thicker than squid ink, and they hold water in to be able to squirt much longer than squid, so be prepared. A long net helps rather than a short one near the boat, and the best tip I can give you is the 30-second mould cleaner from Bunnings. It gets the ink off in seconds and is the best thing I discovered many years ago.
The arrow squid should also turn up in the same area but in the shallows. The tiger squid is in good numbers since the water was cleaned up last month; they are fun to catch, as you can see them coming to get the jig.
So put on a shirt you don’t mind getting inked, have a bottle of 30-second cleaner handy, and get out there and get a few cephalopods. They’re one of the tastiest treats from the sea, and they are right at our doorstep.
In a scoop net, I picked up a fully formed cuttlefish smaller than a five-cent piece. It was fully formed with all the patterns, and I found it fascinating.
Till next month, good fishing, and be careful with westerly winds. For weekly updates on what’s in the bay and where check out fishingmonthly.com.au for Moreton Bay reports.
