Port Hacking Squid 24/4

[SydneyIsSkyBlue]

Hi Raiders,

Had the afternoon off work today so decided to venture south and try to regain my mojo with squidding. Having worked very hard on trying to refine my technique and understand squidding over the past year or so I was finally starting to really get some results prior to leaving for a holiday to Japan about 6 weeks ago.

I returned 3 weeks ago (and having spent a fair bit on some more jigs - this stuff gets out of hand) only to find that my ability to catch squid seemed to have been left in Japan. Over the past 3 weeks, I'd ventured out for twice a week to solely target squid and have ended up with nothing apart from losing 6-7 of my new jigs to the rocks and kelp.

Alas, today I headed to the Hacking and as they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results. I was really starting to get fed up with the situation and early doors it looked like it was just going to be another day. Tried my first spot (which had formerly produced a number of times) for about an hour and nothing so I thought I'd take my gear and have a little walk around to see what else was around. On my travels, I came across a designated fishing platform I guess you'd call it, which sat just over some kelp beds and thought it'd be a good spot to try. How wrong I was! Within 5 minutes the place got bombarded by about 10 people (in a space no wider than about 20-25m) so decided to pack up again as I wouldn't be able to fan my casts and I found myself a perfect little spot down on the rocks. Got the live search rattle jig out and within 10 minutes that feeling of hooking up which seemed so distant to me was back! I hooked up to the smaller squid (on the right) whose hood measured 20cm. From there, I had the wind in my sails and the other two followed in quick succession (26cm and 23cm hoods). All in all, it's great to finally have that confidence back - I was really starting to think it was me doing something wrong.

Edited April 24, 2019 by SydneyIsSkyBlue

[Brooker435]

Nice!!!

[Welster]

Good to see your persistence has been rewarded.    

[61 crusher]

Good to see your back catching again, I’ve heard Japans tackle stores  are amazing,  how do they compare in price, I wouldn’t be surprised if the jig wall is like looking at a lollie shop

[SydneyIsSkyBlue]

12 hours ago, 61 crusher said:

Good to see your back catching again, I’ve heard Japans tackle stores  are amazing,  how do they compare in price, I wouldn’t be surprised if the jig wall is like looking at a lollie shop

I could have spent hours in there mate!

It was a really cool experience. My Japanese is non-existent but walked in and pretty much said two words... "Sumimasen, egi?" (Excuse me, egi?) and the gentleman lead me to a room where he rolled open a whole wall of squid jigs about 5-6m wide and 2m tall (they even provided a ladder to reach the top). On there, every brand, colour and size you could ever wish for.

I would say price wise it's 1:1, it's pretty close! I paid around 1160 yen for a 3.0 yamashita jig which is around $14-15. Maybe a couple of bucks cheaper than here. However it's the variety that gets you. I walked out of one shop in Osaka with about 15 jigs and a new Shimano case to hold them all in (spent an hour in there) and had to force myself to leave at that point as we had a booking to get to.

If you're ever in Japan, it's well worth getting to one of their fishing tackle shops. This particular shop was 3 stories!