Salmon & Squid
Working away a bit it had been a while since I had the chance to get out with Ryan. Early in the week we had spoke about targeting a few salmon on fly and then looking for a bit of a feed with looking for some squid. We picked Friday for the day to head out with the forecast of the sun being out and enough wind to help with the drift for looking for squid.
I had recently moved place and all of my squid jigs were still at the old place so ducked into Oceanside before heading out. After talking to the boys about what depth we were going to squid we came up with a chosen few from the huge selection on offer. Pinks and whites in a range of weights were chosen, and a bit of fluorocarbon leader for making up some tippet and we were good to go.
We were on the water and heading out to Mewstones and upon arrival there were a fair boats out there looking for the salmon. We cleared the deck to make room for the fly line and went in search for the fish. There were a lot of people in search of these fish with metals and bibbed minnows being chucked around everywhere. After a bit of searching and just watching the sounder we located the school and realised were they were holding up. If people just took a bit more time in looking at there sounder and realising these fish are hugging the bottom due to the amount of boats they could really increase there catch rate with also the right choice of lure. We saw people with poppers and slices cranking them across the surface knowing there was no chance they were going to get fish. A sinking stick bait or letting the metal sink would have been ideal.We were using 8 weight rods with sinking line to get 2/0 clousers down to the fish and resulted in hook ups every time.
After a few fish each we went in search for a feed of squid. Each spot we went to would produce a few and then go quiet. We persisted with spots and depths until we found a spot that produced some huge squid and good numbers. It pays to have a few spots to go to and try when they aren't firing and change up the colour and weight if your jigs. We caught our limit and were washed up and back in plenty of time to sit down and get ready to watch the footy. A well planned day that produced everything we set out to do. A bit of planning and paying attention to what is going on goes a long way. Thanks Ryan and the boys from Oceanside. 
meglodon
Posts: 5981
Date Joined: 17/06/10
Salmon on fly
One word describes that sort of action....whooo.
Swompa
Posts: 3891
Date Joined: 14/10/12
Healthy squid. Hoping to
Healthy squid. Hoping to copy and paste tomorrow.
Ryan Thipthorp (not verified)
Posts: 16
Date Joined: 01/01/70
Salmon & Squid!
Cheers Meglodon, yes mate getting salmon on fly is very rewarding and a big buzz!
Swompa, we got some big squid indeed and a killer patch ... will send ya a PM!
luke george
Posts: 554
Date Joined: 13/04/07
I was there yesterday
I was there yesterday morning using shallow running minnows. Ended up releasing about 30... seen a few schools on the bottom but they were more than willing to come up for a strike.
Tigh82
Posts: 225
Date Joined: 04/05/06
Salmon & Squid
Sounds like you had a good session there Luke, I wish they were as keen when we were there on Friday to come up to the surface and have a go. Would have been great to strip the flies back to the boat and watch the strike. I guess all I am saying is that conditions can change due to fishing pressure and weather and to just have a look at what is going on around you and make the change if needed. Sometimes it's like fishing in a bucket and other times you have to work a little harder for your catch but that's the best part about this whole fishing thing isn't it?