Switch baiting squid

It’s generally pretty hard to drag me away for the Bream fishing but sometime I promise my wife a fresh feed of tasty calamari. When squid fishing, I like to use a technique we call switch baiting. Switch baiting is when you attract the squid with a lure or bait and then drop down a squid jig which hopefully the fired up squid will attack.

Switch baiting is particularly successful when fishing with a partner. Select one person to cast a squid jig and the other to cast a plastic. I have 2 preferred plastics when searching for squid, the 4” Powerbait shrimp in natural and the 4” power minnow in smelt or watermelon.

Switchbaiting squid is extremely good fun and very exciting. Just recently my brother and I had a fantastic session chasing squid. My brother (Brent) was throwing a Power Egi squid jig in olive pink and I was throwing a 4” minnow in watermelon. At first the fishing was tough, until after 20 minutes I felt the distinctive lunge of a large squid. This is where the fun begins. It’s very unlikely to have successfully hooked the squid with a single jighead so very gently I started to apply pressure to try and get the squid to within eyesight. Meanwhile Brent had quickly retrieved his jig and was ready to cast as soon as we sighted the squid. Once the squid was sighted, Brent lightly cast his jig just in front of the squid and allowed in to sink. As his jig reached level with the squid I gave a sharp flick of the rod tip to pull the plastic away from the squid, (I like to leave the plastic in the water to keep the squid interested) Brent was lifting and dropping his jig to try and tempt the squid to switch his aggression onto the jig. Watching a large aggressive squid, light up, serge and rap his tentacles around the jig is truly as exciting as any other form of sight fishing. This squid obliged and we had fun trying to net the squid without being inked.

The next squid I hooked on the 4” minnow was followed by 5 of his mates. It can really get hectic when this happens. This time I held my plastic with squid attached down deep to try and encourage the others to hang around. Brent quickly dropped his jig behind the squid and was immediately hooked onto a large squid. We quickly netted it but left the net dangling in the water as Brent dropped his jig back down. I got a bit greedy and grabbed my spare rod with jig attached and dropped that over the side as well. We both hooked up and without any spare hands to wind or unhook the squid we had line and ink flying everywhere. This pattern of schools of squid following their mates continued for the next couple of hours. We had an absolute ball and took home some very tasty calamari.

I use a Berkely Pro Tactic 6’10” 2-4kg for squid fishing with either 2lb Trilene straight through or with an extra long leader of 4lb Trilene attached to 2lb/3lb Crystal Fireline. I always have at least one rod rigged with a Berkley Power Egi jig ready to cast and I’ll also have another trailing out the back of the boat. It is amazing how many squid the stationary jig will catch.

The Berkley Power Egi comes in a range of sizes, weights and colours so try a few to find the ones that work best in your favourite squid patch. The added bonus of the Berkley Power Egi jig is its scent. It has a very distinctive prawn/shrimp smell to it which the squid just love. When working the Power Egi I have a couple of retrieves I like to rotate through. The standard lift and drop will work well but I like to be a bit more aggressive than that. Once the jig has sunk to within a metre of the bottom, I like to give the rod tip 2-3 sharp flicks, this will swim the lure from side to side. Then let it swim back to the bottom. The squid will strike when the jig is drifting back to the bottom. Good luck and don’t forget to try switch baiting.

Hodgey