29/05/2026
VERY WEIRD CALAMARI TRIP
The forecast looked good for Thursday 28th of May 2026. I was on the water at 7am in Western Ports Top End. The High Tide was at 10pm. I anchored on my Mark in 10 feet of water 👍
It was 5 knot NW wind & against tide made it sloppy. No action until Happy Hour started 1 hour before High Tide. A white Float went underwater slowly. I wound up the slack line & hit it hard & quick to hopefully embed the spikes in. It took off quickly (it was hooked) & had some speed & weight. I get it boat side & had 3 goes at netting it. It kept taking off & spraying ink when it left. I eventually net a very nice 40cm Hood Calamari. It was caught on a Grass Whiting. It sprayed ink on the boat but not on me 😊
The Tide turns & I had strange bites I couldn’t hook up to. Then a bait goes sideways & I strike, no hook up but seen a tail & part of its body out of the water. It was a dirty Seven Giller. He cut the line to one bait. I wound in other rods in quickly & there was 2 baits hooked together, strange. The other bait was from the line that I had been bitten off. I have had Seven Gillers hit my Squid Baits twice before in shallow water chasing Calamari 🤬😡
I cast my 4 baits out again after 10
Minutes & hopefully the Magilla was gone. Then I had a big hit & big run, oh noooo it was Sammy the Seal 😩😡🤬 he loves my boat & turns up a lot when I am fishing. I wound that line back in & he hits another bait. All up he hit 3 baits one after the other. Lucky he didn’t take my baits & they were in good condition, when I wound them in, strange 🤷🏻♂️ Time to move deeper.
Slow tides today 1.71 meter Flood Tide (incoming) to the mornings High Tide & a slow 1.22 meter Ebb (outgoing) tide due to Sundays upcoming Full Moon. That’s as slow as the tides get. Fishing can be very quiet on those very slow tides, no run no fun. The drizzle finally stopped & the wind backed off as well, great conditions. I decided to fish the 4.10pm Low Tide change 👍
The tide was slow & so was the action. Happy Hour started (1 before the tide change) & I caught 2 Nice Calamari one after the other. Both took King George Whiting 😊
Tide started to slow & the next happy hour started. I was cleaning the other Calamari & I had 3 Rods go off at once. I had ink & slime over my hands & trying to wipe my hands & land these Calamari. I lost 2 or 3 nice Calamari & landed 2. They were grabbing baits beside the boat, it was exciting Chaos 😩
It was getting near sunset & I took the Heads off the 4 Bigger Calamari & opened the tubes up. Then put them in my heavy duty scaling bag. I cleaned up all the mess & decided to head in. I towed the scaling bag back to the 5 knot zone in the Warneet Channel, about 3km. The 4 Bigger Calamari ranged from 34cm to 40cm Hood size & biggest one around 2kg. The Float Set Up worked very well today & KGW was the best bait (caught 3 Calamari). Caught another one on a Grass Whiting & another one on Silver Whiting 👍
I was happy with today’s catch & sizes. I fish the 4 Floats & baits targeting the bigger Calamari so it’s not about numbers for me.
Water temperature was 12.8 degrees today & a strange day on the water, Cheers - Mick 😊
The first 6 pictures were from today’s session. 2 pictures show how clean they are after being in my heavy duty scaling bag. All I did at home was use strong paper towel to finish cleaning them. I trim the Hoods up & job done. The other pictures after my Duke Big Calamari Float Set Ups are from previous trips from myself & my customers. If you want to purchase some Float Set Ups they are $29 each. Please contact me via Facebook Messenger. They work very well targeting Big Calamari up to 4kg & 50cm Hoods. It’s a very exciting way to chase Big Calamari. 😎
I have shared this from my Fishing page called “The Duke Sliding Dropper Rig”.
If you like this post I invite you to follow me on that page & see other Posts there. I have a lot of Topics & Ideas there to read & hopefully help you, cheers!
To find my page type the following into Facebooks search function:
“The Duke Sliding Dropper Rig”
Or click on the link below, cheers.
https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Duke-Sliding-Dropper-Rig/61585892836557/
“The Duke Big Calamari Set Up”. Price is $29 each pack & Postage with tracking is $12 extra, or pick up is in Warneet. Please check out “THE DUKE SLIDING DROPPER RIG” for Gummy Sharks & Snapper. They start at $10 for the Basic Rig & find them on Facebook Marketplace, it’s under “Fishing Rigs”.
“THE DUKE BIG CALAMARI FLOAT SET UP”
I love fishing for Big Calamari in Western Port & target them using Baits under a float in Winter & Early Spring (14 years). My best season was 2023. I caught 60 Calamari in 16 trips during Winter. 22 of them were over 40cm Hoods. The biggest was 51cm (twice), 48cm (3 times), & 45cm (5 times).
The problem I found was I could not find or buy big floats that could handle up to 6 ounce of lead to hold the bait down in fast running tides like Western Port where I fish. I designed “The Duke Big Calamari Set Up”. It consists of 3 Floats. The big Egg Shaped float can handle 2-3 ounces of lead easily. Using the smaller round float underneath the Big Egg Shaped Float together can handle up to 4 ounces of Lead. Using all 3 Floats together can handle 6 ounces well.
I use a light Snapper Rod, it’s rated 6-8kg & 7 foot in length. It needs to have reasonably big Guides to allow the float stop to pass through easily & not move it. Your Rod also needs to handle up to 6 ounces of lead, the weight of your bait & also hopefully a 3.5kg Big Inker. I usually run 4 Floats when anchored up 1 hour either side of a tide change. I cast 1 rod out to the side & repeat this 2 times either side. The Fluoro Yellow Floats stopped from drifting when they are 200 & 150 meters from the boat. The 2 White Floats are cast & set at 100 & 50 meters to complete the spread.
The Rig has 20lb Fluorocarbon Leader & the bait needs to be no more than 60-100cm from the bottom. I also use Glow Sticks & Glow Sleeves & have caught some Huge Calamari with this set & up to 51cm Hood & 3.5kg. I don’t bag out using this method (average 4 per trip) but I catch the bigger Calamari. The Float Set up comes with spare Float line stops ( best way to see how these Float stops are placed on the line is to use UTube than for me to try to explain it), 2 different length Spikes with covers, Light Stick, Lumo Sleeve, ezy clip for sinker & swivels etc.
The Floats come in White or Fluoro Yellow. The best baits are any of the following. Silver Whiting, Tommy Ruff, Bay Trout, King George Whiting, Garfish, Grass Whiting, Pilchards or even a normal Calamari Jig. So get out there & have a crack at some Monster Calamari. They can hit like Snapper & can run 30 meters or more. If you want more information & see some of my catch pictures, contact me via Facebook Messenger, or go to Facebook Marketplace & type in Fishing Rigs & look for
“The Duke Big Calamari Set Up”. Price is $29 each pack & Postage with tracking is $12 extra, or pick up is in Warneet. Please check out “THE DUKE SLIDING DROPPER RIG” for Gummy Sharks & Snapper. They start at $10 for the Basic Rig & find them on Facebook Marketplace, it’s under “Fishing Rigs”.
