Bruno Garcia of the federation of fishing and the aquatic environment https://www.peche17.org/
Question-answer
Aurelien de Chaille Les Marais knows that currently capturing cuttlefish is interesting and would like to have some advice on this practice so that he can benefit from it too. It’s up to you Bruno! Perhaps a little note on the cuttlefish’s identity card?
With pleasure ! it’s the moment currently the professionals catch tons of them every day in the net. The cold snap of the last few days has slightly slowed down its activity but it has been a little milder for the past few days, we will be able to return there with confidence. To begin its description, I will say that the cuttlefish is a cephalopod.
It’s not going to be enough!
I grant you ! Cephalo means “head” and pode “foot” in summary an animal composed of a head and feet and which belongs to the family of molluscs. It is a very particular animal that only lacks live prey, fish, crustaceans, etc. Which already gives an idea of how to fish it. It has 10 tentacles, two of which are longer than the others to trap its catches and one without tentacles in the male. Its life expectancy is limited to 2 years, it dies after reproduction and the young do not pass through the larval form. From birth they have exactly the appearance of adults. And that too is very special, she benefits from “a reverse gear”. It absorbs water and by expelling it it propels itself backwards. To finish its description it has an impressive mimicry which can intervene in a few seconds. Very quickly it takes on the color of the environment where it finds itself, which allows it to hunt with great ease.
Now that we know it better, we will be able to fish it
Let’s go! As I was saying right away, we are going to use an imitation of fish or shellfish. Most of the time an imitation of large shrimp found in commerce under the name of turlutte or calamarette.
Is it a bit ambiguous as a name?
It is however very serious it is the name of the lure used to fish for cuttlefish and squid. So an imitation shrimp equipped with a dozen hooks arranged in a crown at the base of the lure. The particularity of these hooks is that they have no barb. This little hook that prevents the hook from coming out. This means never releasing the line when the cuttlefish is caught.
As it only attacks live fish, we must move, animate the lure?
It’s exactly that ! You cast your line and bring it back very slowly with small jerks from time to time and as soon as you feel resistance you keep the line taut. Well it’s not furious as a defense, it’s not a fish but when it comes to big cuttlefish it can be very heavy with good head shots.
A little advice
Yes, I advise you to bring a scale or a landing net when it comes to the surface. It often unhooks when you want to get it out of the water