Tips on Squid?

[IB Boyd]

I remeber the rod and reel guys got a pretty good bite last year on local humbolts....Anybody remeber what time of year that was (I was thinking it was a winter event?) Any good tips on squiding? Bobs fish finder thread made me hungry for calamari steaks

[Polystigma]

I heard some of those humbolt squid taste like crap. However, some are supposed to be okay.

[Bob Ballew]

Don't recall for sure..but, a REAL diver would jump in the water and spear his dinner....

[So-Cal Spearo]

Originally Posted by Bob Ballew

Don't recall for sure..but, a REAL diver would jump in the water and spear his dinner....

It was 2 years ago. It was a freak accident where we had a huge amount of them that scientists tracked from Chile.
I was nailing them on 15# test up to 30lbs. When you had one hooked the others would follow them up from 200 feet and try to eat their hooked cousins. There was a point where I was snagging the free swimmers off the surface.

I did NOT want to be in that water. If you have seen the documentary on the humbolts in the sea of cortez it is some pretty gnarley footage.

[tommy7]

Originally Posted by Bob Ballew

Don't recall for sure..but, a REAL diver would jump in the water and spear his dinner....

Bob, I know that you were typing fast and forgot the "naked" in your post "a real diver would jump in Naked and spear his dinner"

Squid are fun to catch, a little more work in the day and can be easy at night w/ a light. The best time I have ever had catching them was on the Peace at Cortez Banks after dinner, someone looked over the side and yelled SQUID! It was night time after a long day of diving and a tri-tip bar-b-q dinner, a couple of brooskies and you have 20-60 year old guys running around the boat like 10 year olds at Christmas....Wow that was fun!
The squid boats were around up here on the coast (Leo Carillo) near Ventura before all the weather, just go to the same area as them or watch your fish finder for a big blob on the bottom in the day time. I love fresh squid!!

[gonetobaja]

Originally Posted by Bob Ballew

Don't recall for sure..but, a REAL diver would jump in the water and spear his dinner....

I have seen it done. I have footage of our own Freedro runnung down the beach and into the water to nail a humboldt.

He is the only person in the world that I know of that has done it.

http://www.spearfishingvideos.com/Mo...rGTB2WM_01.wmv

in the front of the trailer....

[Bill McIntyre]

Originally Posted by gonetobaja

I have seen it done. I have footage of our own Freedro runnung down the beach and into the water to nail a humboldt.
.

I call foul. He has to be completely submerged.

[gonetobaja]

I have to say by the way,

The idea of getting in the water with to spear a Humboldt squid is probably the single most dangerous thing you can do next to swimming with a white shark with no cage. First of all we all know that they swim in packs, so if you see one, you can be sure there are at least 30 more out of site. If you where lucky enough to hit one it would sound straight down. As you retrieve it to you, its brothers and sisters would no doubt be attacking it and then turn on you. You would be attacked en masse and if you are not armored and tethered to the boat you will be inured very badly, maybe even killed.

I guess if you wore armor and then freedove with it, it would be possibe....that would be some real crazy footage. How do you subdue something with 8 arms and a beak while in the water with his attacking friends

Here are some shots. The shot of the armor is one of my arm protectors after a dive with Ocean Futures for a book photo shoot. The marks are from handling squid underwater for photo shots. Then we would let them go. they can bite you every second literaly. I got 27 bites on one arm in one dive just taking them off of jigs, getting some pics and then letting them go. I would first wrestle the squid till he was tired then let the model hold it.

[spearboy321]

I have heard that only the small ones are good to eat since they hold a chemical in their skin once the get large.

[seacrecher]

Originally Posted by spearboy321

I have heard that only the small ones are good to eat since they hold a chemical in their skin once the get large.

That's easily remedied by using a scoth brite pad.

My boys and I caught them a couple of years ago. We had two sacks full of them in broad daylight right out in front of Long Beach.

[Bob Ballew]

The interesting thing about Humbolts is that for a primative species, they show a remarkable amount of intelligence...they are definately on my list of fish "Not To Mess With".....I suspect they have you divided up in measured portions before even approaching...."Sam gets a leg"..."Spongeboy gets the head this time"....

[Polystigma]

Originally Posted by Bob Ballew

The interesting thing about Humbolts is that for a primative species, they show a remarkable amount of intelligence...they are definately on my list of fish "Not To Mess With".....I suspect they have you divided up in measured portions before even approaching...."Sam gets a leg"..."Spongeboy gets the head this time"....

What's next opposable thumbs?

[EL TIBURON]

Originally Posted by IB Boyd

I remeber the rod and reel guys got a pretty good bite last year on local humbolts....Anybody remeber what time of year that was (I was thinking it was a winter event?) Any good tips on squiding? Bobs fish finder thread made me hungry for calamari steaks

It was January of 05 that we had a mass beaching of Humboldt Squid. They were here in big numbers and the H&L guys were catching plenty on the cattle boats. Theres really not much you need in order to catch them when they are around just go pick up a squid jig at your local tackle store and have fun. Their really not that sporting to catch like Austin said you can snag them at the surface easily, but still fun and they do put up a hell of a fight though and once on board they siphon water and squirt ink everywhere.

Heres a link to Dale and Scotts documentary... after watching it, it will definatly make you think twice about wanting be anywhere close to them while freediving.
http://www.seaofdemons.com/

[offduty]

Great crab and rockfish bait! The squid can be cut into strips to tip jigs or as burley/chum. Dorado love it. Calicos too. The generally taste pretty bad in my experience. Make a Hell of a Mess on the boat. Let them ink before you bring them over the rail...or take stategic aim at a good friend.

[Chris Oak]

You can get big ass squid lures from fishing tackle shops and those work great, although I've caught them on iron and bait as well. The skin has two layers that you have to peel away if you want the best flavor, its kind of a bitch to do. But if you peel it right the meat is so tender underneath that you don't even have to pound it. If you've ever gotten calimari steak sandwhiches or a big fat piece of calimari at a restaurant, that's humbolts (jumbo flying squid).