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....

[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.

[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!!

[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.

[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.

[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).

[seahunter]

So if one was to shoot a squid and then try to fight it from the boat would that person would still be considered nuts?

[worm619]

we got em to 30 pounds a couple of years ago...Put 3 in the live well, when we went to get em out, we had only 2 1/2 left...these guys will eat just about anything including themselves...the big ones are great to eat...the good thing is the meat is so thick, instead of peeling or scraping both layers of skin, you can cut both sides with the knife...after cutting both sides you still have a nice thick piece of meat...dont forget to cut out the beak, for storytelling later.....

[ralphthehalibut]

Actually gaffed a smallish one (15 lbs) down in BOLA a couple of years ago. wouldnt do that again, but it tasted great.


NASTY buggers. they actually have these little retractable spines in their suckers.

Best way to kill em IMO is to pull em to the boat, then leave em hanging over the gunnel and cut their head/tentacles off with a sharp, long knife, keeping the main body part. This keeps them from inking all over the boat, and reduces your risk of holes in your body from suckers/beak.