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GIANT SQUID LIKE A LOCUST PLAGUE
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 02/02/2010 05:12 PM
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BADDOG
Joined: 11/25/2009
Posts: 70
Location: San Diego
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GIANT SQUID LIKE A LOCUST PLAGUE
My report from Saturday's squid kill is on the "Private Boaters" with pics. I started fishing Humboldt Squids 5 years ago when I first discovered them spouting on the Banda Bank much to my amazement and catching a few. Since then, I have boated over 700 of them from then and have discovered a few things. 1. They are everywhere, in the Bay in shallow water and on the Banks and in the deep water. 2. They are all with full stomachs. 3.They can be caught in the day and at night. The commercial boats are full in 3 hours of work and come in loaded. 4.Lights help but are not necessary as they will come anyways with the small light on your boat you simply need to find them on your meter and know what they look like on it.5.Sometimes they cruise in two layers at 2 different depths of say 500 feet and 1,500 feet. Sometimes they fill up the whole screen in orange and reds or blue boxes all over your screen. If your meter lights up throw the jigs to that depth by counting feet out of the reel. 6. Once one herd makes it's home on a Bank....they clean it out right to the rocks and then hang out on top of the Bank anyways. 7.While they will bite anything you send down, the needles of the ProMar Ahi don't give much up and for the weight Colman Squid Jigs(2lb.Model only) are superior in current, depth, wind and swells.The saying goes "No lights, no bites" squidjig.com sells an inexpensive light or use the ProMar light attached to the top of the lure, they like red best in testing red, green and white. But, you are going to hate losing the light or waiting for them to stop blinking on their own power even though dry. 8.You must use a 5' at least wire leader of 150# test at least, no matter just heavy cause like Saturday they began to come up with the jig in their beaks for the first time. If you hang a short wire leader with a small sinker from the jig you can shake them off the jig by pulling it all upside down. 7. There are so many of them that the Mexicans have every available permit in Ensenada being sought after to get out there ASAP for a Tokyo buyer in El Sauzal (a commercial port just North of Ensenada)who is supplying boxes and jigs. After seeing all the boats with lights on in the dark on Saturday I asked about how they are catching them as I heard that in the Sea of Cortez they are netting them and I was told here in Ensenada they are all handlining them. I built a hand line and we caught one on it but it began to become a lot of work constantly throwing the heavy jig on a rope and hanging the jig on rod and reel is easier in a rod holder on your back. 9. These mollusks are here 12 months 24/7 you simply have to find them and they are everywhere, I even got jig strikes in the dark on them while trolling for albacore. 10. Catching them in Baja for the Private Boater while restricted under license as a mollusk there is no care at this time unless internet idiots bring this to their attention to take care of business. At this time my heart is warmed by feeding the Guadalupe de la Paz Orphanage and it's 50 orphans who eat rice and beans all week and Pray in their on property church for Bad Dog to bring them more squid for dinner. Somehow us Gringos are the only ones who have a problem figuring out how to cook them. I took mine to Bahia de Mariscos Ensenada with a table of guests and we all loved it fried in a light Panko and cut into thin steaks and served on a platter with tomatoes and bowls of garlic sauce. Absolutely delicious.Of course Mariachis and cervezas help to add. 11.Every Mexican Fisherman in Ensenada is trying how to get permits to fish for these as the buyer has a big wallet. Pangas are returning filled to the top with no freeboard with these squids to El Sauzal for the cash. Someone in Tokyo likes to eat these. One night we did 52 in 3 hours with bilge pumps going. 12. Since the flow of American anglers has all but ceased to Ensenada charter boats and their operations(Sergios) has shut down. One charterboat (won't mention) got the permit to take these mollusks from another permit holder and is now making $900 in 2 hours of hand lining and comes back in.....who needs to work so hard and spend all that money on fuel with passengers when all you need to do is have the Japanese load your boat with boxes and come back in a few hours. You need to be a Mexican, you need a Mexican boat registered, and YOU NEED TO GET A LICENSE TO TAKE THE SQUIDS. I can find all you want in Bahia de Todos Santos (Ensenada Bay), on the 500 fathom curve 6 miles west of the Banda Bank, on a 1,500 foot deep Spire 6 miles North of the Banda Bank, and inside of the fleet of commercial boats off of Salsupuedes. There are 12 big boats and probably as many pangas should they decide to work that day after cashing in the day before. There are millions of them everywhere, I don't know how far South they are in concentration and how far North they are thick but you can't miss it here if you are Calamari inclined. A San Diego party boat can do 500 a night in a few hours as well....what does all this tell you? Never mind the personal comments and legal observations....it's fun, it is delicious to eat, anyone can catch them, all hell breaks loose for deck action, makes a great family video. 12. Where do you keep them and do you need ice ? I load them from the sea into my 45 gal.bait tank...while in there they bite each other, make hissing sounds, flash colors...run the bait tank pump ? yeah ok, ice...how do you ice down 40 pound animals, the Mexicans throw overboard their heads and tentacle and keep only bodies, since they eat each other that's probably chumming. 13. Gaff them in the tail but stick them then hold them in the water and watch them expel the ink in the water not lifting them out of the water. Keep them firm or they will wiggle off the gaff hook. Then after the inking raise them from the tail first as they will reload with water and soak you. I have had them team up on me where one lifted the lid to the bait tank and another one hit me in the back with what seemed like 5 gallons he got from the pumping into the tank. I reported that on Saturday one hit me 3 times in a row in the chest because I gaffed him in the head. 14. cut off it's "ears" the tails and discard them too. 15. No they won't live long enough to release them in your slip. In La Paz they are in the slips.
16. While in intense harvesting one on the deck reached up and gave me 7 lacerations to my bare leg in shorts drawing blood out of all 7. Do not mess with the beak I have no idea about the psi but I'll bet they can take off your finger. 17.On Bizarre Foods Travel Channel I saw in Italy where they use the ink in soup...be my guest and be sure to post that one. what do you do, scrape the ink off your shirt? I know it would be extremely difficult to milk a Humboldt Squid like a cow.....I ain't getting my skin anywhere near those chain saw tentacles and finger snapping beak. they have 2 longer tentacles used for drawing prey into the other tentacles for the purpose of dragging into the beak for snapping. so where are the parts when we cut them open, I only find brown goosh, the scientists say they find undigested beaks in their stomachs, not me, not yet. I was told their digestive juices are the same as ours but 1,000 time more powerful. 18.I was told that the reason I find them cruising on two layers is because they are hunting to drag something down to the big boys on the bottom, like army ants hunting for the queen. I have never caught one very much over 50 pounds while I hear about 80 pounders...I hear they only live for one year so PETA give me a break, they are here and gone like annual flowers. I have never caught one less than 20 pounds. so if all of them I have boated are between 20 and 50 pounds......where are the babys and where are there parental big boys? Well, they must be somewhere and it doesn't take a rocket scientis to figure that out......down there. 19.Which leads me to......they have got to be stripping the sh#t out of our marine resources....so do our fisheries a service and do what you are supposed to do as Earth's #1 top predator.....put a dent in them please and quickly. and finally....other than calamari table fare what can you do with them? 20. cut them up into strips to saddle up with your Gulps, they take a lot of chewing before they are useless on the hook. they are useless to troll whole because whatever jumps on them and gives you this blissful jig strike...will not be able to swallow the whole bait and become fatally hooked. However, if you are into hook and release, trolling them whole would be entertaining....thresher, mako, blue sharks, marlin. A friend of mine caught a local marlin by dropping back a whole Humboldt to a marlin in the jigs. cut up a tankful of chunks and shotgun your anchored boat in the kelp and every bass within 20 miles will show up after a few hours with sheephead crawling all over the bottom. Albacore and tuna chunking ? Start filling up 50 gallon drums and freezing them for July chunking on meter marks. Shotgun out a bucketful on jig strikes and begin chunking. I tried sending a whole one down 375 feet to see if a huge ling cod would attack it and nothing happened. Why? I scared the shi# out of everything that could see or smell it. Not even a crab.Kind of like the dead mouse I hooked and sent down. Lobster trap bait ? 21. Once hooked up, hurry up or the herd will eat the hooked one. Once I reeled up a ganian full of squid heads which explains why they are all full, when hungry simply eat your buddy next to you. An electric reel solves all those problems. If you use an electric reel, tie on 10' of High Vis Orange so that you can shut it off before you hit the swivel and snap everything off by breaking your main line. The electric reel will put continuous pressure on the fighting animal gaining line after the expulsion while it reloads and then when he pulls by exhaust the electric reel will keep him tight by slipping drag. 22. The main line on your reel.....nothing less than Berkley Braid 80 pound test, you'll need spectra when you go 1500 feet with the jig. 23. These animals pull hard, and I mean hard, I wouldn't put the rod in a harness, use the rod holder in the gunwale and reel after they expell. They will exhaust which pulls then they reload, that's when you get line back, don't fight it go with the flow or you will be exhausted after your first Squid. This is for Private Boaters as I don't know what they are doing on party boats, this is what I have learned the hard way on a yacht over the years. Once again, this is not a seasonal fishery....it's game on every month of the year, they aren't going anywhere......this is home for them, they were born here and they are going to dominate the whole year of their lives. It's just that they came here, they're here to stay by the millions. And for my final amazement....where are the natural predators? Why isn't every whale, mako shark, swordfish in the world here jumping out of the water in front of us with a Humboldt hanging out of their mouths? Is it our G-d given duty to thin them out.....man the ultimate predator on Earth. But wait, California Private Boaters are challenged on how to cook them. When I cook them they taste like white vinyl with an ammonia over taste. Yeah, I know, soak it in Buttermilk, oh marinate it over night the chef Peter at Emerald told me after chewing forever on his creation he served us. the latest....boil for 10 minutes. "You either cook squid too short or too long" it is said. The 2nd invisible membrane that clings to it's flesh is thicker than you think....really? I use a thin blade and slice it off both sides. I cross cut it. I pounded it into almost mush and had tough mush. I have resolved myself to taking it to this one restaurant in Ensenada and donating to the Orphanage to thankful orphans. I can't imagine taking out my boat and catching less than a boatfull in a few hours. My greatest thrill running my boat is to take out someone who has never caught one of these monsters and having Juan Lu hook one and hand him the rod with a Humboldt on the other end of it with the drag hammered down on a Penn 9/0 with 130# orange Stren Super Braid...."Buena Suerte hombre.....welcome to Perro Malo." 
Steve
This post edited by TunaChuck 02/21/2010
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02/03/2010 05:06 AM
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Brad_G
Joined: 02/14/2007
Posts: 6177
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re: GIANT SQUID LIKE A LOCUST PLAGUE
wahoodad wrote:
mcrae wrote:
Thank you for posting. However,your report is really hard to read.
I can read yours, but the previous long one? 
These squid are an epidemic, they are going to be a huge problem.
They already are...
Wrap 'em, chop 'em, and feed them to the penned bluefins...and let the baitfish keep swimming freely in the ocean, we need them.
Brad_G
Common Sense is not Common Enough
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02/03/2010 06:13 AM
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wahoodad
Moderator
Long Range Fishing Reports and Discussion
Joined: 12/31/1999
Posts: 8684
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re: GIANT SQUID LIKE A LOCUST PLAGUE
Brad_G wrote:
Wrap 'em, chop 'em, and feed them to the penned bluefins...and let the baitfish keep swimming freely in the ocean, we need them.
I agree, feed em to the bluefin. But it's not the baitfish I'm so concerned about. It's the reds, the lings, the cowcod, the bass I am worried about. Those squid have huge appetites and very high metabolism, and they will scour the ocean clean on their rampage.
Prostaff for: Accurate, Seeker, Seaguar, Catchy Tackle, Five Star Fish Processing, Intrepid
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02/03/2010 07:10 AM
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SteveT
Joined: 05/11/2007
Posts: 726
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re: GIANT SQUID LIKE A LOCUST PLAGUE
Dude... I got about 5 lines into your post and my eyes went buggy.
Looks like an interesting read, but I don't need a headache at 7am.
Could you break it up into say 10 or so paragraphs?
SteveT
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02/03/2010 08:07 AM
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BADDOG
Joined: 11/25/2009
Posts: 70
Location: San Diego
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re: GIANT SQUID LIKE A LOCUST PLAGUE
Wow, what a group of replies. This was an effort to share with guys who have not yet fished for Humboldt Squid before and serve as a how to written essay to help my fellow anglers and not qualify as a literature exam. This morning on San Diego network TV was an on the spot reporter and camera crew greeting Seaforth Sport Fishing back at the dock from a squid trip. Boat was loaded with customers and interviewed anglers who said they caught as many as any person would want in a few hours. They offloaded tons of bodies in gunny sacks full. Reply from Coleman this morning by e-mail the Humboldts go wide in August in Wshington. If my post offended this audience please let me know.....Dog
Steve
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02/03/2010 08:18 AM
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SteveT
Joined: 05/11/2007
Posts: 726
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re: GIANT SQUID LIKE A LOCUST PLAGUE
No disrespect meant, I really would like to read the entire piece and appreciate the info you've provided, but it's really hard to get past the 7th or 8th line.
SteveT
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02/03/2010 08:22 AM
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wahoodad
Moderator
Long Range Fishing Reports and Discussion
Joined: 12/31/1999
Posts: 8684
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re: GIANT SQUID LIKE A LOCUST PLAGUE
BADDOG wrote:
Wow, what a group of replies. This was an effort to share with guys who have not yet fished for Humboldt Squid before and serve as a how to written essay to help my fellow anglers and not qualify as a literature exam. This morning on San Diego network TV was an on the spot reporter and camera crew greeting Seaforth Sport Fishing back at the dock from a squid trip. Boat was loaded with customers and interviewed anglers who said they caught as many as any person would want in a few hours. They offloaded tons of bodies in gunny sacks full. Reply from Coleman this morning by e-mail the Humboldts go wide in August in Wshington. If my post offended this audience please let me know.....Dog
Good Bad Dog, get as many people fishing for them as you can. They are fun to catch, can be good eating if properly cared for (kite bait to me ), and the more we catch the less problem they are.
Prostaff for: Accurate, Seeker, Seaguar, Catchy Tackle, Five Star Fish Processing, Intrepid
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02/03/2010 09:17 AM
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Brad_G
Joined: 02/14/2007
Posts: 6177
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re: GIANT SQUID LIKE A LOCUST PLAGUE
wahoodad wrote:
Brad_G wrote:
Wrap 'em, chop 'em, and feed them to the penned bluefins...and let the baitfish keep swimming freely in the ocean, we need them.
I agree, feed em to the bluefin. But it's not the baitfish I'm so concerned about. It's the reds, the lings, the cowcod, the bass I am worried about. Those squid have huge appetites and very high metabolism, and they will scour the ocean clean on their rampage.
I agree with you in terms of what the squid will eat.
My thought on the baitfish comment is that if the squid were fed to the penned bluefin, then less baitfish would have to be caught to feed to them, and those baitfish could then be eaten by the wild fish population (catching all those wild baitfish and feeding them to the penned tuna just means less food for the wild gamefish, which could only hurt them).
Brad_G
Common Sense is not Common Enough
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02/03/2010 10:01 AM
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Baja Dreamer
Moderator
Hunting Reports / Shooting Sports
Joined: 02/09/2004
Posts: 14172
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re: GIANT SQUID LIKE A LOCUST PLAGUE
BADDOG wrote:
Wow, what a group of replies. This was an effort to share with guys who have not yet fished for Humboldt Squid before and serve as a how to written essay to help my fellow anglers and not qualify as a literature exam. This morning on San Diego network TV was an on the spot reporter and camera crew greeting Seaforth Sport Fishing back at the dock from a squid trip. Boat was loaded with customers and interviewed anglers who said they caught as many as any person would want in a few hours. They offloaded tons of bodies in gunny sacks full. Reply from Coleman this morning by e-mail the Humboldts go wide in August in Wshington. If my post offended this audience please let me know.....Dog
It's not a matter of offending anyone at all. It's about the way it was written in one gigantic paragraph making it very difficult to read. I actually did read the entire thing and there is a lot of good, useful info contained in it, but you really do need to work to find it.
If a post is too long or too much work to read, many people simply won't bother and your intent of sharing information then goes for nothing.
A suggestion? You have much of your info numbered. If you'd break out the numbered sections into individual parts, (Sentences), rather than jumbling them up all together like you did, it would make for a much easier read and you'd accomplish what you intended much more effectively.
FISH AND HUNT HARD!
FISH AND HUNT HARD!
Chris
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