Quote:Giant squid have started to show up in spots up and down the coast. The first report came from Steve Ross of Bad Dog who got into a wide-open bite on giant squid incidental to drift-fishing for swordfish at night at the 500 fathom curve outside of the Banda Bank. Ross was fishing out of Marina Coral with his wife Gail and friend Juan Lu aboard and reported a 2 hour wide open bite that resulted in the three aboard catching 14 giant squid that weighed between 40 and 50 lbs.



Another report of giant squid came from Marty Morris of Ken-Dan who was drift-fishing for swordfish at night up above the 9 Mile Bank near the 178 Spot. Morris reported catching three giant squid in the 30- to 40-lb. class.



The New Seaforth out of Seaforth Sportfishing had a good catch of giant squid recently while fishing at the La Jolla Canyon, and Mark Larson at Seaforth Sportfishing reports that they are going to begin scheduling trips to target giant squid.

Quote:Squid beginning to show



The giant squid are beginning to show at the Cordell Banks. Information from local fishermen working the area indicate that they are finding the best bite right at evening time when the big squid come up to as shallow as 40 feet.



Anglers on one recent charter trip on the New Salmon Queen caught 180 squid in two hours. That was for 19 fishermen. These giant squid average 20 pounds. Expect to hear more results in the next few weeks.

Quote:Denizens of the deep

Giant Humboldt squid that average 25 to 30 pounds, with big ones to 50 pounds, have been discovered in "massive numbers" off Cordell Banks near Bodega Bay. Skipper Rick Powers said squid are lurking in 600 to 800 feet of water, but when a few are hooked, the voraciously feeding school will follow them up to within 25 feet of the boat. Information: (707) 875-3344

Quote:Craig Stone of Emeryville Sportfishing said giant squid trips continue to produce excellent results. On Sunday out of Emeryville, the New Salmon Queen had 180 giant squid up to 45 pounds for its 14 anglers aboard fishing at Cordell Banks. Anglers have been using squid jigs for best results. Ocean conditions for the last week have been excellent, with flat calm seas the norm.

Quote:San Francisco: Rain kept boats off the seas last week, but they should make a triumphant return with squid and sturgeon trips Friday through Sunday. Call ahead for reservations. Emeryville Sportfishing (510) 654-6040, Berkeley Marina Sportfishing (510) 849-3333.



Half Moon Bay: Giant Humboldt squid trips have shown quality results in quality weather, and this weekend projects to be pleasant. Boats carry anglers 25 miles southwest of the harbor, where they catch all they can handle before heading in for some productive crab hunting off Montara. Sand-dab trips are available depending on demand. Huck Finn Sportfishing (650) 726-7133, Huli Cat Sportfishing (650) 726-2926.



Monterey: Boats return from Carmel Bay with 4-8 squid per rod and as much mackerel as they can fit in the boat. A sand dab/mackerel trip is scheduled for Friday. Squid/mackerel trips are available Saturday through Monday. Call for reservations. Chris' Fishing Trips (831) 375-5951, Randy's Fishing Trips (831) 372-7440.

Quote:Sunday, March 4, 2007

School of giant squids found in local waters

Newport Landing fishermen catch 50-pound squid.

By COURTNEY BACALSO

The Orange County Register



Eighteen anglers on a Newport Landing Sportfishing boat came back early Saturday morning with a boat full of giant squids averaging about 30 pounds each and 5 feet in length.



Four-pound squids are the typical size, but Friday night's largest catch weighed 50 pounds and was nearly 6 feet long.



"It was a lot of action," Newport Landing manager Steffanie Hillerstein, said. "People were getting wet and trying to avoid getting inked."



After a giant squid was caught on a day trip Friday, the Patriot set out just south of Laguna Beach to find more.



Catching the unusually sized creatures took anglers about eight minutes and required using 10-inch jigs, or fishing lures.

Quote:The giant squid bite Saturday night aboard the Sum Fun was, well, a lot of fun with a catch of 216 by 40 anglers in 1-1/2 hours.



"It was pandemonium," said Corey Hall, skipper of the Sum Fun from Dana Wharf Sportfishing. "We went as quick as we could running around gaffing them and getting them on the boat."



The Humbolt squid, commonly referred to as giant squid in the sportfishing community, are ranging from 10 to 35 pounds and showing in a five-mile stretch from San Clemente Pier north.



Davey's Locker in Newport Beach and Newport Landing also are getting in on the action, which began in earnest Friday night.



Steve Ingle of Aliso Viejo never caught a giant squid before. He caught four on the Sum Fun and kept three. He plans to go again Friday night with his wife.



Aleks Braconi of Mission Viejo caught one, but Ingle said it was a 40-pounder. Ingle's two other friends caught four each.



"We could've caught a lot more, but how much do you need?" Ingle said.



Also on Saturday night, the Freelance from Davey's reported 115 squid for 57 anglers and the Patriot from Newport Landing had 140 squid for 45 anglers.

Quote:Golden Gate: Couple hundred boats in harbor and one on the water. Can't quite see the stern, but you know the name. Tom Mattusch and the Huli Cat easing over the ocean with six anglers or 14 or two, hardly matters to the skip. He ran it Saturday, reaching for The Fingers, that deep-water place 25 or so miles southwest of Pillar Point Harbor. They lowered the squid jigs through 1,200 feet of briny murk. They did not catch a squid.

Quote:Warming up: Closer to home, water temperatures are abnormally warm, there are Humboldt squid from Baja California to the Cordell Bank off of San Francisco.

Quote:Steve Ross of Bad Dog reported about his most recent trip out of Marina Coral. Ross said they started the day in rough weather out at the Banda Bank where they made a couple of drifts for six giant squid. He said they then went in to fish the gap between Punta Banda and Todos Santos where they found much better weather and wide-open action on giant squid. Ross said the squid were swarming everywhere and that it was nonstop action on squid that were averaging around 35 lbs.



Pete Otis of Fishaholic reported about a trip fishing for giant squid around the upper end of the 9 Mile Bank. Otis had his grandson and two friends aboard and said they had a great time catching four giant squid. The first was hooked near the bottom, and the rest were hooked within 50 ft. of the surface. This has been a pattern in some squid fishing where a deep swimming school of squid will often follow a hooked squid to the surface and go on a surface bite.



Productive areas for giant squid have been the upper end of the 9 Mile Bank, the 178 Spot that is just above the upper end of the 9 Mile Bank, La Jolla Canyon, Carlsbad Canyon, San Mateo and Dana Point.

Quote:ORANGE COUNTY UPDATE: The local sculpin bite has been excellent for most landing concentrating on those tasty fish. Rockfish action has also been quite good, with most boats getting at least half to 3/4-limits of the bottom grabbers. Humboldt squid fishing has become more hit and miss this past week, with a lot more misses.



SAN DIEGO REGION: More and more yellowtail are moving in to the Coronado Islands and the La Jolla kelp. Look for the yellowtail bite to pick up as we are now into spring. Jumbo squid continue to bite full speed on most nights. The dock tally was over 400 of the 15- to 50-pound squid earlier this week.

Quote:ORANGE COUNTY UPDATE: The local sculpin bite has been excellent for most landing concentrating on these fish, in spite of the weather, with most boats getting at least half to 3/4-limits. The Humboldt squid fishing went away with the cold front, but the fish are already popping again further south, so this bite is far from over yet. At San Clemente Island, there are three spots where yellowtail have been popping with consistency.



SAN DIEGO REGION: Limits of rockfish are the rule for two-day trips running into Mexican waters with a good mix of reds and lings in the catch. Some yellowtail and white seabass are starting to show off LaJolla, and while this bite is still slow, it bodes well for the coming weeks. There are also some barracuda popping in this region. Winds wiped out the budding bite for yellowtail at the Coronado Islands this week, but it's not far off. The jumbo squid action was also knocked back early this week, but the big squid are still around and that bite should be back on by the weekend.

Quote:Also fishing out of Bahia San Quintin, Pete Hillis of Pedro's Pangas said, "We had eight boats out this weekend. Winds blew up to Friday, but died down for the weekend. Still no yellowtail, but lots of big bonito, Humboldt squid and limits of large rock cod."

Quote:[color="#FF0000"]Giant squid return[/color]

DAVE STREGE



Seems dolphins like calamari, too.



The sight of a bottlenose dolphin chomping down on a giant squid off Dana Point on Thursday was an interesting scene for sightseers on an Ocean Adventure Cruise aboard the Dana Pride.



For anglers, the sighting was significant. It meant the giant squid had returned to the area for the first time since a two-week bite in March.



More evidence came the same day when three anglers hooked up with giant squid on a three-quarter-day trip aboard the San Mateo from Dana Wharf Sportfishing. All three were lost, however, because the rockfish anglers were unprepared.



The signs of giant squid, a.k.a. Humboldt squid, prompted Dana Wharf Sportfishing to send a boat out Thursday night to test the waters. Seven anglers caught 50 giant squid ranging from 15 to 25 pounds. The bite was on.



Saturday, the Sum Fun on a squid-targeting twilight trip from Dana Wharf reported 140 giant squid for 16 anglers and Sunday night seven anglers landed 45 more.



They were fishing three miles outside the harbor.



The Freelance from Davey's Locker in Newport Beach was on a twilight trip Saturday night targeting sculpin when the squid found them.



"They came to the lights," Norris Tapp said. "They got 138 (for 28 anglers). They could've gotten a whole lot more, but the squid are big and they weren't prepared for them."



These squid were located three miles straight out from Newport Pier.



"We'll be running twilight trips every night as long as they're around," Tapp said.

Quote:NEWPORT BEACH (Newport Landing) — 180 anglers (5 boats): 3 yellowtail, 780 giant squid, 2 white sea bass, 2 halibut, 143 calico bass, 6 sand bass, 134 barracuda, 27 sheep head, 6 whitefish, 41 mackerel, 2 rockfish, 12 bonito, 1 sculpin, 116 perch. (Davey's Locker) — 245 anglers (5 boats): 43 yellowtail, 780 giant squid, 51 calico bass, 1 sand bass, 26 barracuda, 25 sheep head, 18 whitefish, 75 rockfish, 264 sculpin.



DANA WHARF — 224 anglers (7 boats): 19 yellowtail, 637 giant squid, 92 calico bass, 6 sand bass, 207 barracuda, 14 sheep head, 30 rockfish, 19 sculpin, 48 perch.



OCEANSIDE (Helgren's) — 139 anglers (6 boats): 82 giant squid, 29 calico bass, 68 sand bass, 1 sheep head, 22 whitefish, 25 rockfish, 1 lingcod, 24 sculpin, 2 mako sharks.



SAN DIEGO (Seaforth) — 224 anglers (8 boats): 29 yellowtail, 109 giant squid, 62 calico bass, 6 sand bass, 351 barracuda, 28 whitefish, 103 rockfish, 3 lingcod, 63 sculpin, 26 red snapper. (Islandia) — 126 anglers (5 boats): 1 yellowtail, 1 white sea bass, 55 calico bass, 2 sand bass, 443 barracuda, 63 rockfish, 3 lingcod, 16 sculpin, 1 thresher shark.

Quote:Giant squid have made a big reappearance at spots up and down the coast. There have been lots of giant squid reported biting outside La Jolla, Carlsbad and Dana Point. The squid have been biting during both daylight and nighttime hours. Tony Del Monte of Black and Blue was fishing with his friend Pat Solomonian aboard and reported finding wide-open action on the giant squid while fishing about 2 miles outside Dana Point. Their action started at dusk and continued into the dark.



Dave Devoy of Scott Free reported wide-open giant squid fishing during the afternoon hours while fishing 1 mile outside the harbor entrance at Dana Point. Devoy reported that they were hooking a squid on most every cast while using squid jigs and said they kept four and released 25.

Quote:Giant squid return to local waters

By Jed Welsh, Staff columnist

Article Launched: 05/30/2007 10:36:13 PM PDT



It finally happened. The giant squid have invaded our local waters.



The board surfers off Huntington Beach reported the squid swimming through their legs while chasing bait and reported seeing hundreds of them chasing grunion.



The half-day boat Southern Cal out of Pierpoint Landing caught 92 giants Monday on their afternoon run.



The Southern Cal skipper found them off Huntington Beach in waters from 10 to 20 fathoms.



They were also taken off Palo Verde in 20 fathoms water out in front of Point Vicente.



Pierpoint Landing and Marina Landing will be sending twilight boats out starting today.



A bit of advice - head to the local tackle shop for the big squid jigs (they won't last long) and use 50-pound test line. The squid are weighing from 15 to 50 pounds.



For further information, contact Pierpoint Landing at (562) 983-9300.

Quote:Jumbo squid, or Humboldt squid, have arrived off Ventura County's shores. Fishermen who have been trolling these waters for decades don't recall a time when the more than 4-foot-long, 35-pound, hard-fighting creatures have been so abundant as these past few days, when charter boats are pulling in as many as 200 a day.



"This is the first time we've had any kind of action like this," said Steve Volaski, owner of the Ventura Sport Fishing boat Coroloma, from which Laufer was fishing Monday. Another fisherman caught 17 and the boat overall had more than 80.



Although the cephalopods that Mexicans call "red devils" have been caught farther south in recent years, this is the first time that many can remember catching them off Ventura County.

Quote:OXNARD (Captain Hook's) - 30 anglers (2 boats): 143 Giant Squid, 2 Whitefish, 130 Rockfish, 19 Sculpin, 70 Red Snapper.



PORT HUENEME - 14 anglers (1 boat): 40 Giant Squid, 77 Rockfish, 1 Sculpin.



SAN PEDRO (L.A. Harbor Sportfishing) - 94 anglers (4 boats): 2 Yellowtail, 1 Giant Squid, 418 Calico Bass, 27 Sand Bass, 106 Barracuda, 19 Whitefish, 39 Bonito, 46 Sculpin, 42 Perch. (22nd Street Landing) - 45 anglers (1 boat): 8 Yellowtail, 114 Calico Bass, 2 Barracuda, 5 Whitefish, 220 Bonito, 15 Perch.



NEWPORT BEACH (Newport Landing) - 93 anglers (4 boats): 415 Giant Squid, 1 Halibut, 63 Calico Bass, 29 Sand Bass, 173 Barracuda, 1 Sheephead, 1 Rockfish, 1 Sculpin.



DANA WHARF - 88 anglers (7 boats): 99 Giant Squid, 1 Halibut, 214 Calico Bass, 10 Sand Bass, 143 Barracuda, 2 Sheephead.