Giant Humboldt squid taking Southland anglers by storm

Giant Humboldt squid have moved into waters off Orange County and are giving anglers such a run for their money that most sport-fishing trips are limiting out within hours.

"We had our limit within two hours -- the giant squid were everywhere," said Dana Wharf Capt. Corey Lieser. Both twilight trips on Saturday and Sunday returned home with a full boat of the squid.

The squid being caught are weighing in at 20 to 30 pounds each, and can be lured to vessels by using lights, according to Lieser.

"The light causes the plankton the squid feed on to shine, which causes the squid to rise to the surface to feed, making them easier to catch."

Dana Wharf Sportfishing will continue to run special squid trips, which cost $25 per person and depart each evening at 5:30 p.m., for as long as the jumbo squid are in our local waters.

Anglers from all over Southern California are crowding area landings for a chance to fish for the giant squid, which are reportedly a lot of fun to catch and put up quite a fight when boated, usually dousing those nearby with gallons of cold seawater and/or ink.

"The fishing was squidtastic!" said Michael Gannon, of San Clemente, who was aboard the Clemente out of Dana Wharf on Sunday. "My arms are about to fall off because the squid are so huge and put up such a fight."

Dana Wharf is one of many area sport-fishing operations that are seeing lots of action thanks to the jumbo squid -- Newport Landing reported more than 200 on Monday's saltwater fish count. 

Humboldt squid can reach up to 6 feet and weigh as much as 100 pounds and can eject themselves from the water and glide through the air to escape predators.

Also called jumbo squid, they were once found primarily off South America and have slowly expanded their territory.

Humboldt squid returned to Southern California waters in mid-December, when San Diego's Seaforth Sportfishing was sending out vessels full of excited anglers hoping to wrestle in some of the creatures.

-- Kelly Burgess

Photo: Brendan Buckel, of Aliso Viejo, was one of the anglers who caught a Humboldt squid on his trip aboard Dana Wharf's fishing vessel the Clemente on Saturday. Credit: Dana Wharf Sportfishing

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Comments

[Alex]

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[paulcraven]

What do you do with all that squid? Calamari that I am familiar with use the very small tentacles of a much smaller squid. I am unfamiliar with any other use of sqid other than bait for other fish.

[Matt]

I just got back from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and 100s of these showed up on the shoreline which was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen. Locals said they show up about once a year.

[Grady]

The best story of the whole "squid invasion" coverage. It actually treats the topic with facts and knows that the squid has been around since 2002 so it gets a different angle by trying to understand why they're here and how it's affecting business.

http://www.thecalifornian.com/article/20100213/NEWS01/2130305/What-s-up-with-Monterey-Bay-s-Humboldt-squid-invasion

[Alan]

Sponge Bob is not going to like this...look at poor Squidward

[Mountain Man]

This is yet another example of the 'bubba type' who goes out to massacre innocent creatures in the name of 'sport'. Bubba likes to massacre whatever he or she can find to kill so they can feel more like a 'real' person. And yes, before I am flamed, I am a vegetarian. To massacre these beautiful animals who are still alive for hours and in intense suffering is cruelty beyond belief. It is the right of no one, not even you Bubba, to cause intense suffering to any creature so you can have your cheap thrill. The earth is being strip mined of all things living just so some fat Bubba can have his picture taken with a poor dying creature. Why don't you just have some humanity and stop the senseless destruction of our planet?

[Irvine Homes]

Just heard about this attack of the squids at work. One of my co-workers said he went on a quick fishing trip last night to try and catch some of these squid. Those squid are very big, wonder if you can cook them and if there any good?

[Enzo and Bruno]

How come you are killing all these squids and you shouldn't kill them because all the squid will end up dying and you don't want that to happen. They are in their habitat. How would you like it if some giant thing killed you to eat you so we should not do that to the squid. I really like squid and when I am a grownup with my brother Bruno, we don't want to scuba dive and find out that there are no squid. Please catch something else.

[Jess]

I hope you're right, Squiddy. I really wanna believe you. For our sake, our kids sake and for the animals themselves, for that matter! I just find it hard to believe there are more big tuna when we take hundreds of thousands of tons a year. But nature does have remarkable resiliency. Your point about the humbodlt squid venturing further and further North, while most likely bad for salmon that have historically inhabited those waters, is a good observation about the changing dynamics in play. Ocean temp, lack of natural predators, etc. I think I will heed your advice to check out that book on the very subject.

And I'll put the knife away after I finish trimming these calamari steaks and mincing plenty of garlic, thank you very much.

[Squid]

Jess,
Sorry if I misinterpreted your overall position for the anti-fishing movement.
Please check my figures regarding commercial yellowfin tuna landings with the official figures, and yes, the LR boat catches indicate an upswing in bigger-grade tuna.
In fact, the upswing in squid probably indicates a continued upswing in big tuna numbers for the forseeable future.
There's still no explanation why creatures that normally like 75-degree water suddenly have been found as far north as Alaska.
The best explanation I have heard is that we are simply watching Stephen J. Gould's "Punctuated Equilibrium" in action [look it up].
The "crisis" population is Atlantic bluefin tuna, which are probably gone no matter what we do, while in CA we had record catches of albacore in 1999 and 2002, after a precipitous 15-year dip starting in the 70's.
Not making anything up about the bears or the sea lions, just because you can't see how it works does not change it.
The black bear population numbers are well-documented, as are the sea lion numbers, and for that matter coyotes.
Why? No doubt because humans removed other predators/competitors that kept them in check. A downswing in CA Golden Grizzlies, Elephant seals, Orcas, Great Whites, and Wolves created a vacuum.
Mountain lions are coming back strong, up over 300-percent in the last 37 years, read "The Beast in the Garden" if you want a biological/evolutionary explanation. Bottom line, they have adapted to us.
And put that knife away.

[Jess]

How in the hell can there be more California black bear now than before humans paved damn near the entire state? There might be more per mile in the few unspoiled mountain ranges we have left, but that's because we've confined them to an outdoor prison which is a small fraction of range they roamed before. To say there are more now than before the Manifest Destiny is plain ignorant. And while there has been a population boom of sea lions since we started protecting marine mammals and sharks have been dying off, I highly doubt there are more now than at any previous time.

As for the animal rights/vegan agenda... Huh? I love to fish in the waters we speak of, with Seaforth Landing in San Diego being my favorite marina. That's how I know your claim that there are more cow tuna than ever before is based on a few headlines about longe range boats having good trips. But I also respect Mother Nature very much and wish our oceans were as pristine as before the Industrial Revolution. Please stop making stuff up. Just because you say something is true doesn't make it so.

[Squid]

Jess,
Maybe you need to keep your comments on topics you know something about, fishing is not one of them.
The shortage of big tuna you have stewing in the back of your mind are BLUEFIN tuna, really specifically ATLANTIC bluefin tuna.
They are in big trouble.
The natural predatory tuna species of the Humboldt squid in their normal range [southern Baja] are YELLOWFIN tuna, specifically, the [north] EASTERN PACIFIC population.
The annual commercial catch of about 500,000 tons from that population is rated as "fully exploited or possibly overexploited", but sustainable if no other natural calamity hits the yellowfin population [knock on wood].
This catch rate has remained fairly steady for a number of years.
As a spinoff of the somewhat lower overall population numbers, there is more food [for the tuna] to go around, and as such, their average size has gone up.
The number of BIG yellowfin tuna [over 200 pounds] caught in the north east Pacific zone since 2005 exceeds the previous 25 years combined, and we are right smack dab in the middle of another record-breaking run.
Don't bring a knife to a gun fight, and PLEASE don't bring your animal rights/vegan agenda into a discussion about a mysterious migration/invasion.
And there are LOTS of creatures more abundant now than at any time in history; in California alone the California sea lion and black bear populations exceed their historic [pre-human] levels.

[Jess]

Fishing for oversized tuna "has never been better"??? HAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAH Awww, man that was funny. Not very smart, but funny nonetheless. There isn't one species of animal-not fish, not mammal, not anything-that's more abundant now than before mankind harvested(or slaughtered, whichever floats your boat)them en masse for human consumption.

I nominate Squid for most idiotic statement of 2010

[Eric R.]

I love the way we "HUMANS" take opportunity's like this to see if we can add yet another victim to the endangered list. Maybe we should all go for a swim off the coast of Ca. so the sharks can say "Hey look at all the Humans, this has never happened before, what say we go see how many we can destroy" Bravo humanity for showing the world who's in charge.

[trey]

how do you no if this pics are real they look kinda fake to me :)

[fred]

Would have been nice if the squid post had included angling methods, bait vs. artificials, hooks, leaders, rods, reels, gaffs etc. Are they using a club to dispatch them once on board?

[Squid]

It amazes me that this keeps getting played like some bolt from the blue.
Historically, these Humboldt squid were abundant in CA waters only about every 30 years or so, appearing in big numbers in 1975, and lesser numbers in 1976.
Then after that long absence, they re-appeared in huge numbers in 2002, AND NEVER LEFT.
They have been present in varying [and often large] numbers between San Diego and Bodega Bay for almost 8 years, but are usually only fished when other species are not present.
As for the reason being overfished tuna, WRONG! Just the opposite; fishing for oversize tuna in the squid's normal range [lower Baja] has never been better. Overfished sharks and broadbill swordfish maybe, but not tuna.
Don't try the "Global Warming" explanation either, even if the waters off Bodega Bay are usually 50 degrees, and now they're 54, it does not explain why the squid suddenly departed their usual 75-degree [plus] home waters.

[Jess]

One reason these humboldt squid are popping up more frequently is because their natural predators, tuna, are being overfished. Larger tuna devour them like popcorn, so less tuna equals more squid. No crazy conspiracy theory in play, but if you're scared and wanna leave So Cal, by all means please do. Less traffic!

[Wladimir]

These giants squids are signs from nature that the "BIG ONE" is around the corner . This is a matter that should be taken seriously. People in California should start thinking about evacuating.

[Phil]

Wait a minute, using lights to attract them?
Isn't that like 'Jack Lighting Deer' which is illegal?

[Phil]

Didn't they show up last year too and it was treated like some wild unknown mystery as to why?

Last years story made world wide news as some strange oddity no one could explain.