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Jumbo Squid Attack Off Bodega Bay

By: Dan Bacher March 17, 2005More Articles by Dan The mysterious and cannibalistic Humboldt jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas) are now schooling in huge numbers off the California coast, providing anglers with an exciting angling option when both salmon and rockfish seasons areclosed. Although the hard-fighting squid are being caught off Monterey, Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay, the hottestspot for the action is the fertile waters off the Sonoma County coast.This unique fishery was discovered when Rick Powers, captain of theNew Sea Angler, was doing research trips to Cordell Bank throughNOAA Fisheries for rockfish specimen collection at U.C. Santa Cruz.Scientist Steven Berkeley is studying the reproductive cycles of rockfish."On our first research trip on January 1, I noticed that the water waswarmer than normal, 55 to 56 degrees, versus the normal 48 to 51degrees," said Powers. "These were the same water conditions thatwe had in the winter of 1998 and 1999 when we fished for the jumbosquid before."After they caught a bunch of yellowtail rockfish on the top of the bank,the researchers wanted chilipepper rockfish. Much to Power'ssurprise, he didn't see many signs of rockfish. The research crewcaught a few chilipepper on bars and hooked up something big on the bottom. "We thought that they had hookedan old gillnet, but when the 'net' began pulling on the line, I realized it was a squid," he said.On the three research trips, a lot of big squid were caught, but the deep water spots didn't hold their normalamounts of rockfish. "Either the squid are eating the rockfish or they're scaring them away from their usual spots,"said Powers.Powers began booking trips in specific pursuit of squid. Fishing was wide-openon every trip that Powers made in January and February, with anglers catching allof the squid. The squid ranged from 15 to 50 pounds and averaged 25 poundseach, according to Powers.Fortunately, by using only squid jigs rather than Diamond and Hex bars, Powers'customers have hooked only one rockfish on all of the trips. This is greatbecause Cordell Bank is closed to the take of rockfish and lingcod year round.I made a trip with Captain Rick Powers and 42 anglers aboard the New SeaAngler on Friday, February 11. Powers advised me to bring heavy tuna typegear with at least 40-pound test line to pull these big bruisers from the depths."The fishing was wide-open yesterday," said Powers as he began looking for signs of the squid on his electronic fish finder. "Let's hope we find them againtoday."

At first, Powers couldn't find a concentration of squid that would bite. We put the glow-in-the-dark squid jigs down tothe bottom in 600 feet of water. For the first hour the bite was tough; a dozen big squid were hooked and landed.Then the big predators finally went on the bite - the jumbo squid attack had started."These squid live only one year and grow up to one inch per day," said Powers. "To keep growing, they feed oneverything that moves, including one another."I hooked my first squid at 300 feet and it seemed like it took forever getting it in.These squid are extremely powerful. Although they don't make like long runs like atuna, they make short bursts and fight all of the way to the boat.It was total chaos. Even with three deckhands, it was hard to keep up with thesquid. I was hooking the sea monsters just 3 to 5 feet below the surface. Everytime I would drop down, I would hook a squid.I stopped at nine squid, more than enough for my tired arms and plenty of squid for future dinners. By 12:30 p.m. when Rick Powers called it a day, most anglers weretoo tired to continue fishing. (The squid bag limit is 35, since the bag limit on allinvertebrates for which there is not a bag limit otherwise established is 35.)When the squid were landed, they would go through some amazing color changes,from red, to pink, to blue-grey, similar to a dorado. Although relatively docile whenthey are taken out of the water, anglers definitely need to be careful about handlingthem, since they have razor-sharp beaks that tear through the flesh of their prey -or somebody's careless finger. In spite of all of the squid flopping around the deck during the height of the action, Ididn't see anybody get bit.Anglers experiencing the sensational squid action included Eric Stockstad, Bard Forster, Eric Johnson, BruceCorbett, Gib Earl, Jim Dunn, Don Sanchez, Scott Webb, Bruce Webb, Darwin Boele, Robert Ea, Dee Jones, RandyKelly, Mel Whit, Albert De Sousa, Jim Harrington, Curt Scarrit, Dan Shaw, Kelli Shaw, Bill Henneberg, Wayne Miller,Michael Lum, Anthony Nguyen, Perry Bell, Lue R. Hoff, Jeff Asbury, Henry Farnsworth, Tim Malsch, Zane Black,Kevin Calvi, Ernest Couright, Dennis Lai, Gus Fabian, Cliff Chiu, Wayne Brown, Denise Brown and DeAnn Jones.On the day before, Fish Sniffer columnist Kathie Morgan, fishing aboard the Payback skippered by Captain DaveFrench, also reported hot squid action. She also reported being bitten through her sock by a hungry squid on thedeck; boots, rather than tennis shoes, are highly recommended when squid fishing!Besides being a fun recreational fishery, the jumbo squid is targeted by commercial fisheries in the Sea of Cortezand off the coast of Central and South America. Mexican panga fishermen fish for squid at night in the Sea of Cortez fish to supply the Japanese calamari market. The Japanese consider the big, white-meated squid to be adelicacy."With so much unknown about the biology of this squid, it is impossible to intelligently manage such fisheries,"noted William Gilly, a biology professor at Stanford University, who has been studying the species for two decades,in the National Geographic News on July 20, 2003.National Geographic Ultimate Explorer television correspondent Mireya Mayor followed Gilly and cameraman BobCranston on one of their expeditions to Guaymas, Mexico for the fascinating documentary Devils of the Deep.The squid live at depths from 660 to 2,300 feet, but will come up to feed, as we saw during my trip. Gilly estimatesthat 10 million squid may be living in a 25-squre mile area outside of Santa Rosalia, Mexico. "There is probably analmost unimaginable number of Humboldt squid if you consider their entire range - Chile to California and over halfway to Hawaii on the equator," he stated.How long the jumbo squid will school off the California coast is anybody's guess. But they offer an excitingalternative to crabbing until the salmon season off Bodega Bay begins on April 2 and the rockfish season starts onJuly 1.