anybody do any squid fishing via a kayak ??

Hello
I was just wondering if anyone is doing any squid fishing from there kayak
it seems like the season is the best its ever been?
Or any information regarding this would be great as well.

Mike McC

Mike.

Maybe a mothership trip to get to the fishing grounds and locate the squid. the squid fishing is usually waaaaaaaay offshore, in 1000-4000 FOW.

The shallowest  squid catching I've seen reported was in about 400 FOW 18 miles from HMB harbor.

I imagine it would be quite a challenge bringing one of those nasty creatures onboard a kayak.  They are gnarly!

Allen

Then what the hell would you do with it once you got it on board. That thing might tear you up.

What about the canyon @ Moss? It is pretty deep there.

i guess im just getting antsy
it doesn't seem like theres too much fishing go on out there these days   

Yeah, it would seem they should be there, but most of the squid fishing around here has been off the North Coast, out deep like 2000 feet, or down off Pt. Sur.  For some reason they don't seem to come into the canyon, or at least guys aren't targeting them there.

Allen

Those things freak me out more than sharks.  They work in teams!  And those beaks...  that just ain't right.

Two things,

First, what about the smaller squid that you generally see in the market, do they ever come close to shore in fishable numbers. I have seen them twice (in 23 years) in about 50 ft of water, once at Monastery Beach 1985 certification dive, never been back to that particular spot but there were dead squid on the bottom in 55 ft of water. Second time was on a Channel Island trip, again in about 50 ft of water close to the islands but still a ways from the mainland. That time they were lively but sparse, not a school.

Now on the Humbolt squid that show up off shore here, I've heard that they are actually a threat to humans when they school near the surface looking for food, A human would be no match for a 40-60# squid in the water,

Also found an informative article

http://www.fishsniffer.com/dbacher/050317squid.html

Delladi:

The smaller "market" squid are always here, and along the inshore coast to the south (not sure about how far north)

They gather in shallower waters  to spawn in the late summer and fall.  You know the squid are "in" at Monterey Bay when you look out at night and see boats with huge metal halide lights fishing offshore.  The lights attract the squid to the surface to be caught.

Around the channel islands, overnight party boat trips will commonly find the (small) squid first, and wake up their anglers to hook as many as possible for live bait fishing come dawn.  Great, some say the best, bait for WSB, big halibut, etc.

The giant squid sport fishery in nor-cal is largely due to reduced seasons I think.  We used to fish salmon in February, and rockfish season was all year round.  Enterprising skippers found the squid and parlayed it into wintertime trips.

From a big boat I think it could be pretty fun,  though I'm afraid it is a bit wasteful, when 30 anglers catch 20  30-lb squid each......don't think they are eating all that squid.  reports a few years ago from HMB indicated a lot of dead squid found its way into dumpsters at the Princeton Marina....bet that smelled nice.....


Allen

I agree with Papa Bill, Man one of those Humbolts would tear you up!!!!

A few years ago the humbolts went off in La Jolla. They were close to shore and huge. All the yakfishers were into them. I'll see if I can find an archived article on Jim's site.

Oh yeah, probably because of that marine canyon.  It's like 400 feet deep right there....Seems like we might get the same off of Moss, wouldn't you think?

Allen

Allen,

Thanks for the feedback on the smaller squid,

dale

I have fished humbolts from a PB and they do come in close enough and shallow enough in some areas to target from a yak, however, I would not want to bring one onto a yak for safety reasons as Bill mentioned. If you do catch one from a yak and live to tell about it, take lots of pictures. 

scott

That is one creature I have no desire handling; especially from a kayak

I think the first question s/b "Can Humboldt squid penetrate rotomolded plastic with their sharp beaks?" Ha!

Those mean buggers might be the only thing that I don't want to encounter in my kayak (besides GWS). Pulling them up from 1000ft would be very tiresome. And, god forbid you get a school riled up to the surface! I'd hate to fall off my yak with 500 of those creatures swarming about! They have been known to attack humans.

That said, it might be fun to go out into the Moss canyon and drop down to 1000ft, just to see what comes up! There is something attractive about the mysterious depths of our ocean. I always wonder…what IS down there?
PK