Squidding starting?

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Salmon King
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Re: Squidding starting?

Post by Salmon King » Thu Aug 18, 2016 7:52 pm

Bassman_Pat wrote:yes and did it again Monday night. Then caught 6 pounds Tuesday night.

If you are willing....
Please share the color and type of jig you use and the color of light you use.
I bought a green submersible led Ron Wally World in the spring...still have not used it though.
I am trying to find a dock to go to here on Whdbey.

Oh...do you bait them in with something smelly?

Mike10gs
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Re: Squidding starting?

Post by Mike10gs » Sat Aug 20, 2016 9:21 pm

Bassman_Pat wrote:yes and did it again Monday night. Then caught 6 pounds Tuesday night.
What kind of light do you use? I have been trying to find one that would work well. Want to take my girlfriend so we could try catch our first. Nice you been catching them

dogslife4me2003
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Re: Squidding starting?

Post by dogslife4me2003 » Sun Oct 09, 2016 9:15 pm

First time poster.... Sorry Salmon King, you have competition for squid on Whidbey Island, specifically, Oak Harbor!
I tried fishing the marina tonight. I used three chemlights tied together, as well as a 2500 lums flashlight (which proved to be difficult jigging and holding the light). I ended up with nothing tonight. In fact, I was under dressed, so I may have even left before it got good anyway. I was fishing the Oak Harbor Marina Pier. millions of pile perch and even some smelt were seen in the water, but I question if the nibbles I had were from pile perch or squid.
The only cool thing is the chemlights in the water attracted the harbor seals. They would cruise by it occasionally, it gave me a small thrill seeing something huge in the shadows come near that chemlight, which put out a surprising amount of light.
I will be building a fish light that I have seen on youtube.

Has anyone ever had any luck on Whidbey Island? I now I am repeating a question that Salmon King asked...

Salmon King
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Re: Squidding starting?

Post by Salmon King » Mon Oct 10, 2016 8:33 am

dogslife4me2003 wrote:First time poster.... Sorry Salmon King, you have competition for squid on Whidbey Island, specifically, Oak Harbor!
I tried fishing the marina tonight. I used three chemlights tied together, as well as a 2500 lums flashlight (which proved to be difficult jigging and holding the light). I ended up with nothing tonight. In fact, I was under dressed, so I may have even left before it got good anyway. I was fishing the Oak Harbor Marina Pier. millions of pile perch and even some smelt were seen in the water, but I question if the nibbles I had were from pile perch or squid.
The only cool thing is the chemlights in the water attracted the harbor seals. They would cruise by it occasionally, it gave me a small thrill seeing something huge in the shadows come near that chemlight, which put out a surprising amount of light.
I will be building a fish light that I have seen on youtube.

Has anyone ever had any luck on Whidbey Island? I now I am repeating a question that Salmon King asked...


I am still waiting for an answer to the question.
My thought is no because there are no docks with water deep enough and that have any kind of vegetation under them that would attract squid to start with.
How did you access the dock after hours? You have a boat moored there?

Sideburns
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Re: Squidding starting?

Post by Sideburns » Tue Oct 11, 2016 2:32 pm

My experience is mostly from redondo, but my favorite squid light (there have been several, my family calls me the mad scientist....) has been a cheap fog light with the reflector painted white. Ebay h3 or h1 hid kit installed. Draws very little, but still need a car battery sized power source.
"If it still works, take it apart and find out why!"

Salmon King
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Re: Squidding starting?

Post by Salmon King » Wed Oct 12, 2016 7:21 am

I bought a green submersible LED light bar off of eBay last year.
Hoping to give it a go shortly.

It is my understanding that you can jig Squid all day (they are just deeper in the bright daylight).
I was figuring on trying it out right at sundown through the early evening.
I am not a "night owl" so I won't be on the water at O-dark-thirty.

Surely there must be SOMEBODY, SOMEWHERE that knows about Squidding in the Whidbey, Fidalgo island area.....

dogslife4me2003
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Re: Squidding starting?

Post by dogslife4me2003 » Sat Oct 15, 2016 11:26 pm

Salmon King wrote:I am still waiting for an answer to the question.
My thought is no because there are no docks with water deep enough and that have any kind of vegetation under them that would attract squid to start with.
How did you access the dock after hours? You have a boat moored there?

The gate was open when I went in. The Harbormaster was not there, I just walked out. I didn't see any signs prohibiting that, and the WDFW says it's open 24/7. Is it usually locked?

What about Cornet Bay? There is vegetation there. What depth is usually deep enough with a pier?

Salmon King
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Re: Squidding starting?

Post by Salmon King » Sun Oct 16, 2016 9:00 am

Yes....they try to keep it locked to keep vandals and the homeless off the docks.
Coronet Bay is closed at dusk.
They don't normally enforce the rule but I talked to the park ranger and was told that if I am on the dock after dark I could be issued a ticket. The dock in Bowman Bay has a ton more vegetation but again is closed after dusk.

I really want to give that place a try...so I just may anyway.

Good luck.

dogslife4me2003
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Re: Squidding starting?

Post by dogslife4me2003 » Mon Oct 17, 2016 9:02 am

Ah... I'm guessing I was able to get in last time because I went in during normal working hours, and stayed until about 8:30 or so. No issues leaving once I was in. When I tried last night, the gate was most definitely locked and you had to have access via the IDS system on the gate.

For what it's worth, I did try out Cornet Bay out last night. Some old timers were out there at dusk going for herring and smelt. They looked at me like I had two heads on my shoulders when I told them I was squidding.
They did say that they have seen squid eggs on the rocks at extreme low tides in Oak Harbor last year, and when he found out what they were, he was amazed that they were in there. That leads me to assume (you know what that means) that there should be some at the Marina.
Due to the lack of light ( WDFW said it has pier lighting, that was lie No.1 for the evening courtesy of the WDFW website) and strong outgoing current, I decided to wrap things up at Cornet and head over to the Oak Harbor Marina. As stated above, after getting all my gear together, I was greeted with a locked gate. I made the decision then to make the 45 minute drive down to the Clinton Ferry Dock.
I was the only one out of the pier. Once again, it has a curfew. I think it was 9PM or 9:30PM. No pier lighting, just the ambient lighting from the ferry dock, which is too far away to be useful, although once again, the WDFW says it's a lit pier) . No where was that stated on the WDFW website about a curfew . There is not much lighting to speak of at all, but more lighting than Cornet Bay. I stayed there until about 9:30 when I checked another website and apparently action was better over in Edmonds. I didn't care to drive all the way there, but I figured there might be some better action in Mukilteo than where I was at, and perhaps no curfew. With that, I bought a ferry ticket to Mukilteo and an hour later I was on the pier at Ivar's. Due to a rats nest, I lost two jigs after about 10 minutes of being there, and then about 5 minutes after getting my line in the water, a curious harbor seal bit my corkie and I lost my third jig. I have one squid jig left, and I decided to retire for the night at about 11PM, about 20 minutes after I got to the pier. I had to drive around and up I-5 to get home, as the next ferry was at 1:05am.
As a consolation prize, I also managed to snap my fly rod last night. I did manage to catch two perch and one sculpin in Clinton on the squid jigs.
No squid, but the one good thing is my green LED squid light that I built works, but it did nothing to attract squid. I can get about 3-4 hours on my 12V7Ah battery. Not terrible, but good to know. I think I will use this light more for other types of fishing. I guess the green LED is a California thing.

Sorry for the novel.
Last edited by dogslife4me2003 on Mon Oct 17, 2016 9:15 am, edited 1 time in total.

Salmon King
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Re: Squidding starting?

Post by Salmon King » Mon Oct 17, 2016 9:15 am

INTERESTING!!

I was of the impression that the pier in Clinton was off limits after 9/11.
That happens to be the BEST spring Perch spot on anywhere on the island....
There should have been squid there too...
Maybe you didn't stay long enough for a school to come through???

Again....I stopped trying to fish there because I thought it was off limits.
I am stoked to hear we can fish there again!!

What jig are you using for Squid?
Just being curious....
Can you post a link to it or a picture of it?

dogslife4me2003
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Re: Squidding starting?

Post by dogslife4me2003 » Mon Oct 17, 2016 9:19 am

Just so we are talking the same pier, it's the one to the north side of the ferry terminal, that has a shelter and no lighting on it, and it about half the span of the ferry landing...
There is a gate that prohibits crabbing and fishing beyond a certain point. I'm just making sure that you do not think I was somewhere else!
If I could have gone down on the docks at the end of the pier, I might have stuck around, but I don't care to mess with federal laws!
There was two guys leaving as I showed up at 8:45PM. They were crabbing and fishing for herring.

I only know about it from the WDFW website, but nothing stating it was off limits.
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/piers/22/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Last edited by dogslife4me2003 on Mon Oct 17, 2016 9:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

dogslife4me2003
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Re: Squidding starting?

Post by dogslife4me2003 » Mon Oct 17, 2016 9:27 am

Salmon King wrote: What jig are you using for Squid?
Just being curious....
Can you post a link to it or a picture of it?

I unfortunately can't take any pictures as they have been deep sixed. I can describe them, however. I picked them up at Ace Hardware in Oak Harbor (they are the only ones on the island that I have found to sell squid jigs. One was pink and would hold a glow for about 1 minute, one was green. They were both the same length and configuration. I connected them with a small swivel and 18"-ish of 10 Lb test line connected them. A corkie on top to act as a strike indicator.

The third lure I lost was half (bottom half) luminescent, the top half was clear plastic with what looked like a strip of metal in it to reflect light. I lost that within 5 minutes so I can't speak anything to it. I believe that was my $11 one too.

I just bought a bunch on eBay for cheap. I am headed down to Woodinville to hopefully pick up some of those coveted Squidcandy jigs. I'm not looking to break the bank, but I wouldn't mind some calamari!

Salmon King
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Re: Squidding starting?

Post by Salmon King » Mon Oct 17, 2016 9:39 am

I will be going to Seattle next week.
On my way back I plan on stopping @ Ed's Surplus in Lynwood for some jigs.

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spokey9
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Re: Squidding starting?

Post by spokey9 » Mon Oct 17, 2016 2:53 pm

linc's in seattle has the best squid jigs imo. I buy mine there or occasionally from people selling on the docks, if they look good.
Fishing relaxes me. It's like yoga, except i still get to kill something.

Salmon King
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Re: Squidding starting?

Post by Salmon King » Mon Oct 17, 2016 5:59 pm

links??

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spokey9
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Re: Squidding starting?

Post by spokey9 » Mon Oct 17, 2016 6:07 pm

It's spelled Linc's. Its a very cool small tackle shop in Seattle. It kinda reminds me of the small shops that were around when I was a kid. I nlove the jigs they sell there, especially the small ones.
Fishing relaxes me. It's like yoga, except i still get to kill something.

dogslife4me2003
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Re: Squidding starting?

Post by dogslife4me2003 » Mon Oct 17, 2016 8:25 pm

spokey9 wrote:It's spelled Linc's. Its a very cool small tackle shop in Seattle. It kinda reminds me of the small shops that were around when I was a kid. I nlove the jigs they sell there, especially the small ones.
My youngest has an appointment at Seattle Children's Hospital next week, I'm going to check this place out. Thanks!

Linc's Fishing Tackle & Honda - Fishing - 501 Rainier Ave S
(206) 324-7600 · 501 Rainier Ave S Seattle, WA 98144

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