Squidin' 2014

[mizm05]

Hit Redondo on Saturday morning for high tide at 4:30am. Squid were HUGE! Caught my biggest one to date (on left in the pic of them on my arm). Sunday was not so good. Started at Redondo on Sunday, and then went to Dash Point. The wind and choppy waves killed the action on Sunday. But Saturday morning was stellar. I'll be out on the docks a bit more often hunting for more JUMBOS!

[obryan214]

while out at ppoint defiance this morning a large sea lion got a decent blackmouth of over 10lbs right next to the herring pen. up eating squid I bet.

[Sideburns]

3 pounds at redondo last night, after high tide. jumbo's in the beginning, small ones the rest of the night. Bring light.

[Mike Carey]

Killing me! Do you have much luck squiding the middle of tides, say between high and low?

[MarkFromSea]

I always thought these were "get there right before high tide, jig a couple hours, then done" fishery. Been a few years though for me.
If you want softer calamari, not chewy, clean em then soak in lots of water or milk in refrigerator overnight, then fry. It's a night and day difference in tenderness.

[ResQ]

I have a light question. Can you use LED flood lights for jigging at night? Or just halogen? I have heard there is a difference but I really dont see how? Looking to setup a rig for lighting. It would be nice to have a 26 watt setup vs a 500 watt as I am using a battery and inverter.

[MarkFromSea]

I have a light question. Can you use LED flood lights for jigging at night? Or just halogen? I have heard there is a difference but I really dont see how? Looking to setup a rig for lighting. It would be nice to have a 26 watt setup vs a 500 watt as I am using a battery and inverter.

That's a great question. I would think it has everything to do with lumens.
About 1800 on your LED and about 8000 on that halogen.

[fishnislife]

Read a report from sunday, downtown seattle waterfront, claims to have limited!

Nice! Wish they were in that think around here.
I just gotta keep getting out. Keep up the inspiration guys.


fishnislife

[Mike Carey]

I have a light question. Can you use LED flood lights for jigging at night? Or just halogen? I have heard there is a difference but I really dont see how? Looking to setup a rig for lighting. It would be nice to have a 26 watt setup vs a 500 watt as I am using a battery and inverter.

I hope so cause I'm bringing an LED flood light tomorrow. :-)

[ResQ]

Let us know how it worked out!

[Mike Carey]

The lights did not give an advantage. I was humbled yet again. A nice Asian gentleman looked in my bucket and said "one squid". I pointed at my bucket and said "amateur", pointed at his bucket with 20 squid and said "pro". He laughed and replied "keep practicing".

I did watch, learn, and will refine my techniques for the next outing.

[Gonefishing]

I too was going to ask if the lights helped at all.

My 2014 Squid tally was a whopping 0 in 4 (short abbreviated tries off the Edmonds pier). I was mumbling to some Asian gentleman after he had mentioned Edmonds pier and Squiding how I've seen maybe 60 to 70 people out a night at times this year. Some of them saying how good the squiding had been this year. I'd walk by and check the loot and most of the buckets I saw on my walks around 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. were empty. Many still white and lacked the squid ink staining. I'd finally would say good compared to when? I'd recall back in the 90's and late 80's that the whole dock would be packed with squiders and most leaving with limits. Lately.... and I suddenly paused as I felt some added weight to the rod... I comment great I caught a shell or weed only to pull up my first squid of 2015. Dinky thing too. Stink is off of my 2014/2015 squid season and I didn't get inked on in the process.

He commented that he wanted to go downtown and squid at the waterfront but parking was his issue. I agreed.

I went at it for an hour more and finished with 5. He had maybe 8. Tide was going out so we attributed the lack of success on that outgoing tide. Stupid thing is my friend hooked 4 a few weeks ago while trolling with downriggers for salmon.

[Sideburns]

led, hid, or halogen, doesn't seem to matter too much for success, its more the color and even flooded spread of the beam than anything. bright spots scare squid. Led is my choice for efficiency, and really the best choice if your going to be running off of batteries. 500-550nm is the best color from what I've read, and that is green light to yellowish light. halogen works great if you have plug ins. bluish light works best on clear water, but may scare squid sometimes. i posted some links to technical data on last page. some people think lights dont work at all, i think its somewhat situational. adding 1 bright light area to an already well lit pier may move squid away from your light.

I keep thinking ive got the tides figured out, but then daytime, out going tides get hot for a while. the guy with the best theroy on "where and when" catch the most squid. if any specific tide is better, it is marginal.

... Then, you do it all right, and the seals show up.

[sinkerswim]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I've always heard that squid themselves have no flavor and taste like whatever they're cooked in?

[ResQ]

They definitely have a flavor. I love it :-) it's a mild flavor though. I personally love them lightly fried in coconut oil then topped with some lemon juice!

[bigskyx]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I've always heard that squid themselves have no flavor and taste like whatever they're cooked in?

Very wrong! Lots of flavor. Depends a lot of course on how fresh they are. If they're old, been soaked in salt water for hours, frozen, thawed, frozen again, thawed again, not much flavor. My favorite is fresh, barbecued. On a beach in Thailand!

[Shad_Eating_Grin]

anything still going on in the Edmonds and Seattle areas?

[Sideburns]

"anything still going on in the Edmonds and Seattle areas?"

rumor has it from redondo, that seattle is doing good again.

went to les davis in tacoma a few evenings ago, just to look in buckets, and it was very slow. Then I went home, geared up and went to redondo.

10 pounds! started off slow, but around 2-4 am at low tide schools of jumbos kept coming through in waves. This more than doubled my previous personal best.

I brought my 100w hid light.

[Sideburns]

btw.. when the jumbo's were there, the Vietnamese guys seemed to be outcatching me 2:1 until they instructed me to stop jigging! just barely move your jig every 10 sec or so and they nail it when it is stationary! They hit and tug on your jig, then give it a small set and real up the next one. i caught tripples several times, and three at a time on one tiny jig doing this.

[Mike Carey]

btw.. when the jumbo's were there, the Vietnamese guys seemed to be outcatching me 2:1 until they instructed me to stop jigging! just barely move your jig every 10 sec or so and they nail it when it is stationary! They hit and tug on your jig, then give it a small set and real up the next one. i caught tripples several times, and three at a time on one tiny jig doing this.

That is a very interesting piece of information. Thanks.