6 Jan 2013 Humbolt Squid trip

[JeffB]

I headed out tonight for the squid despite the forecast for nasty weather. All I could think about was the previous two nights numbers on the squid. I took my pinhead head seeker rod( big mistake) bc he had my biggest reel on it. I was in for a little surprise when we first got there when they were telling everyone to completely empty their spools. We were fishing in over 1000' of water. I dumped out over 1200' of line and still did not hit the bottom. I was the first guy to hook up and of course it had to happen when I had 1000' of line out, ... It took a few minutes, but managed to get it all the way up to the top. The deck hand went to gaff it for me and dropped it half way up. This was how my night started. The kid ended dropping my first 5 squid , and he was doing the same to everyone else's squid. I was a lil flustered :banghead, so I just started slinging them over myself. I ended going 20/21 slinging over the side myself. It was a little bit of a slow night though, hardly anyone was catching them. Did not help that 5 or 6 people were sicker than a dog. Half way through the trip over half the people were sitting out. The last 30-45min only 6 of us were even fishing. Oh, we only fished for like 2 1/2hrs. We left around 4:15pm and were back by 8:00ish, we floated in place for about 20min so they could finish cleaning. So not a whole lot of fishing. Oh, did I mention it rained, more like poured! Plus the 10' swells was what was kicking everyone's butts and the wind. Luckily I had my little friend with me for a back up plan, dramamine, , to everyone else who was doing this with one another !!! I got to the point were I was just shaking the squid off at the side of the boat till I got in trouble, they told me to keep them so they could give to everyone else who wasn't catching anything or was sick. "KINDA" felt bad for them ... None the less it was a fun, crazy, and shitty trip all at the same time. The squid that I kept were about 8lb-10lb average. Almost all squid being caught were around an 8lb average....


*** Here is a tip***
I brought the squid home to clean myself. I watched them do it and looked easy. Took maybe 2min a squid at my house, for the part they were doing. Once I got the steaks in the kitchen I noticed a couple of things extra to do. Here are a couple pictures and hope that it helps you out if you do catch big squid and take them home. remove anything shinny. There is a real tough but really thin white piece of film implanted on the top under the skin. Pinch it with your finger nails on the corner to get it started so that you can pull it away. Then on the belly side, there is a very very thin coat as well. It is a lot harder to take off the the top. Once you take both of them off you will end up with a off white piece of meat that is actually pretty tender and you loose the smell once you remove those two extra parts. The deck hands on the boat did not tell anyone to do so once they get home.

I hope that helps out a little bit.















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-----So the big squid are in town and was thinking of going out and having a little fun. I saw where the party boats started night trips last for them and want to get the wife out for some action. Has anyone caught any big ones, not little guys? How hard do they fight or would it be a waist of time? I see it as a good way to get some calamari and load up on ground fish bait for the yr. any and all feed back would be much appreciated. I would think a big one would have a little spunk to them.----