Rowdy, ink-squirting jumbo squid have unexpectedly returned to the waters of Newport Beach, where about 20 of them were hauled in Thursday night by sportfishermen traveling on boats out of the Balboa Peninsula. (File photo).
The harmless creatures — which are formally known as Humboldt squid – also were sighted again today by boats out of Davey’s Locker Sportfishing. Many of the squid weigh from 15 to 30 pounds, and they seem to be lingering in a deep canyon 1 to 3 miles from shore.
“This is kind of a surprise; the squid are usually seen earlier in the year,” says Chris Cunningham, manager of Davey’s Locker. “We saw them for one day about six weeks ago, so we don’t know if they will be here and gone. But we’ll be looking for them all weekend.”
Sportfishermen love jumbo squid because the creatures put up a tremendous fight, and they drench anglers with ink once they’re wrestled aboard. The squid periodically show up off Orange County, but scientists actually know little about their movements.
Email us your .jpegs if you take images of the squid: grobbins@ocregister.com Make sure to include your full name, hometown, and info about where and when the images were taken.
I wouldn’t exactly call them “harmless”. You gotta watch out for that beak!
So did these “sportfishermen” return these “harmless creatures” back to the sea alive, ir did they do as I have typically seen on California commercial fishing boats: cut the upper fluke off and gouge out the eyes before stabbing them and throwing their lifeless hulks back into the sea?
That girl has absolutely no interest in touching the vile monster…lol.
Fresh Squid is good eating. When prepared right its like lobster. And these are gentle creatures by any stretch….they’ll attack anything they can. When I went fishing for them last year I couldnt believe how aggressive they were.
harmless? arent these the ones with the huge teeth like a parrot that can rip chucks out of its victum?????
It’s “feisty.” Not “fiesty.”
Dude: Thanks for catching my spelling error. I’ve corrected the screw-up.
Grilled squid, tasty murder
Hopefully the animal nuts will acknowledge they have all eaten calamari and understand that not only is fishing for squid a huge rush, but its results in some great food. Thanks animal nuts, without you all the money fisherman spend protecting the oceans and fisheries would be wasted. What would we do without you?
If they are Humbolts they are mean.
Squid are very good eating . Time we harvest these giants with ernest and control them . You sure can’t say with the price of food these days . We have the right to waste the oppertunity .
this picture of the JUMBO squid is awsome and i wonder wat they did with it. if i were them i would have froze it and then come back the next day or night and used it for bait to catch mjore and this every day and night
i wish i were them that is so awesome
i made 2 mistakes on the first commment
i hope the froze it or put in the ocean