The Squid And The Marlin

The enigmatic Humboldt Squid appeared out of nowhere for Southern California anglers last week and now have suddenly disappeared. “They’re gone,” said Native Sun Captain Gabe Ceballos out of Long Beach Sportfishing. Ceballos searched over a broad area in the coastal waters off Long Beach and San Pedro on a Tuesday night twilight trip and found little evidence of the giant mollusks that were so plentiful just a day before. Other sportboats reported similar. “Thousands, maybe millions here one day and then gone the next,” said Enterprise skipper Andy Siratt from Long Beach Marina Sportfishing.

While the Humboldt Squid provided an economic boost to the local sportfishing economy in the short run, the fear is that they may have done more long term damage to other fisheries in the long run. The jumbo squid have voracious, insatiable appetites and consume just about everything in their paths. They can grow to 6-feet and 100-lbs. in a year. That means that the Humboldts are in constant search for food and that’s bad news for calico and sand bass, rockfish and other species that dare to cross the patch of the ferocious mollusk. Hunting in packs 1,200 strong at times, the fear is that they have cleaned off many of our local fishing spots leaving them devoid of life. Only time will tell as the Humboldt’s have pushed into the waters off Santa Barbara, presumably in search of more food. The Enterprise was out on Wednesday and had limits of rockfish so maybe the squid left some fish behind.

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Dave Aird, age 54, passed away on Tuesday, Sept. 19th. Dave worked at Long Beach Sportfishing for the past 15 years and will be sorely missed by so many. Affectionately known as Psycho-Dave for the pranks and fun-loving jokes Dave used to play on everyone. There will be a memorial celeration of his life on Oct. 6 at 9:30 am on board the Native Sun out of Long Beach Sportfishing followed by a burial at sea. Please RSVP to 562-432-8993 or to charter.master@lbsf55.com.

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Tuna fishing out of San Diego is still a viable option available for anglers if they are willing to travel over 150-miles south of Point Loma. Bluefin tuna in the 12-18 lb. class have been hit and miss, but 5-10 lb yellowtail have been plentiful on floating kelp paddies along with a few 15-25 lb. dorado. Hurricane Hilary will staff off the Baja coast but could extend the offshore tuna season. Some anglers believe that Hurricanes flush warm water and more fish from south to north.

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Captain Gary Lacroix of the Highliner from Redondo Beach took a busman’s holiday last week and fished on a 7-day trip on board the San Diego based Shogun. “The trip couldn’t heave been any better, “ said Lacroix. On the way to Guadalupe Island, the group caught plenty of yellowtail and bluefin tuna. The backside of Guadalupe produced excellent fishing for 25-40 lb. yellowtail while on the front side, 60- 100 lb. yellowfin tuna provided good action. There was an epic battle on the yellowfin tuna grounds as as many as 9 great white sharks picked off most of the hooked tuna. Lacroix caught the largest tuna of the trip weighing in at 96 pounds.

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The Santa Monica Bay continues to be home to lots of market squid and seems to have prolonged the surface fishing. The Redondo Special has been catching lots of short white seabass (less than 28-inches in length) and a few legal seabass to over 25-lbs. Rockfishing remains good if the surface fish don’t come out to play.

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Surf fishing came to a screeching halt as a red tide has been persuasive from the Mexican border to the Santa Monica Bay. 

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Richard Biehl of Traverse City, Mich., made an incredible catch in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico Sunday. Biehl was part of an Old Man And The Sea-like battle. After a 28 hour battle, Biehl and the crew of the Go Deep landed a blue marlin on 60- lb test that weighed somewhere near 1,000-lbs. The marlin weighed 972 pounds at the docks but the hook of the scale was not high enough for the fish to clear the ground. The crew then used a formula that suggested the true weight of the mighty marlin was 1,213 pounds. The previous largest marlin in Cabo San Lucas was caught in the 1980’s and weighed 1,111 pounds. "That was the hardest thing I ever did in my life by far," Biehl told Pisces Sportfishing general manager Tracy Ehrenber