How to FIND a live squid
 

After not catching any squid for bait on Sunday and having to rely on the generosity of Wavster for a few pieces, I also went out Monday to if not catch a yt, at least a squid. No luck on either. After talking to several people it seems the squid are best found by us after the sun comes up. Most of those that got them during darkness did so by following the boats around that had their heavy lights on. I was around a lot of people out there on Sunday and no one was pulling up squid that I could see. I think it is a case of being at the right place at the right time. I didn't see anything on my fishfinder that would indicate a mass of bait. If there is a secret to finding these squid when they are obviously out there, I and many others would appreciate knowing for next year. Thank you in advance. Gary

Well, there’s really not much to it – as long as they are there.

You can catch them on Sabiki, even snag on iron, but the squid jig is your best bet. I’ve been using one of those stringers – 5 or 6 small squid rings, and I put the bigger glow in the dark squid jig on the bottom. I got it at West Marine. That wasn’t heavy enough, so I added ghetto workaround – 4oz torpedo sinker on the bottom of the bigger squid jig. Worked pretty good.

They've got to be around, and you’ve got to find them. Previous years, I’ve been mostly picking them straight off the bottom. I would see a tiny marks right above the bottom on my FF... Just a lil' weird noise to drop my squid jig down all the way. You just lift it up and down until you feel you snagged on something. Wind it in doing steady retrieve as squid jigs are barbless – if you drop it down again, they'll just slide off. It’s usually been slow pickings – one or two at the time.

Early light seemed to be the best time, though I’ve been picking them off in the middle of the day as well.

Last week on Thursday when we got on them, it was ridiculous. I’ve never seen anything like that. They were so thick my FF was black from about 30 ft below all the way down to the bottom. And it was like that all the way from the canyon edge in about 150ft till the kelp line in 60 ft, straight in front of the preserve line. And it was the middle of the day – 11:00 AM or so. Nothing really mattered – just drop down and bring a couple in.

They do seem to like the canyon edge...

Glow-in-the dark seems to help, especially in the low light.

Again – real easy, as long as they are there.

Gary, if you weren't marking anything on your meter on Sunday check your settings or it may be time for a new FF. They were on the meter on Sunday in and throughout the whole armada. Best way to find them was to use the FF and look for bait marks and lines. Mine is b&w so they don't look much different than normal bait balls.

Follow the sea lions. Squid runs are the only time I'm happy to have the dogs around (other than foggy mornings when I get that "sharky" feeling). You should see squid on the meter as a diffuse cloud, often on the bottom. Sat they were everywhere. Candy catcher jigs work much better than a straight squid jig, but when they are thick you can get em on anything, including sabikis.

Hey Gary, on Monday the squirts were hanging around 50' down in a few spots. I was getting them one or two at a time, but it took a while to find them.

what he said, they appear blue clouds on my Color FF... not an intense dark red ball... I bring a dive light, if dark, and make sure I recharge the candy catchers every so often...