Bodega’s Big Squid Getting Lots of Ink

Calamari capital of the world?

That may not be Bodega Bay’s claim to fame, but the picturesque little coastal community north of San Francisco, like it or not, is swimming in squid.

“People are having it as sashimi, they’re steaming it, frying it, barbecuing it . . . they’re even putting it on skewers,” says Rick Powers, on whose boat they’ve been catching most of it.

All this has put the 44-year-old captain and Bodega Bay Sportfishing Center in the spotlight, in part because these squid don’t belong in that part of the world but mostly because they are truly a sight to behold, as unsightly as they might seem to some.

California frequently gets the six-inch variety of squid, which are targeted by commercial seiners and used by recreational anglers as bait to catch such prized game fish as seabass and yellowtail.

The squid Powers is catching, however, would have those fish for breakfast, and probably do from time to time. They measure up to eight feet and weigh up to 50 pounds, though most of those plopping onto the deck of the New Sea Angler are slightly smaller.

Still, they’re impressive enough to attract news crews from around the Bay Area. The outdoor media have been calling Powers weekly for updates. The squid have even piqued the interest of scientists, who hope to learn more about the complex nature of these intricate and mysterious creatures.

A live specimen was brought to Bodega Marine Laboratory in September, but it died three days later and was donated to the Smithsonian Institute. Biologists at Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco also are trying to obtain a live specimen to study.

As for Powers, he’s merely taking advantage of the presence of Dosidicus gigas, or jumbo squid, a species of cephalopod that belongs off the coast of South America, not Northern California. They occasionally stray as far north as Mexico and even cross into U.S. waters from time to time.

But this is way beyond their range.

Scientists theorize they were delivered courtesy of El Nino and deposited in the nutrient-rich depths of Bodega Canyon, a marine trench near a popular rockfishing haunt called Cordell Bank.

They first were caught there last December--when water temperatures were eight to 10 degrees above normal--by commercial hook-and-line fishermen.

Powers got word and ran out.

“In 20 minutes, we caught nine of these giant squid,” he recalls. “I had never seen any creature that looked like these things before.”

Then came the intense El Nino storms, which kept the fleet at bay for most of the rest of the winter and either displaced the squid or kept them down in the depths of the canyon, out of reach at 500-600 feet.

In any event, they’re still around, having resurfaced in late summer. And Powers, who has been fishing Bay Area waters since he was a child, is the only one really fishing for them.

They emerge from the canyon periodically, he believes, to embark on feeding forays at or near the rockfishing grounds. They travel in such large schools that he is able to locate them fairly easily on his fish finder.

“This year, as opposed to last year, we’re metering them at mid-water,” he says. “Which is odd, because I’ve always heard that they’re nocturnal feeders and stay in deep water during the day. But all we do is stop the boat, drop our lures down and that’s it.”

So voracious are the squid that everyone usually hooks up at once, creating total chaos.

“Every one of these things has to be gaffed,” Powers says. “These things are flashing different colors and squirting water and ink all over the place.

“The boat gets totally inked out and it takes two to three hours just to clean the vessel. But I’m not complaining. Everyone is really, really stoked about the whole thing.”

So stoked that Powers has set aside Wednesdays as squid-only days. The results have been mind-boggling.

“When we ran our first special trip, we had absolutely phenomenal success,” Powers boasts. “In 2 1/2 hours we had 600 squid for 42 anglers, and given the weight of these things--they averaged about 17 pounds apiece--we estimated that we caught 10,000 pounds of squid that day. It took almost three hours to unload all that squid.”

And another three to clean up the mess.

SQUID II: THE REVENGE

A squid on the hook, rising unwillingly in a state of agitation, changing colors spontaneously and instantaneously, whips the entire school into a frenzy.

It’s quite a spectacle, Powers says, and it doesn’t take a marine biologist to figure out what would happen to anyone falling overboard.

But a marine biologist did, literally, eight years ago while working as part of a documentary team in the Sea of Cortez near La Paz. Alex Kerstitch, wearing full scuba gear, took a nighttime plunge into a sea teeming with the same species of cephalopod in hopes of getting some good still footage.

He barely made it out alive.

His ordeal began when he felt a tug on his leg. A large squid had wrapped its tentacles around his swim fin and was pulling him down. He let the squid pull for a while, which proved to be a huge mistake as other squid developed an interest in what they perceived to be easy prey.

Kerstitch kicked at the squid with his other foot and it let go. But another one bolted out of the darkness and attached itself to the back of his neck, the only part of his body not covered by neoprene or dive equipment.

“I felt the cold embrace of tentacles with their sharp-toothed suction cups digging into my bare skin,” he recalled in an interview not long afterward. “It was like somebody was throwing a cactus onto my neck.”

He struck this squid with his dive light and it released its grip on him--but stole not only the light but a gold chain Kerstitch was wearing around his neck.

Now Kerstitch wanted out in a bad way. But as he surfaced, yet another squid appeared and wrapped its tentacles around his face and chest.

“In total darkness, I felt the animal tugging at my mask and camera,” he said. “Concerned over the powerful beak, I grabbed the squid firmly, digging my fingers into its body.”

The squid slid from his face to his waist and started dragging him deeper until finally letting go, taking with it the diver’s decompression gauge.

Kerstitch finally got his hands on the dive ladder and climbed aboard the boat, having suffered only a few “nasty lesions” caused by the thorny tentacles of the squid.

“Having lost my gold chain, my dive light and decompression meter, I realized that this was an expensive dive,” he later remarked.

But not as costly as it could have been.

QUICK CASTS

* Andy Cates, 28, the captain of the Red Rooster III who faces suspension of his operator’s license for leaving the 105-foot vessel in charge of an unlicensed crew member, is making the most of his time waiting for a Coast Guard investigation to be completed.

The Red Rooster III collided with a 700-foot freighter three weeks ago off Baja.

Meanwhile, Cates’ passengers enjoyed some of the best fishing of the season earlier this week, practically limiting out on giant yellowfin tuna on the first fishing day of a 14-day trip to the Hurricane Bank and Revillagigedo Islands deep in Mexican waters. Most of the tuna weighed 130 to 170 pounds. Eight topped 200 pounds and one was estimated at 290 pounds. The boat is due back next week.

* Neither Cates nor any of the long-range skippers out of San Diego would be fishing the Revillagigedos were it not for the efforts of Bob Fletcher, who as president of the Sportfishing Assn. of California has found it increasingly difficult and frustrating to get annual permits for the fleet. Fletcher reports, however, that he has secured a three-year permit, enabling the long-range fleet to market its trips without uncertainty. Barring, of course, any reneging on the part of Mexico.

* SAC’s annual Casino Night is Nov. 20 at the Balboa Pavilion in Newport Beach. Cost is $65, which includes dinner and a limited amount of scrip for gambling. Winnings can be redeemed for raffle tickets, which will be worth prizes ranging from half-day local trips to 10-day long-range trips. The event also gives fishermen a chance to get to know some of the Southland’s captains and landing operators. Details: (619) 226-6455.

* It’s not as big as the Bisbee’s Black & Blue or even the Gold Cup, but the annual “For Pete’s Sake” charity marlin tournament off Cabo San Lucas is certainly more worthwhile. The event, held last week and won with a 431-pound blue marlin, raised more than $100,000 for cancer research, proving that the wealthy yacht owners who participate can be generous when they want to. They also know a good write-off when they see one.

* California bear hunters are more than halfway toward achieving the DFG’s quota of 1,500 bears. As of last Sunday they had killed 805 bears and have until Dec. 27, the end of the season, to reach the quota, imposed to check a black bear population that “has been steadily increasing.”

* Skiers and boarders: Mammoth Mountain opens today with “excellent conditions” on a combination of natural and man-made snow. An approaching storm is expected to vastly increase operations, but meanwhile the only runs open will be around the main lodge, including Broadway, Fascination and the halfpipe. Early-season lift tickets cost $39 for adults, $30 for teens and $20 for children and seniors.