SPORTS WEEKEND : THE OUTDOORS / PETE THOMAS : Not-So-Little Squirts Are Fun to Catch

The wise angler needs neither a custom rod, a two-speed reel, nor any special gear whatever.

“But most people who know better will wear raincoats and rain hats,” says Capt. Bob Stephens of the Western Pride. “And they’re the ones who’ll survive halfway decently.”

OK, so the rain has passed. But the storming continues in a wild and weird way aboard sportfishing vessels from Long Beach to Dana Point.

Passengers, especially those on weekend twilight trips, are disembarking a sopping, ink-stained messes, but with smiles on their faces and bags full of uncooked calamari.

Jumbo squid have invaded local waters, as they do every few years when conditions are right, and for fishermen this means an entertaining sort of chaos only the voracious cephalopods can provide.

“It’s a full-on ink bath,” says Greg Oldfield, a deckhand aboard the Western Pride.

After slicing up more than 200 two-foot-long squid and scrubbing down the boat the other day, he said from the docks at Davey’s Locker in Newport Beach that it was all in a day’s work:

“It’s messy, but the money’s good because everybody wants these things cleaned.”

Barracuda slime is messy, but it’s localized and rinses off easily enough. Squid ink is messy. It shoots all over the place and takes hours of scrubbing with water and bleach to remove.

As for your clothes . . .

“Don’t bring out anything you don’t want to get a stain on,” Stephens says. “Bring the same thing you’d paint your house in.”

Chances are, you’ll have a lot more fun catching squid. They aren’t much of a challenge; catching them is like reeling in a water balloon. But they’re downright ravenous and will wrap their arms around anything thrown their way.

Stephens’ haul for 70 people last Friday was 600 squid during a day bite. The twilight boats, fishing as close as a mile offshore, have been doing even better.

Norris Tapp, manager at Davey’s Locker, said the iridescent and rubbery mollusks, which have been concentrated in a wide area off Orange County for about a week, are helping to make up for an otherwise slow coastal fishing season attributed to cooler water caused by La Nina.

“We had seven people [Sept. 16], but with news of the squid spreading we had 40 the next night, 89 the next night when we had to turn down 15-20 because we didn’t have room on the boat.

“Fishing for squid is one of the most fun things you can imagine. Everybody hooks up at once, you’re soaking wet, getting squirted in the face, just whooping it up. It’s hilarious.”

*

Landing operators have been calling them giant squid, but they’re actually jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas), which grow to about six feet long. That’s certainly much bigger than their six-inch cousins, targeted by local bait boats and commercial fishermen, but much smaller than Architeuthis dux, the true giant squid, which live at great depths and are known to tangle with sperm whales from time to time.

Jumbo squid typically inhabitant South American waters, but they’re at the mercy of cold, rich currents and occasionally are delivered as far north as California. The squid being caught this week are even small by jumbo squid standards, topping out at three feet, but they’re nonetheless making a giant splash.

John Doughty, owner of J.D.’s Big Game Tackle on Balboa Island, received a report over the radio from a fisherman returning from the outer banks who said he witnessed thousands of squid herding anchovies and mackerel into tight “meatballs” at the surface and feeding on both.

Soon thereafter, dozens of porpoise arrived and did the same thing to the squid. An orca, or killer whale, also was seen in the area, as were a few large sharks.

The squid also have led to an increase in swordfish activity. Twilight boat skippers have reported seeing the powerful billfish feeding on the mollusks under their lights. Marlin fishermen, discouraged by the lack of striped marlin this La Nina season, have been seeing as many or more swordfish than marlin, which is almost unheard of.

One angler, Reed Miller of Fallbrook, spent 2 1/2 hours last Friday morning battling a large striped marlin aboard a private boat, Showdown. He then hooked into a 307-pound swordfish that was unrelenting, struggling for 12 1/2 hours before succumbing to Miller’s muscle and some fine boat maneuvering.

“It had two or three big squid in it, plus a few mackerel, plus the mackerel we gave it [with the hook in it],” said Ron Johnson of Irvine, the skipper. “We fileted it for the crew and ourselves for many a long winter night of barbecuing swordfish.”

Perhaps with some calamari on the side.

NAVAL WARFARE

A Navy plan to expand firing-range operations around San Clemente Island has private boaters and Southland landing operators concerned that it will further restrict their ability to fish the waters surrounding the southernmost of the Channel Islands. As it is, the vessels run into periodic closures in certain areas, often without notice.

The increased area would be a chunk of ocean west of the island, covering 2,620 square miles. An environmental impact statement is being prepared and the Navy is accepting public written comments until Oct. 1 at Naval Air Station, North Island, Environmental Department, Attn: Carrie Anne Downey, P.O. Box 357088, San Diego, CA 92135-7088.

Bob Fletcher, president of the Sportfishing Assn. of California, said the only positive thing that might come of this is increased communication between sportfishing interests and the Navy regarding closures.

“For two years, we’ve been telling them we’re not getting good information or communication regarding the closures,” he said. “We’ve told them we need access to those areas whenever they’re not using them, and that we need real-time updates. What they’ve done in response is establish a dedicated Web page for firing-range scheduling and they will update that page within 30 minutes of any changes. . . .

“The bottom line is, the Navy may say it’s in the best interest of national security to increase its live firing practice. But we say at least keep us posted so we know what the window is [for our fishing operations].”

The Web address, https://www.scisland.org, is supposed to be up next Friday. There also will be phone lines established in anticipation of questions people might have on the matter.

SHORT CASTS

* Albacore score: The longfins and bluefins have resurfaced within easy range of San Diego’s overnight fleet and there are impressive hauls as close as 50 miles southwest of Point Loma. Conditions remain ideal for a season that might run well into November. Said American Angler Capt. Dan Sansome, “I would say that these fish will stay around until we get our first big Alaskan storm.”

* Boating: The Lido Yacht Expo is underway through Sunday at Lido Marine Village in Newport Beach and it’s not for the blue-collar boater. No vessel is shorter than 26 feet and all are probably out of your price range, especially the $2.5-million, 86-foot Adios Fisherman Yacht. More than 200 boats are on display in the water. Hours are 10 a.m.-7 p.m. today, 10-6 Saturday and Sunday. Cost is $8 for adults and free for children 12 and under.

* Paddleboarding: The United States Paddleboard Championships, a 20-mile race from Malibu Pier to Hermosa Beach Pier, will be held Oct. 2 beginning at 7 a.m. More than 100 are expected to compete in stock and unlimited classes. Details: (310) 316-5652.

WINDING UP

The death of Doris Allen on Wednesday led to the recounting of the legislator’s making history by becoming the first female speaker of the California Assembly, but lost was what fishermen will remember as her most noteworthy accomplishment.

Allen, who represented Cypress, was the driving force behind Proposition 132, a 1990 ballot measure that banned the use of gill-nets in near-shore waters, thereby ensuring the health of coastal fisheries and sparing countless marine mammals death by entanglement.

“No one has ever done as much for recreational anglers as Doris Allen,” said Jim Paulk, former president of United Anglers of Southern California and a member of the committee that helped push the initiative forward. “They tried twice before to get that on ballot and didn’t make it. Doris, by golly, stuck her neck out and hung in tough, got that thing in her mouth and wasn’t going to let go. She made it happen and you’ve got to give her credit.”

Paulk added that talks are underway with fishing organizations to name an award after Allen, who died at 63 of cancer.