Squid fishing in Oregon

[christopherbeebe]

It does not seem like anyone really does squid fishing in Oregon. So my question is, if anyone knows, are there any places one could target squid from shore? I am moving back to Coos Bay in 2015 so I'm doing research now so I can better prepare myself. I used to target squid when I lived in Seattle, but we had many lit docks and piers. I would imagine any pier or dock on the bay would have the potential to produce some squid provided the use of lights to bring in bait fish thus bringing in squid. any info will help.

 

[Toyracer38]

I did it years ago in Port Angeles, WA. Was really fun. Never heard of anyone doing it here, but if you find a place here in Oregon to catch them, please let me know.

 

[TJR_84]

Last year was bottom fishing out Newport down around seal rock we hooked about 6 squid on out bottom fishing grubs and some shrimp flies. No sure if we drifted through a school of them but they made the fishing good.

 

[TOJIACK FLOATMAN]

Sweet ! I dearly love Calamari and always have a couple of squid jigs in my salt box . My first expierience with squid was bottom fishing off of the Farallon Islands some 20 years back when we were overtaken by a large school of Humbolt Squid . The deck hand instatntly turned into capt. Ahab shouting for us to all reel in immeadiately and began cutting off our rock fish setups and tying on squid jigs . I have to give it to him the boy was quick . in just over 20 minutes of furious squid fishing we had boated a good 1/2 dozen minimum squid per rod with all of the squid averaging over 6 lbs. each .

Those of us who removed our own squid to take the pressure off the deck hand caught at least 2 extra squid . Nearly half the fishermen on our boat had no idea what squid was all about and were not about to touch them let alone try to eat them . These fellows divided there catch between 2 of us who were ecstatic at having been so lucky and would take all they were giving . I had to buy a larger ice chest when we got back to the docks along with a vacuum packer and a larger used freezer when I got home . Yes you hit a school of them as they are not always present near Newberg . If they were I would surely have a second rod rigged ready to go in an instant . Was there any size to those you caught ?

.

 

[TJR_84]

They ranged from 6" to 10". How does one cook squid?

 

[TOJIACK FLOATMAN]

I prefer to slice it into strips as you would clams and bread the strips and fry them . Treat them much as you would abalone and be sure not to get the pan too hot or to cook the squid too long unless you want to chew each bite 100 times for real . It is quite scrumpy . There is plenty of good You Tube video on how to clean them as well .

 

[MommaOdie]

Hi guys, im new to the area & know nothing of the ocean. Im very interested in meeting some1, willing & patient to show me some things. Anyone interested?

 

[goodie619]

trying not to drive to Seattle and have to buy a "one day fishing pass"

any spots I can go west of Portland?

 

[gfisher2003]

How do you "squid fish" what bait would they want?

 

[goodie619]

How do you "squid fish" what bait would they want?

you "jig" fish for them

 

[Irishrover]

Not much of a squid fishery here off the Oregon Coast. It's a lot like the shrimp fishery, if you want to catch shrimp, you head to Washington.

 

[TheKnigit]

This post got me kind of excited about the idea of trying this out myself. So I did a little bit of of digging around the old interweb.....and I can't seem to find anything about where to actually go squid fishing in Oregon. I have found a couple of articles about schools of them showing up along the coast from Newport to Astoria, and some very vague times of year, but no real information about anyone actually fishing for them. Even ODFW's website has a couple of hints at Humboldt Squid and some species called "Market" Squid making runs, but no real useful information. Only the whispers of legend...these things seem even more elusive than the California Halibut.

do they make special jigs for them? Or is it similar to a herring jig?

Has anyone actually caught squid in Oregon? This might just give me a new species to chase........

 

[goodie619]

When the warmers water come close to the shore you can catch Humboldt/market from a boat, like fishing for rock fish. but best time to catch them is at night. You can jig fish for the smaller species in Puget Sound or Renonda in WA. I think the issue in OR, is that we don't have access to piers in deep enough water. I'm going to try to do it off the rock jetty, and see what I can get.

here's a vid of people doing it in WA

 

[TheKnigit]

Looks like fun. I am definitely going to have to give this a try.

 

[Mistaya2]

Has anyone heard anything about ODFW writing updated regs on commercial squid fishing and forming an advisory committee -- since the past few seasons have shown a substantial growth in the catch?

 

[rogerdodger]

Has anyone heard anything about ODFW writing updated regs on commercial squid fishing and forming an advisory committee -- since the past few seasons have shown a substantial growth in the catch?

https://www.dfw.state.or.us/news/2021/05_May/050721c.asp

 

[Mistaya2]

Thanks rogerdodger. Seems strange that the advisory committee is for industry folks only? Not including sport fishermen, ecologists or locals. They would be a good source of info on impacts of by-catch; and, on protected species, migrating whales and sport fishing -- especially since most of the activity this Spring was so near the Marine Reserves, Marine Protected Areas and Seabird Protection Areas?

 

[rogerdodger]

I see the Sport regs are basically "whatever".- no limit, catch them using just about any human powered method...there must be so little interest and activity that they are just ignoring Sport effort for now. I see in the presentation the area OFF Florence listed as squid grounds but in over a decade here, I've never heard of anyone targeting squid for personal use (food or bait).

 

[Mistaya2]

Yes, seems they are just caught for bait by sport fishermen, tho' they are tasty.