Down at Punta Chivato last week fishing. We went out fishing one morning and when we came back to unload the boat the beach was covered with
thousands of 2 to 3 foot squid. When we left in the morning the beach was clean. I heard from someone that they streached from at least San Bruno to
the north down to around Mulege. I have see a few on the beach at a time before but this was a massive amount of spuid. It was about 4 or 5 days
after the full moon and I read in a fishing report that the water temp had droped to the low 70's for a couple of days then returned back to about 80
degrees that week. They kept washing up for a couple of days. Anyway, we only picked up 1 Dorodo and a couple of skipjack. Saw a lot of bill fish but
could only get 1 hookup that didn't last too long.Skeet/Loreto - 7-4-2005 at 09:23 AM
This happens at different times in the Sea of cortez. If there had only been a few, you could of fished with pieces of Strip Bait for dorado, but this
explains to me the report the other day that there were very few fish on a line from Las animas and North to Carmen Ilsa, There are loads of Squid,
the dorado gourge themselves and {I think} go deep for about 2 weeks.
Should make for a real good season in august.
Skeet/LoretoPackoderm - 7-4-2005 at 09:29 AM
I wonder if they wash up dead, or if they come on the beach alive and then later die. If they are the latter, I hope they aren't the attacking kind of
squid as in Osprey's earlier post!Diver - 7-4-2005 at 09:43 AM
Could be two things...
Squid like to follow currents and are fairly sensitive to water temperature.
It is feasible that they came in with the currents that brought the cooler water and then died when the warm water mixed back in.
Or, they could have been driven up on the beach by hunting gamefish.
Calamari anyone ?BajaHawk - 7-4-2005 at 11:15 AM
I was in Chivato about two weeks ago. I found, as I have in the past, that some squid wash up alive but seemingly weak. They are still fiesty and
will ink you if you handle them but do not try and go for open water.
And by the way...fishing was SLLOOWWW! Someone had said that ther was some upwelling in the Cabo area that was creating a coldwater curtain that the
fish would not swim through. I don't know how valid this is, but I can say we have an upwelling event in San Diego that is bringing some jellies that
we don't see too often.
beached squid
tehag - 7-4-2005 at 04:04 PM
Cephalopods, squid included, breed once and die. A large die off of squid would likely indicate a spike in the local population of young squid in a
short time. Gorging on small squid is a common dorado practice. Fish with full stomachs aren't known to bite. Dorado fishing in the entire southern
gulf just absolutely sucks right now. QED?Sharksbaja - 7-5-2005 at 12:32 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by tehag
Cephalopods, squid included, breed once and die.
That's right and only when mating conditions are right. There are so many ideal mating areas in the deep Sea of Cortez that mating may not always
occur in the same places year after years. Some areas are always more productive. The squid only live a few hours or so after mating and most likely
were in a proximity which allowed them to wash ashore with the tides. Since their egg sacks are anchored on the the bottom I would therefore assume
that it is not to far off shore where the spectacular mating event took place.Joelt - 7-5-2005 at 12:57 PM
I had heard that the squid die after mating but was not sure. They were alive when they washed up and they were not in the mood to bite. I went
snorkling along the beach and saw many that were still swiming along the shore. With all the dead squid in the water the other fish must be having
quite a fiesta. Another thing that seemed odd was that when we have seen squid on the beach before there seemed to be a lot of birds feeding on them.
This time the birds were not as present as in the past. Probably so much food that they were spread out. It must have been ripe on the beach for a few
days.
yum
Sharksbaja - 7-5-2005 at 01:21 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by Joelt
It must have been ripe on the beach for a few days.
The perfect gull "fodder". Not much worse than rotting squid in the sun.
