They are also in Penasco. We've caught them before on the way out to the 51. It was lots of fun! Saw something working on the surface and thought it was baitfish, but as we got closer, we could see tentacles sticking up in the air. We put some treble hook jigs on and could have caught hundreds of them if we wanted, but only took three to use for bait. These were the 3-4 ft. models.
They are some vicious creatures! As you were reeling one up, the others would charge in and attack it. Quite a sight! They huff and puff and change colors and the tentacles are full of sharp meathooks, designed to tear flesh. The mouth is like the beak of a parrot and extremely sharp.
I kept telling the guys I was fishing with not to pull them up out of the water. But, somebody had to find out the hard way. He pulled the squid up and was looking over the side at it and it nailed with a jet stream of water square in the chest that soaked him from head-to-toe! Later, after we put it in the fish box, same guy was poking around at the squid and just as I said "Better leave it alone!", it inked him. By then, the rest of us were laughing hysterically at his misfortune.
This particular school was the single biggest biomass I've ever seen on my depthfinder - the school was down at a 100 feet and extended for nearly a mile. We've commonly had smaller schools of them come in while we're fishing at the 51. As you are dropping your bait, your line will go slack before you even hit bottom. The squid pick it up and devour your bait on the way down. We generally use circle hooks and can't hook them on those, but we know they're squid and they are down there.
And yes, if you fell into a school of them, they will devour you. I read an interesting story about an older Mexican guy that fell off his panga at the East Cape and nearly got eaten alive, still has the scars to prove it. I'll have to see if I can find the link.
Also interesting is that these things are increasing in range. In the 1950's, they weren't even in the Sea of Cortez at all. They now catch them as far north as Washington and Alaska, which was unheard of just a decade ago. They completely devour bait schools and there is worry of them starving out the pelagics and other fish (salmon) that would normally feed on those bait schools. Although not proven, the best theory for their expansion is that the squid's natural predators (large tuna, sharks, billfish, etc.) have been so depleted that the squid population can no longer be kept in check and will keep expanding in its search for food.
The squid are evil and must die!!!
