Small, obscure, barely noticable California village menaced by jumbo squid

[Dinner]

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Giant-Squid-Wash-Up-Minutes-After-SoCal-Quake--.html

Interesting video from last week about the squid washing ashore in La Jolla. Apparently the one which attacked/played with the diver was much larger possibly up to 5 ft in length.

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/around_town/the_scene/Squid-Run-Best-in-20-Years.html

At a time when commercial fisherman on the west coast are facing record restrictions and cut backs in quotas due to fish stocks declining the "squid run", as it is called, is offering commercial fisherman welcome relief. Fishermen across Southern California have taken to catching the unusually large and abundant number of squid as a way to make up for lost income as commercial fishing for salmon has been completely banned this year, rockfishing has been cut by up to 3/4ths, and harsh quotas were put on species like sea bass and halibut. Meanwhile sport fisherman are not letting this good opportunity pass them by as hundreds to thousands of them a fishing near shore from everything to inflatable row boats up to expensive yachts.

Check out this Kayaker's catch:



That's a 53lb yellowtail tuna caught just 30 minutes after he started fishing. Not a bad half hour's work though I wonder what he'll do with all that tuna. Probably give half of it away to friends and family.

[Dinner]

Man, sport fishermen are also catching boat loads of giant squid which normally live further to the south in Mexico but now have decided the correct place to be is further north in SoCal. I think the squid these kids are catching are bigger then they are!



The question is what do you do with all that squid? I mean squid goes great with anchovies and shellfish in Sicilian style pasta dishes and you can my calamari out of them but how much can you really eat?

[Dinner]

Man, there is some really bizarre **** going on in our local ocean. Great White Sharks almost always prefer cold water and although they are sometimes found here (usually in the winter) this year is an El Nino year so the water is unseasonably warm. Yet a fly fisherman trying to catch warm water mako sharks ended up catching a six foot long juvenile great white instead.

That's just some really strange stuff especially since the water is far warmer then typical for great whites. My only guess is the youngster discovered all the squid off shore in La Jolla and that he's been using the cove as an all you can eat calamari buffet.

Fisherman releases great white
By Ed Zieralski
Union-Tribune Staff Writer

2:00 a.m. July 21, 2009
- Photo courtesy of Jeff Patterson

Ocean fly-fishing guide Conway Bowman has stared into the eyes of giant mako sharks as he unhooked a fly from their toothy jaws, but he felt compelled to do more after his client Jeff Patterson hooked a great white shark Friday off La Jolla.

“We took the fly out and both patted it on the head,” said Bowman, who owns Bowman Bluewater, a guide service that covers the ocean and local lakes. “This was a catch of a lifetime.”

Bowman, also the reservoir keeper at Lake Hodges, estimated the great white shark, a protected species, was 6 feet long and weighed about 150 pounds. It is believed to be the first great white shark hooked off the California coast with a fly rod and single action fly reel.

Patterson, director of sales for Abel Automatics in Camarillo, manufacturer of the reel, was testing company products on Bowman's boat. Patterson said he casted a foot-long artificial fly tied to imitate a bleeding bonito or mackerel to the shark as it made its initial run through the chum slick and at the boat.

“The grab was instantaneous, and the shark cooperated with a quick left turn to allow the proper hook set,” Patterson said.

Patterson said the great white's initial run was estimated at 275 yards. The fight lasted some 25 minutes.

Patterson used a Scott 15-weight rod and Abel Super 13 reel loaded with Rio Leviathan 550 grain line and 380 yards of 50-pound gel spun backing.

“I thought it was a mako shark at first,” Bowman told listeners Sunday night on All Outdoors Radio. “But then I got a good look at it, and when we got it to the boat, I was sure. To see a great white shark that close is the pinnacle of my guiding career. To stare into its eyes and know that some day it could grow to 20 to 22 feet and weigh 1,800 to 2,000 pounds, it was almost surreal.”

Bowman knew something was up when a sea lion that had been in the chum slick began acting squirrelly and moved farther out.

“All of a sudden the sea lion split and sat out there 100 yards from the slick,” Bowman said. “That usually means a big mako is in the area. But all of a sudden, the great white shark rolled up. It was something, seeing a small great white like that. Usually, even the smaller ones are 10 to 12 feet, not 6 or 7 feet like this one.”

Bowman wondered if the juvenile great white had a mother nearby.

“If she would have shown, I would have started the motor and got out of there,” Bowman said.

In addition to catching and releasing the great white, Patterson caught and released eight blue sharks and three mako sharks over two days of fishing.

Information about fishing for sharks is at bowmanbluewater.com.

Union-Tribune

Ed Zieralski: (619) 293-1225;

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jul/21/fisherman-releases-great-white/?sports/outdoors&zIndex=135385

Photo of the great white caught on a fly reel:

[MikeH]

Ben, why not let Oerdin respond to Asher's jibes about San Diego. You could avoid situations like this where you make yourself look stupid.

I mean... when even Oerdin's got more accurate figures than you... <- MODERATOR'S WINK! This means I can insult people with impunity.

[Lorizael]

Asher and Ben, stay away from each other.

[MikeH]

That's what I said! On the basis that this is Asher's thread, you can't expect him to keep out of his own thread.

[Dinner]

Of course the great white could also have been hanging around for seals. La Jolla Cove has one of only two harbor seal rookeries on the southern California coast so there are a ton of harbor seals lurking in that area as well so it's possible the shark was hoping to grab a young seal which hadn't figured out great white sharks are something you run from.



Better video.

[Asher]

Must...resist...urge...to...club.

[Dinner]

There are a ton of right wingers who would love to join you in a good seal clubbing session. They've spent the last decade suing the city trying to get the seals removed "so the children can use the pool" as if the other 120 miles or so of beaches in the county aren't enough for people and it is so bad to let the seals have one 80 yard section of beach.

Just two days ago the wing nuts actually got a judge to order the seals be removed at an estimated cost of $700,000 per year to keep them out but the governor issued a new order changing the law so it looks like the seals will stay. The local conservative radio shows are currently in a total rage over this.

[Asher]

Call in the Canadians to do the real mens' work.

[Dinner]

I'm sure we'd get a horde of Canadians down here ready to do a bit of seal clubbing and make a vacation of it.

[Dinner]

This is the same place where all the squid were and now it is over run by swarms of leopard sharks. The sharks are relatively small but do love to eat octopuses and squid. Right now they're real close to shore too. Luckily they're pretty much harmless to humans.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jul/25/leopard-sharks-easy-spot-snorkelers/?metro&zIndex=138180