I've wanted to try squid jigging for a while. I bought the jigs and just need to figure where / when to go.

What time of year is best for squid?
What is the best tide?
How long after dark do the squid show up?

Thanks in advance!
SA

Coming soon, incoming and high slack, and they're there all day, but come to the surface at dusk and stay all night, assuming the tide is good.

Fish on...

Todd

Thanks Todd!

Is the Edmonds fishing pier worth a try?

I've found it to be good from Edmonds down thru Seattle, and down to Les Davis pier in Tacoma...but the Seattle piers are most consistent for me.

Fish on...

Todd

20 years ago I remember seeing guys doing it at Everett.

How do the little bastards taste? I've never made calamari.

Toff - holler when you're gonna go squidly fishing.

'nother squidly fishin' virgin here. Would love to try it! Hell, I'll fish for anything....ONCE!

Hey wait, wasn't that a slogan in a commercial:

"Give it to Mikey! He'll fish for ANYTHING!"

Word.

Delectable little morsels.

We always went out to the docks in Steilacoom. He with the brightest lights gets the most squiddlies. You should see some of the lighting contraptions some of those guys have.

Cool...sounds like something the family should try...crab during the day get some "squidwords" at night

I don't think many cute chicks jig for squid.
You are likely to remain a virgin.

I use a generator where it's legal, and 1000 watt halogen lamps, usually two of them...some places have power outlets, and some don't allow generators...luckily some of them are the same places, so if you can't bring your gennie, you can use the plugs.

I usually shy away from the ones that have no power and don't allow gennies, and stand next to whoever has the brightest battery powered lights I usually can bribe them with jigs, since I have a box of about 100 that I've made, and I go thru about four or five per season...and they work.

Parker, you Skyley and I will have to get out if they materialize well this year...I haven't been out for two years.

Fish on...

Todd

P.S. Besides being fun to catch, they are damned tasty, and make excellent bait for any salmonid that swims up a river around these parts...not to mention sturgeon and all bottomfish, too.

Squid have a lot going for them. Easy to catch, plentiful, and taste good. Like smelt, however, I caught too many, too many times and now I like a few once in a great while. They are definitely kid friendly.

And like smelt, IMO, they don't keep well so are best eaten as soon as you can get them cooked.

They don't keep fresh at all...but they freeze really well, and not only that, since they are shellfish, you can freeze them whole and just defrost and clean the amount you want to eat...and they are a lot easier to clean and eat after they've been frozen.

I usually vacuum pack them in packs big enough to feed a couple of people...depends on the size of the squid as to how many, but usually a dozen or eighteen, whole.

A chef in the city told me that he would never serve squid or octopus that hadn't been frozen, both for the ease of preparing it and the ease of eating it.

Works for me...your mileage may vary.

Fish on...

Todd

What's the deal with the lights? I was thinking the lights at the dock were enough and all I need is a glow squid jig. Do I need to drag along a generator / battery and gear for a light also?

The brighter the better...the lights attract the plankton, the plankton attract the baitfish, and the baitfish attract the squid...

You don't have to have them, but for the most part, the more you have the better you'll do...that, or skinny up next to someone else who has good lights

Fish on...

Todd

As weird as it sounds, sometimes just a few feet difference on the dock can make a huge difference. Also, sometimes they will hold in the shadows just out of the light. Last year I tossed in a jig on the back side of the dock and was slaying them. I could see the other side of the dock where 15 or more were lined up and I hit 20 to 30 squid in a row without anyone under the lights getting one. Someone finally joined me and we continued to slay them for about another 15 minutes before the school took off.

I try to fish in the gray area between the total darkness and the very bright circle my lights...sometimes they'll just charge right into the bright lights, sometimes they won't come all the way in, but will circle around them...

Fish on...

Todd

LOL... I'll of the sudden, I'm stoked on the squid. And I'm not even joking.

There has got to be a way to slay these bastards with a boat, right?

If you can do anything dumb in the dark, you've got an 80% chance of being able to do it dumb in the dark AND on a boat.

I bet if you started a huge bonfire in the boat, that would attract a lot of squiddlies.

Wait a minute............let me get back to you on that.