Humbolt Squid - Nuisance or "really good eating and they put up a helluva fight when you try to reel them in"

The gap of time between the end of rockfish season and beginning of salmon season over the past few years has resulted in a number of charter boats pioneering a number of new fisheries from Bodega Bay to Monterey.

One of the most unique fisheries is for Humboldt (jumbo) squid, a mysterious deep-sea creature that makes you feel like you're battling a Volkswagen when you hook it.

"When you hook one of these giant squid you'll definitely know it," coached Captain Bill Williamson as the 7 anglers on the Sur Randy and I departed from Randy's Fishing Trips at Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey on Friday, February 10. "It will pull harder than the biggest fish you've ever hooked."
We were on a combo trip for Humboldt squid, mackerel and sanddabs. Over the week before my trip, anglers departing on Monterey charter boats had scored up to 10 squid per rod, along with lots of mackerel and sanddabs. However, the sanddab fishing slowed down over the previous week with the arrival of a big groundswell.

Rick Powers, captain of the New Sea Angler, found phenomenal success targeting these squid at Cordell Bank starting last winter. Other party boat operations followed, including Will's Fishing Trips out of Bodega Bay, Chris Fishing Trips and Randy's Fishing Trips in Monterey and Roger Thomas, captain of the Salty Lady, and Tom Mattusch, captain of the Hulicat, out of Half Moon Bay.

"These Steaks suck!" -

Hi all, My husband recently went Giant Squid fishing and came back with 3. The steaks are about 3/4 of an inch thick and about the size of a piece of bread. We removed the membrane on one side of the steaks and I pounded them like they were Abalone, pounding just until the meat gives up some of its tension. Then we deep fried and pan fried strips for approx 2 -3 minutes only. All of ours came out with this HORRIBLE lemony sour taste. Our neighbor did the same and his were sour too. It was very disappointing. We tried Panko crumbs, tempura batter and nothing at all but oil and garlic. It all went in the trash. If ANYONE has any ideas as to what we did wrong I would greatly appreciate it.

"Well, you cooked them wrong!"

I have had great successes down here in San Diego on the Daily Double squidding and also cooking the monsters of the deep. Great boat, excellent price!

First off, you need to clean the squid at the end of your trip. The acids in their stomach can make 'em go bad pretty quick. I can't recall smelling anything in my entire life that smells worse than bad squid. After gutting them and throwing away all but the body, we'd slice them into 4 steaks, rinse, and take home. The trick is now skinning them. It's like skinning a catfish, if you know how. Start the edge of the skin with a fillet knife. The outer layer is very tough, and tends to come off better in one direction than the other. The inner layer is almost unnoticeable, but it's there. So know you've got skinned steaks, which I then slice in half to where I have 8 pieces total per squid, each piece about 3/4"-1" thick, and about 3"X6". Now you need a really sharp fillet knife to slice the 1" steaks into two thinner fillets. All of this takes practice, but what do you have to lose, right? 40 pounds of squid? Now you need to slightly tenderize the fillets using one of those spiked hammer looking meat tenderizers. MAKE SURE YOU COVER FILLETS WITH SARAN WRAP otherwise, squid juices will be everywhere!!! Then you cut the tenderized fillets into about 1/2" strips, and soak in a beaten egg. The egg helps fluff up the batter a little better (than beer or milk) Hopefully, you have a favorite batter. I suggest 50-50 blend of medium grind corn meal to self rising flour, plus some Tony Chacere's Creole Seasoning. Get your Frydaddy hot, then throw a handful of the squid into a tupperware with a lid and batter and shake it. Separate any clumps, shake again, Toss them in the grease, 4-7 minutes, until lightly golden. They really don't need anything else, but you could squeeze a lemon and dip in marinara or cocktail sauce. Killer!!!!

Hope this helps, one of the old timers broke it down to me one night.

Fish-On!

Another breakdown:

When cleaning them, the crewman cut off the tail just forward of the planes, cut off the head just forward of the mantle and discarded both. He slitted the mantle along both sides of the "backbone" (spline) and discarded that as well. He then removed the outer skin from the outside of the mantle, "chunked" it into three or four pieces, then bagged it for the customer. This resulted in three or four "steaks" of about 1 inch in thickness, 4-6 inches in width, and 16 inches in length. There is a secondary membrane under the outer skin which must be removed as well as a membrane on the inside of the mantle. The steaks may then be further filleted horizontally to reduce them to about 1/3 inch for breading and quicker cooking. Don't add any salt or use a salted spice when cooking until you have tasted them--they are salty enough! (and I'm a salt-lover!)

Another breakdown:

I'll start at the begining to help those that are a little intimidated when they bring one up for the first time. First thing. Gaff it under water unless you want to get douched with ink, now lop off the eyes/beak and tenticles with a long sharp knife. Now all you have left is the tube part (still on the gaff). Cut off the very tip off the tube and slice the tube the long ways and it will open up like a book. Scoop out the guts and rinse. Now bring it on board and get it on ice.

Lay the slab of meat on a big table and cut into 5-8 inch squares. cut out the plastic looking thing and discard. Shave off the outside 1/8" layer of skin from both sides of the squares. Freeze freeze the planks in zip lock bags or cook in the next day or two.

Take a couple of the square planks of squid and slice into thin strips. Dredge a couple strips in seasoned flour and shake off the excess. next drop the floured strips into well beaten eggs. Now roll in a seasoned bread crumb mixture ( I prefer Panko). now the most important part is to fry a couple at 350 for about 2 minutes. Let them cool for a minute and taste it for seasoning and chewiness. If the squid is too chewy then you overcooked it. If its raw and goopy then cook the next batch a little longer. adjust the seasoning, dredge the rest, get a stop watch or timer and start frying. Serve with lemon wedges and some cocktail sauce.

Humboldt squid will not taste like what you get at Uncle Sal's, different species=different flavor. Humboldts will have a lemony, almost acidic flavor. I think it's pretty good and I'm sure I'll keep a few more.

I'm so excited, Captain Rick will be starting his Humboldt charters this Sunday and I'll be going out with him maybe twice. I'd go out more but how much squid can you eat? And how much pain can your arms take? I'll be giving alot of it away so if you're in the Sacramento or Bodega area, drop me an email at Nautilus916@gmail.com. They're fantastic to eat btw! Beautiful white meat, tender, no ammonia taste (for me). And when deep fried in bread crumbs, absolutely delectable. Will post pics of my catch here. Have posted a pic below of a small giant squid caught by a friend of mine. You can tell its a giant by the long tentacles - Humboldts don't have them, only arms. Happy squidding everybody.