800+ Jumbo Squid Invade Southern California Coast

Update 10:45 a.m., Jan. 6:

The total count of Humboldts caught is now more than 800, says Dana Wharf Sportfishing.

Update Jan. 6, 9 a.m.:

Odd looking squid keep on appearing. In fact, more than 350 'Humboldts' were caught in less than 45 minutes off the coast of Dana Point on Saturday night, adding to the count since Wednesday.

Original article:

DANA POINT, CA—Some things squishy and quite large have been seen by passengers dotting the waters off the Dana Point coast shoreline the past few nights, and we're not talking swimmers who ate too many Christmas cookies.

Jumbo-sized squid or Humboldt squid which aren't that common in Dana Point, and make an appearance every so often, have reappeared, according to Donna Kalez, general manager of Dana Wharf Sportfishing.

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While they haven't been as large as those from a few years ago, Abby Woolley, 9, daughter of Capt., Brian Woolley caught one Wednesday night. It was in the 3 to 5-pound range, Kalez said.

However, Capt. Woolley took the boat out again on Thursday night, and said with only 10 passengers aboard, they caught about 100 squids that were quite large, Kalez said. See video above.

Dana Wharf Sportfishing has been known to catch them up to 20-25 pounds, says Kalez.

The last big squid run was in Sept. 2011, Kalez added.

Capt. Woolley was at the helm of the vessel SUM FUN on Wednesday night and said that the squid appeared 3 to 4 miles from the harbor and about 2 miles off the beach.

"They were there but it was really cold and windy," he said. "We caught about 12 and then headed in!"

Trips leave nightly until further notice at 5:30 p.m for $25.00 go to 

danawharf.com/fishct.html and send us your photos if you get lucky.

For more on these creatures read here.

Editor's note: This article originally was published by Laguna Niguel-Dana-Point Patch in California.