greg123 Posted May 1, 2012 Posted May 1, 2012 Hi Raiders, I thought a few people might be interested in this. Last weekend during the Port Hacking GFC tournament fishing on Tantrum we came across a dead giant squid. It was missing its tenticles (A marine biologist onboard explained that sperm whales are often the cause of this). The mantle measured about 1.5-2m. We ended up dragging as much as we could on board although it was pretty fragile and broke up while it was pulled with gaffs etc. We stopped dragging lures for about an hour and used the squid as burley for sharks with no success. This is the best photo I could get as my hands were soon covered in squid slime. Sorry theres no other object with it to give it's size some context.l
outdoordan Posted May 1, 2012 Posted May 1, 2012 MMmmmmmmm...... Calamari rings the size of truck tyres....
PRED-ATOR Posted May 1, 2012 Posted May 1, 2012 what a spectacular sight. very lucky to see a rare sight like that. never a dull day on the water!
zen801 Posted May 1, 2012 Posted May 1, 2012 WOW, that's big. Thanks for the info, and I can't wait to see one like that one day . It never ceases to amaze me what you can come across in the ocean. Mike
greg123 Posted May 1, 2012 Author Posted May 1, 2012 It was just on the shelf line. Not sure exactly where we were at the time. Yeah the flesh was about 4-5 inches thick.
Keflapod Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 I would have salvaged the beak for the mantlepiece.... ...and retreaded my 4WD tyres.... Tony
rockfisherman Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 I've seen many documentries on these giant squid, until recent years no one had ever seen one alive until the crew on a fishing boat managed to jag one on a long line meant for some type of fish, any how there's footage of them with gaffs and nets and they actually get it on board, some one even posted it on YouTube, in the end I think it ended up at some research place in NZ. It sort of makes sence to a degree, when the colder weather comes around the larger squid show up, it would only make sence that deeper colder waters would be home to largers models. Fishingphase
rockfisherman Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 WOW ! i would love to tackle something that big on 4lb and a 2.5 size jig!! you'd be saying bye to that jig Fishingphase
Krispy ! Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 What size squid jig would you use to target them. About a 34 mate
SCOTTYB Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 I remember seeing a doco about giant squid - apparently the waters off South Aust are a favourite spawning ground, and squid travel from all over the place to spawn. Amazing to see some of the footage, even moreso to know that they picked SA as the preferred place to spawn.
SCOTTYB Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 I remember seeing a doco about giant squid - apparently the waters off South Aust are a favourite spawning ground, and squid travel from all over the place to spawn. Amazing to see some of the footage, even moreso to know that they picked SA as the preferred place to spawn.
tunastrike Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 i watched a show a few weeks back on foxtell and 2 people around the world get eaten by giant squid every year so must be some big buggers out there.
Leonidis Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 WOW, that's big. Thanks for the info, and I can't wait to see one like that one day . It never ceases to amaze me what you can come across in the ocean. Mike Hi Mike, you can see them at night at Browns mountain. They come around the bout especially with lights on and if you are burling, what you eill see is white flashes darting around the boat and these squid are over a meter long.
Pongrass18ft Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 Hi Mike, you can see them at night at Browns mountain. They come around the bout especially with lights on and if you are burling, what you eill see is white flashes darting around the boat and these squid are over a meter long. They don,t mind eating live gem fish , brought them up on a past trip . Was amazed at there size and was really good to see
Keflapod Posted May 3, 2012 Posted May 3, 2012 There are many species of squid around so when we see big squid, they could be any species (except arrows and southerns). They could be grays squid (common at the fishmarkets) or humbolts or maybe even colossal squid (bigger than the giant squid). With every documentary I watch regarding deep water exploration, they always say they discovered new species of invertebrates - mainly jellyfish but also squid. Fascinating stuff - if only the sea was calm 24 X 7 then we could build a viewing platform with lights on it and a helicopter pad on top to ferry nocturnal observers there.... I would just love to watch what lies beneath the surface at night.....
Harbour Hauler Posted May 3, 2012 Posted May 3, 2012 By the photo i reckon its a big old dead cuttlefish.
greg123 Posted May 3, 2012 Author Posted May 3, 2012 Looks like a cuttlefish to me It was definitely not a cuttlefish. It did not have a cuttlebone, and as I said the mantle was about 1.5 to 2m whereas the largest cuttlefish mantles get to 0.5m. Also I imagine the marine biologist onboard would be quick to correct us if it were a cuttlefish.
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