Yes, squid. Why would one want to do that? First, because there is a market for squid, and second, when the squid show up around here, larger fish are close behind them (very close). This camera-phone picture shows a small commercial boat all hepped up to gun for squid.

As you can see, he is tied up at the dock in Falmouth Harbor at the moment, together with a half-dozen of his fellow piscators. As of two days ago, there was nothing for these guys but nets full of seaweed, kicked up by a monster storm (even the pros get skunked sometimes). As one captain said, “I am going financially backward pretty fast right about now.”

Today, though, I overheard one guy in his boat hollering at another guy over a cell phone, walkie-talkie style, saying “What? Twenty-eight squid you got? And you didn’t call me till now? What? Two squid yesterday? Hey, am I your buddy or what? You gotta let me know.” And so on. I’d say that dragging up two or even twenty-eight squid is not significantly better than catching no squid, but these guys are pretty excited, like this is a sign or something. I guess they are right.

Last spring, I went out gunning for squid myself once, right off the dock here, and I have to say it met all my expectations, which are quite low. But, wait, I see there is one lone squidder heading off to the east in Vineyard Sound, and the mighty squid are out there somewhere. There may be one with my name on it, but I doubt it.