Fishing at midnight out of Hilo Harbor in Hawaii, commercial fisherman Nikko Eterovich and his crew spotted something in the water but couldn’t quite make it out. At first, they thought it was a manta ray.
But once Eterovich recognized the species swimming close to the boat he “flew out of the [cabin] and grabbed an Ika pole,” he explained to KHON2.
It was a huge Mizu Ika, also known as a diamondback squid.
“First cast I cast over the Ika and hook up immediately on my trusty homemade Ika jig my friend gifted to me,” Eterovich told KHON2.
“I got it up to the boat and my deckhand miss gaffed it in the wing. It tore through the wing and plummeted to the depths. I thought for sure it was gone. I gave it a line but kept the tension and was able to fight it back up to the surface. Wasn’t going to let it get away the second time I gaffed it. Perfect headshot and landed it.”
The squid weighed 33 pounds, 12.8 ounces and measured 58.5 inches in length, and it easily surpassed the Hawaii record of 28.5 pounds caught by Jesse Rogers off Kona on July 23, 2016.
It was the biggest Mizu Ika that Eterovich had ever caught, his previous best being 13 pounds. He told Hawaii News Now that he’s used to catching half-pound squid with the larger ones being around five pounds.
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“When I sold it to Suisan Fish Market, they said it was the largest, by far, they’ve seen in years,” Eterovich told KHON2. “Was definitely a catch for the books…
“I’m in the process of sending in the Hawaii state record fishing application.”
The diamondback squid gets its name from its distinctive diamond-shaped fin, which extends along the whole body. The species is known to grow to about 66 pounds.
For perspective, Eterovich said his Mizu Ika could make “about 100 plates of calamari.”
