Squid fishing in full force off Monterey Peninsula

Activities on the water are a huge part of the Central Coast.

A local resident named Katie reached out asking: "What kind of boats are off the Monterey & Pacific Grove coast that light up the night? From 15 years of living here, usually squid boats don't show up until April and usually go through August or so. What is the commercial squid season around here?"

KION contacted the US Coast Guard to find out more.

"[The boats] come to this Monterey Bay region and they fish for squid… and the lights you see shining down attracts the squid up and they're able to catch them," says Lt. Shane Gunderson, the Executive Officer of Coast Guard Station Monterey.

The squid season is all year long, but it's most common on the Central Coast in the spring between March and May.

Ships are more visible because of where the squid are located.

"What's different from squid than other species is the squid come very close to shore, so you may see very large group of boats fishing near shore, whereas other fisheries are long offshore where you wouldn't see them," says Gunderson.

Squid fishing happens day and night, however commercial fishing is not allowed in the Monterey Bay between 12:00pm Friday through 12:00pm Sunday.