The neon flying squid, Ommastrephes bartramii, is a species of economically important cephalopods distributed in the Northwest Pacific Ocean that has become the fishing target of Chinese squid-jigging fleets. O. bartramii has a short lifespan, which determines vulnerability of the species abundance caused by the changes in environmental conditions at the spawning and feeding grounds. In this study, the fishery data collected by the Chinese squid-jigging fleets and environmental data including sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll a (Chl-a) concentration were used to analyze the seasonal and interannual variability of SST and Chl-a concentration at the spawning and feeding grounds of O. bartramii. The relationship between environmental variability and sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) in the Niño 3.4 region and the influences of environmental conditions on the abundance of O. bartramii were also discussed. The results showed that Chl-a concentration was high in the winter and low in the summer, while SST was high in the summer and low in the winter at the spawning ground of the species. At the feeding ground of O. bartramii, the environmental conditions varied seasonally from high SST and Chl-a concentration in the summer to low SST and Chl-a concentration in the winter. Moreover, Chl-a concentration dramatically fluctuated between June and December. The interannual variability of SST and Chl-a concentration at the spawning and feeding grounds were also detected. Furthermore, the mechanism of the SSTA in the Niño 3.4 region that affected the environment at the spawning and fishing grounds of the neon flying squid varied in different abnormal years. The SST at the spawning and fishing grounds increased and variability of Chl-a concentration decreased during the La Niña and normal years, during which period the marine environmental conditions were favorable for the recruitment of O. bartramii and its catch increased. During the El Niño year, the SST and especially Chl-a concentration decreased at the fishing ground, and marine environmental conditions were unfavorable for the recruitment of O. bartramii, resulting in a dramatic decline in the catch of the neon flying squid. Forecasting models of the abundance of neon flying squid based on SSTA and Chl-a concentration anomaly were developed by using the multivariate linear regression. The analyses suggested that the two models could be used to accurately predict the abundance index of O. bartramii; however, the forecasting model based on Chl-a concentration anomaly was better than the SST-based model.