You all may be thinking why write a topic on squid (calamari). For a lot of anglers squid is used a lot to catch a large variety of fish species around your local waters. It hardly smells of anything, washes out in the tide very quickly and yet know one really knows why this white rubbery bait is so effective for catching fish. Squid can be bought frozen, whole tentacle and all the insides in vacuum packs or in boxes, the Squid tend to be around 10cm and above this is usually the most common sized Squid that you will see in your local tackle shop. Remember fresh squid is almost smell free other than a slight obvious sea smell, also check for ink, if there is to much of it in the box or pack leave it alone as this is caused by the long time it has taken from the squids death until it was frozen! You can also buy a smaller squid for a cheap price which tend to be around no longer than 5-7cm which is called Party Squid! These make fantastic "tipping off" baits. Tipping off for anyone who does not know means to present a alternative bait on the hook and then adding a small piece of another bait onto the hook point to "tip" it off. Party squid can be real good value for money as you get a heck of a lot in a box or packet, you can take what you need with you without defrosting the whole box of bait. So how do we go about presenting Squid on the hook? The most common method for whole squid is to first cut off the head of the squid to leave the funnel shaped body. Now cut down the length of the body so that the sides open up and fall flat. Use the knife blade to scrape away the guts and also remove the clear coloured backbone. It's now easy to cut thin strips. Squid strips are excellent for tipping off lug and rag baits. You can also present whole squid for big baits buy removing the head and the clear back bone with your fingers and then stuff the squid body with Mackerel flesh or Shellfish etc. So what likes to seek out Squid for a snack? Dogfish. Love them or hate them. When some anglers try to target other species with squid and keep catching Dogfish & Bull Huss. Some anglers normally stop or reduce the amount of Squid they use as these fish love it! I used to catch loads with just a few small strips at my local estuary. However it can save you from blanking on those hard to catch nights! Rays, Bass, Cod and Whiting also take Squid when used with other baits such as Lug and Sandeel. So its really worth trying out different combinations to see what works best for you. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1568819
