Squid

[Guest CJS2]

I never take the skin off when i have thawed the squid, i thaw them gradually to keep the shine on the skin and dont keep them in water as the smell they have will wash off, the best way i have found with squid is to use them 90% thawed they tend to fish a lot better .

£4.25 for a 5lb box isnt bad value.

 

Well Big -Cod you are the closest, I have posted on squid befor but at the risk of boaring those whe have seen my waffle And/or know my views

 

Washes squid, 1lb human consumption type, is dumped (washes) in fresh water as it comes on board the catching vessell, this is what turns the flesh snow white, thus assuming an un natural colour and presentation. I believe the smell is affected in this process as well.

 

Unwashed squid, does not go through this process, , going directly to be frozen. Flesh, colour is a grey'ish white, and unwashed squid has a much mor pungent smell to my 'delicate' hooter!! I buy mine in 11kg boxes and decant it down into 1lb bags.

 

I went through a period of comparing 'washed' to 'un washed', a few years back, when we had some cod about. The results though not scientific definatly favoured UWS. Talking to a few anglers in the area confirmed that they were having better sport on UW'ed, even better at the time than the good old, all conquring, lugworm.

 

I still favour UWsquid, as my staple winter bait, it will refreezes at least once without turning pink, and half a dozen times if it softens but retains ice cristals. Try doing that with washed squid

 

Not saying anything this is better than anything else, this is my findings with respect to boat fishing, and still holds good, However, this do change, talking to a friend on Wednesday, he had two rods out, one with whole UWsquid the other with whole UWsquid + one lugworm. He had had 5 Codling all about 4/5lb mark 3 came on the squid/lug bait So perhaps you 'pays your money and takes your choice'

 

There is a diferance between W and UWsquid, I will defent the catching ability of UW over W Efective in all areas, no idea

 

The real upside for squid, instant avaliability, even if you only keep a couple of packets, recent trials in a poor year indicates my best catch rate was achived when using two whole unwashed squid on a large hook (6/0's) pennal rig, tried 3's even 4's, no marked inprovement for the effort and expense.

 

Thats it, disagree, tell me I'm wrong, I know that after 5 years of putting the above into practice, I catch at least as good as most, not had a double this year, thats cool the ones that have come in this area were lucky hook ups, even talked to a good friend of mine who had two doubles on the same day around Christmas and he says he was lucky, and the doubles he had on that day were on UWsquid!

 

[A Norfolk Boy]

CJS2, that sounds like the lining stuff you get. Where from (Lowestoft?) and how much? If you can, please PM with details.

[maidstonemike]

Our local chinese does the smaller box for 1.75. They also do those softback crabs, the ones that they(uuurgh) eat? anyone know if they are any good. I thought they might be good for stuffing squid. Finally I find that for tipping worm for whiting and the like the pure white prepared squid in tesco's are really good. No good for codding though

I never use lug for whiting, as they are a fast fish eating predator. mackerel finds the bigger ones.

 

I buy all my squid, cuttlefish and some crab from the chinese supermarket 5lb box of squid £4.25. And its 'fit for human consumption' so you know its fresh. Also the stuff I get is skinned so it saves me a job on the rocks in the middle of the night.

 

Matt

Matt, why do you skin squid for night fising? The reason I skin squid is to make the bait whiter for daytime attraction, at night it can be left as it is. Or is there another reason for skinning squid?