Cuttle or Squid ?

[Old Smoothound]

Am in a bit of dilema.. and wondered what everyones thoughts are on these two baits.

I know from experience that Plaice off Chesil love slithers of cuttle tipped on black lug. Deadly combo when they are in.

But have never really used Cuttle as a tipping medium in any other sort of fishing. Or used it in bigger pieces for other species of fish.

The questions are

1. Have you used it
2. Did you catch and what sepecies did you catch.
3. Do you find it is better/worse than Squid

Sounds like DADDY OR CHIPS?

Your thoughts?????
Much appreciated in advance of anticipated replies.

[JuanPablo]

cuttlefish is really tough - but so is squid
cuttlefish is amazing for conger eels but mainly over the wrecks that the cuttlefish inhabit.
in my opinion whichever is easier for you to get hold of. the list goes on as u say plaice like cuttle but they will also take squid over the skerries and shambles. black bream like slithers of either... etc etc

but if you do wanna get them for free and ur in the boat simply find an onshore wreck or even deep mudflats (like in swansea bay) you can easily catch cuttlefish by fishing live sandeel. they hang on until they get to the surface then squirt water at you and swim back down. i have only ever hooked one cuttle - the rest just hang-on and then let go. but if u r quick enough you can swing em in b4 they let go! then they squirt - normally in your face!

[devondave]

here in torbay the cuttle come into the beaches to spawn.
you know when they are in because the local netsman put down cuttlefish traps (big money apparantly)
when they are in they will hold onto your bait too the surface providing you wind them in extremely slowly then once you get them near the wall we slide a large landing net under them they reach the surface squirt water and let go and swim straight into the net!

as for bait to be honest i have never really used them i have friends who do alot of conger fishing from the wrecks and i normally give them away! but you can catch 100's of them on rod and line in torbay at the right time of the year

[JuanPablo]

have u noticed they aim at you directly every time they squirt! or is this just a vengeance against me?

[Simon TorbayFishing]

Best thing about cuttle is if you fish in places with lots of crabs they can't cut through the cuttle so your bait lasts a lot longer.

[JuanPablo]

yeah thats true though crabs have a hard ordeal with a whole calamari aswell....

[pingu]

never used cuttlefish did notice article in tsf this month about it,it looks a huge bait

[Old Smoothound]

Originally Posted by pinguprogress

never used cuttlefish did notice article in tsf this month about it,it looks a huge bait

Yes I read it and I don't know about its general appeal to fish. I have always used squid whole or cut up, but this article got me thinking a bit, so i will experiment and find out if it can make a difference.

Thanks for all your feedback and comments.
Much apprecitated.

I suspect some people may be using it at Lymington next week

[andyg]

I'm bringing some along on the 7th smoothy so we'll see then.