A really good and easily available autumn bait is the £2

September-October the first wave of winter fish appear, as if making a recce before the hordes of smaller fish sweep inshore to delight the small boat and beach anglers. Usually, at least in Westcountry waters, these early invaders are often quite good fish, from fifteen pounds and upward.In recent years these early fish have been suckers for squid and cuttlefish baits, but as the water temperature drops and the sprats become prolific, then the fat bodied shads worked quickly through the water above the wrecks become the prime time method.But, as these late-summer/early-autumn fish move in there are still a lot of squid in the water, to the point where they become a nuisance if you are fishing fish strip or sandeel baits because the take of a squid or cuttle has a passing resemblance to a slo-mo pollack bite!A really good and easily available autumn bait is the £2.50 boxes of frozen Calamari squid, a couple of boxes for each anglers easily being sufficient for a good days fishing, even if the ling decide to play for the day.Use a decent size hook, an 8/0 O’Shaunnessy has been the standby hook for generations of anglers, although it is true to say that hooks such as the Gamakatsu Octopus is preferred by many modern anglers.Pull the transparent “beak” out of the squid and then pass the hook through the whole squid so that the pointed end of the squid ends up just above the eye of the hook. Some anglers, myself included, like to take a few turns of elasticated cotton around the bait so that it then jambs against the eye of the hook and does not slide down to the bend of the hook making an unappetising blob of bait which will probably mask the point of the hook as well.

The bucketmouth cod will quickly grab this tasty little morsel and move on to the next likely looking snack, so do not hesitate to set the hook as soon as the bite has been detected. If you are using a circle hook tighten up, do not strike, at the first positive suggestion of the bite, the hook will set itself.