I'm down here in South Florida and I've bottom fished my entire life but I've never used the squids other than trolling. But I can't see why it wouldn't work. It'll resemble a squid. It'll have flavor and I can see fish moving in on it. That's a great tip! Thank you!
Having fished hoochies for 20 years in Washington for salmon....try using a mylar skirt under a hoochie (white in Wa.)....and it will increase the bites
@paulwhitwam you can use many things. Personally, I'd rather use a "silver skin" bait strip such as bonito, Spanish mackerel, King Mackerel strip, blue runner strip, goggle eye strip or the like.. In a bind, you can always give it a shot using whole dead baits (brine them first) such as ballyhoo without the bill, sardines, hard heads (cigar minnows), whole goggle eyes or a whole pogey (menhaden) on the hoochie rig.
We have used ribbon fish, usually for Tarpon fishing, but I've never tried it on the bottom. A strip of the shiny, tough skin may actually work.. I'll definitely try it out!
Brandon, yes sir they're annoying. Especially in large schools offshore on close in reefs or natural bottom.. They can be there soo thick, they'll "black out" the sonar top to bottom. Hard to fish around a stack like that, they'll eat anything.. To your question, they would definitely work as a strip bait cut maybe 3 inches long with mainly the shiny, smelly skin portion attached to the hook to free swim with the action of the hoochie. Good idea!
