Squid (as bait)
Squid is the freezer bait of the sea - cheap, tough as rubber on the hook, and eaten by essentially every bottom fish; strips flutter, whole squid call the big stuff.
Ask a party-boat mate the default bait and you'll get squid: it costs little, survives freezing and re-freezing, stays ON the hook through crab pecks and missed bites, and everything from sea bass to snapper to fluke eats it. Cut into fluttering strips it tips jigs and dresses rigs; fished whole it soaks for the biggest bottom dwellers.
What it catches
The bottom-fishing universe: sea bass, porgies, snapper, grouper, fluke/flounder (strip baits), tilefish, cod, striped bass, and offshore everything as trolling strips.
Getting & keeping it
Frozen boxes at every coastal shop (or the grocery's calamari, uncleaned); thaw what you need, refreeze the rest - it forgives like no natural bait.
How to rig it
Strips (pennant-shaped, 5-10 cm) on hi-lo rigs and jig tippings - the taper flutters; whole squid on wire-assisted rigs for grouper and tile; combo 'squid-and-minnow' sandwiches are fluke tradition.
When it shines
Any bottom trip, party boats (it survives the rail-hook-rebait cycle), pecky-crab bottoms that strip soft baits, and as the reliable half of any two-bait experiment.
Field tips
Cut strips WITH the grain and taper them - the flutter is the fish-caller; keep unused squid iced not soaking (mush); the tentacle crown whole is a sea-bass special.
Common mistakes
Chunky square cuts that hang dead in current, soaking thawed squid into slime, and treating it as ONLY a backup - many days it out-fishes the premium bait beside it.