Squid is readily available from fishmongers, supermarkets and of course your local bait shop. It can be used whole or cut in to strips for the smaller species. Strips can seem a tad thin so cutting twice the length and folding in half is a good idea. Squid is a tough bait which lasts a long time in the water and withstands hard casting making it suitable for tipping off other baits, lug and squid cocktails being an all time cod classic. It is a decent winter bait particularly for whiting but in my opinion nothing special. I have never caught a fish on squid in the summer months, even when anglers around me have been pulling them out like no tomorrow on other baits. Squid is not a food source readily available to fish in the UK so they are probably a little reluctant to try it although crabs seem to be more attracted to squid than any other bait. As a note of interest I have tried feeding both marine and freshwater fish in my aquariums with squid from the petshop and have found that while the marine fish largely ignore it freshwater fish go crazy for it. Should I ever take up course fishing I will certainly be giving squid a try. Those little plastic squids (muppets) are popular with local boat anglers but are not suitable for shore fishing.