UK Coarse
The Bait Room · Live / natural
The tiniest maggot. Canal punch companion and a feed for small silvers when even pinkies look crude.
Squatts are very small maggots used mostly on canals and drains. They pull a shoal of little roach and gudgeon through a peg, and they are a classic partner to bread punch in winter.
You do not need them on a carp commercial. If you have them, feed a pinch and fish a pinkie or a punch over the top.
From the graph
Canals, especially winter. Drains. Building a cloud of tiny fish you then sort with punch or pinkie.
Winter and early spring on canals. Less useful in high summer.
Rarely a hookbait except on a tiny whip. Mostly feed.
Cool, dry-ish, in their own box so they don't vanish into the maggots.
Feeding
A small tub lasts.
Every minute or two on a canal line.
Punch, pinkies, a bit of groundbait.
Squatts and bread punch is a British canal pairing.
A pinch regularly. They are a cloud, not a bed.
Buying a pint for a tench pit. Fishing them on a size 14.
When you want fish that pull back — maggot, caster, worm.
Beginner tip
If you don't fish canals, you can skip squatts. If you do, a small tub with punch is a winter net.
Advanced tip
Feed squatts, fish punch. The cloud holds them; the punch sorts them.