Worms

Worms

Probably the oldest and most natural bait used by anglers is the juicy worm.  No wonder when you consider how easily they are to obtain. And a worm can tempt every species.

Lobs, the largest of the three worms most commonly used by freshwater anglers, are easily found - simply take a spade into the back garden and dig some up.  Or go out on a damp evening and you’ll find lawns covered in them. This large worm is ideal for catching large specimens like perch, tench & carp.  Fish these whole or cut them into smaller segments. `Fishing worms is definitely not for the faint-hearted.`

The dendrobaena is a lot smaller than the lob, around 50mm in length when fully grown.  It is probably the most used worm around, readily available from local tackle-shops and sold in sacks up to 1kg in weight.  And why are they so popular? Well you can catch everything that swims on a dendrobaena.

This versatile bait can be chopped up and put into ground-bait or mixed with casters and used for loose feed.  For the hook various sizes of the worm can be used, and can be cut into various sizes to match the quarry you’re after.  To help speed up the chopping of worms you can buy scissors with three blades - worth investing in if you’re planning on chopping up 1kg in a sitting.

  You can also buy liquid worm essence and powdered worm, always worth considering as an added attractor.

The Red worm: this little worm is synonymous with bream fishing, they absolutely adore them. Fished on their own or as a cocktail with caster or sweet corn they all have their day.  But it’s not just bream that love them Fished singly on small hooks on canals and lakes, and used in conjunction with a dark ground bait, you’ll catch lots of perch and roach.  Red worms can also be obtained from your local tackle shop, but why not build your own wormery? It’s quite simple and cheap so well worth the trouble.  Construct an open-topped crate, place around 50mm of soil in the bottom, which should have sufficient drainage, and cover in all your kitchen waste.  Now buy some red worms to get you started and put them in. Now cover them all up with some old carpet/ sacking. Straight on top of the waste is ok - this helps keep it dark, which the worms prefer.  How many worms you will get from your wormery will depend on how large your wormery is constructed initially, and how much food you give them. You can even put garden waste on your wormery, but don’t put on grass clippings as this has a tendency to make it turn sour.  So not only a cheap supply of worms but also an environmentally friendly project, which might counter any arguments you get for not building one.