Martin Bowler takes us on a tench adventure and wins big with worms
The garden lobworm gets a rig makeover to boost my success rate
ASUCCULENT lobworm is a bait used by anglers for hundreds of years.
Indeed, the Victorians ladled worms into the River Thames by the thousand to encourage barbel to bite.
These days, though, with the arrival of consumer-friendly pellets and boilies, most anglers use worms only when fishing for perch or the occasional chub.
So surely this bait – that is both labour-intensive to collect and expensive to buy – has had its day?
Well, no. Take a look at the many reports of tench captures in Angling Times recently – including some huge specimens – and you’ll see that earthworms are definitely the ‘in’ bait for fans of the species. How quickly the worm has turned!
The lobworm has always been a staple in my armoury, and I reckon there’s little to touch it for stalking carp. But until recently I limited its use to forms of fishing where the bait is directly mounted on the hook and striking is necessary.
A worm, I felt, was less than ideal for feeder fishing for tench, where an exposed hook on some form of hair is necessary.
Indeed, I was happy with maggots until a ban on fake baits at a water I intended to fish made me think again.
I’d been told worms were generating the most bites, so it was time to buy a few lobs and start experimenting.
A segment of worm about an inch long looked to be a winner, whereas a whole one would be at best haphazard on a bolt rig.
Shamelessly searching the internet for ideas, it seemed that a Pushstop and kebabstyle mount for multiple worm sections seemed the most popular approach. I couldn’t argue with its effectiveness, given the catalogue of monster tench it had caught, but I was looking for something a little more refined so I could
stick with a size 12 Drennan Super Specialist Barbel hook.
Time, I felt, to cherry-pick the best elements of both a match and specimen fishing approach.
I chanced on a video by Alan Scotthorne, who used a single worm section with the stop pushed right through it. This is exactly what I was looking for.
My intention was to stick with the deadly feeder and short hooklength tactic, so I chose an inline feeder and threaded it on to the mainline, stopping it with a Uni Link swivel. Hooklength was 12lb Ghost fluorocarbon blood-knotted on to a Drennan Push Stop bead, and after I’d knotless knotted on a size 12 hook I measured the hooklength against the feeder’s body to ensure it was a fraction shorter. This would prevent tangles.
I then cut an inch-long segment of lobworm, pushing the stop right through it with a baiting needle and then turning it to hold the bait in place. A single red maggot formed a cocktail, leaving the hookpoint free and adding the wriggle element.
This rig was certainly not my invention, but I was confident that I had linked the mechanics and the presentation in the best way possible. I was now ready to jump on the worm bandwagon!
Despite my efforts, all my planning resulted in zero tench over two days and two nights.
Blanking is all part of the game when hunting big fish, but understanding why it happens is essential to turn things around. In this instance I was certain most of the tench were still in spawning mode, and there was little I could have done to get a better result.
I didn’t question the worm or how I fished it – in fact I drew a positive from fishing a water that made me try a new approach and add another string to my bow. The lobworms would be coming with me on my next trip.
Closer to home, a warm wind cut across a pit more familiar to me as I Spombed out maggots and worms on to a shallow bar. That done, I cast two feeders the same distance, but separated by a couple of yards.
Once down on the gravel lakebed they would spew out a payload of red maggots. The lobworm segments on each hair would, I hoped, stand out in a sea of maggots, drawing the attention of hungry tench.
Within five minutes this was
confirmed as the bobbin slammed against the alarm and line was pulled off the spool.
But was this a one-off success for the worm and bolt rig?
Hardly! That same morning I landed a string of big tench and concluded, along with many other tinca chasers this season, that worms will win the day!