Catch more with worms – bait expert Dr Paul Garner shows you how.
Discover Dr Paul Garner’s springtime favourite
WORMS have been used as bait since the dawn of time.
They make up only a small part of the natural diet of coarse fish, but there is no doubting their effectiveness. Fish know instinctively that they are food.
There are several different types of worms available to us, and many different ways to use them. Getting the best from them can involve a little bit of ingenuity, but it’s well worth the extra effort.
STORING WORMS
Worms aren’t cheap, but look after them well and they will last for months – any bait left over from one trip can therefore be saved for the next.
Your shop will normally ask whether you want the worms ‘neat’ or in some peat or soil. I always ask for as much material in with the worms as possible, as this keeps them separated and slows the build-up of waste.
You can add more soil, lawn moss (but not grass cuttings) or shredded thin cardboard, if needed. A tub filled no deeper than about 10cm is best, as this allows the air to circulate – so use a wide, shallow tub if you can.
Keeping worms cool and damp is essential, especially in hot weather. I use a bait fridge in the summer, but the garage floor will do just fine. Lightly dampen the surface of the soil every few days to prevent the worms drying out, check for any dead ones and remove these immediately. This might sound like a lot of effort, but it’s worth it, and no more difficult than storing maggots.
HOOKING WORMS
Worms have plenty of movement to catch the eye of any passing fish. They also require very little oxygen, and will happily survive underwater for several hours.
Worms do present difficulties on the hook, though, as they have a tendency to wriggle. This can leave you with the worm rolling up into a ball, masking the hookpoint – but once under the surface it will normally unravel in seconds and stretch out again.
What can be more of a problem is a worm managing to lever itself off the hook, leaving you with no bait. This is especially a problem for the big-fish angler, who might
be casting infrequently. A cocktail bait can solve this problem. A maggot, with its tough skin, will help to hold a worm in place, and if the worst does happen, it leaves you with some bait on the hook.
Normally, though, I am happy to fish smaller worms straight on the hook. I hook them lengthways,
rather than sideways on, as this allows the bait to hang more naturally, and enables me to pull the worm over the eye of the hook, holding it in place.
A useful trick it to snip off one end of the worm before hooking it – this will reduce the chances of it wrapping around the hook.
With lobworms it’s better to hair-rig the worm, trapping it between two Quickstops. This way it can be left out overnight without fear of losing the bait.
Another bonus of using a hair rig is that bites are more positive, as the hook is fully exposed and not masked by the bait.