GET INTO BOAT FISHING
Dave Barham explains how and when he uses the popular choices
How to hook worms and squid baits.
PROBABLY the most common of all sea fishing baits, lugworm is used throughout the year to catch almost everything that swims. There are a few types of lug, with blow lug, yellowtail and black lug being the most common.
I always have a few wraps of black lug in the freezer because it’s a very good bait and easy to grab for an impromptu session when fresh bait is hard to get.
During the summer, a single lugworm fished in a muddy estuary will catch you bass and flounders, while a cocktail of black lug, prawns and squid is a killer bait for big plaice. Later in the year a cocktail of lug tipped with squid is the staple for most cod anglers.
One of my favourites is a black lug sausage bait that delivers a huge scent trail in a relatively small package that can be cast very easily. I’ve used it for two decades and it has caught me a lot of cod and bass over the years. It’s better suited to freshly gutted black lug. Ragworms are available from most tackle shops and online bait suppliers throughout the year. It’s a very popular bait with bass anglers, due to the wriggly nature of the worms and the scent they emit. They’re also very popular with winter cod anglers, especially in the Bristol Channel.
You can present ragworms in a number of ways, from simply hooking a single worm through the head when drifting for pollack and bass, to mounting multiple worms to give a much larger, scent-laden bait.
Even a single king ragworm mounted on a Pennell rig is a great bait for big bass and stingrays. Of course, a single worm threaded up the hook is a killer for black bream, soles and all manner of other species.
The cocktail baits are endless too, rag tipped with a strip of squid being a firm favourite with plaice anglers.
Perhaps one of the most widely available and often used baits, second only to maybe worm baits and mackerel, squid is a great bait to have in your freezer, and one that can be fished in a multitude of ways.
You can cut squid into thin strips for tipping off other baits, or even fish the strips on their own for species like black bream. Use a squid head or half a head, piercing the eyes for added scent attraction for bream and gurnards.
Use half a squid for smoothhounds and rays or a whole squid for big bass, cod and even conger eels – the list of presentations and species you can catch is pretty much endless. Stuffing a squid mantle with lug, rag, a peeler crab or even mussels adds another dimension to your cocktail baits. However, you can’t beat a whole squid fished on a Pennell rig to tempt specimen fish, especially cod and bass.
Here are three ways to hook the baits…