MY TOP FIVE WORM LESSONS
BOTH matches taught me some valuable lessons about worm fishing, so here are my top tips for getting the best out of the bait.
1 USE THE RIGHT TOOLS FOR THE JOB
“It is a common problem that anglers don’t have the tools to chop plenty of worms for feeding. The fish really want to eat them, so a few stragglers chopped up here and there is no good.
“To prepare lots of worms you need a good chopping tool, so either buy or make yourself a set of three-bladed scissors. If you place the worms in a pole pot rather than a bait tub the three blades get to work quickly, giving you plenty of feed in no time at all.”
2 THINK ABOUT THE CHOP
“With baits such as pellets, maggots and pinkies we always think about the size of what we’re actually putting on the hook, so why not with chopped worm? For carp and big bream, it certainly seems best to simply chop the worms a couple of times, leaving some nice big pieces for the fish to eat.
“However, if you are targeting a mixed bag, or wanting to hold the fish in the swim, cutting them up really fine, around the size of a 4mm pellet, makes a brilliant holding feed for use on the feeder or pole.”
3 DRAIN THEM
“A piece of equipment I wouldn’t be without is my trusty aquarium net. After chopping the worms, I place them in the net and squeeze off the excess juice.
“This means you can introduce them nicely into a feeder or pole groundbait, knowing that the juice won’t ruin the consistency of your mix. I often keep the juice back and use it to mix my groundbait. But don’t tell anybody!”
4 HOOKBAIT OPTIONS
“We all know that a great big worm on the hook will catch you your fair share of fish, but on many of the venues we go to the fish have seen it all before and more considered hookbaits are needed.
“Redworms are an absolute favourite of mine and can be collected from your compost heap – or free from local stables if you know a horse owner! They are really soft, and just a small maggot-sized piece can be absolutely deadly for even the biggest of bream.”
5 MATCH YOUR GROUNDBAIT
“When introducing lots of worms into a swim, I don’t like to use a really strong fishmeal groundbait as I want the worms to be the main thing that draw fish in, not the groundbait scent. That means that when the bream arrive they’ll want to eat my worm hookbait.
“My winning mix at Southfield has been an even split of Sonubaits F1 Dark and Maggot Fishmeal, two groundbaits that have the perfect consistency and ingredients to introduce worms into the peg without being too overpowering.”
6 TALKING FEEDERS
“My first-choice feeder for introducing worms is a window feeder. This type allows you to scoop a small amount of neat worms into the feeder, then simply smear a little groundbait across the window to hold them in place.
“Windows cast super-accurately into the swim, and once the groundbait melts away you are introducing a perfect package of neat worm.
“If I had to use just one feeder for worm fishing, it would always be the window.”