Worms
Another old faithful bait, that we have all used as kids. It is only as we have grown up, and been caught up in the spin of baits, that the humble old worm has disappeared from most anglers bait selection. It is a fair statement that worms can catch anything, and a good point about them is that you can obtain a supply for nothing. There are two basic ways of going about this. Firstly you can collect them from your garden, or you can provide a special wormery to grow on your supply. If you are going to collect them from your lawn, wait for a evening, when it is raining. Go onto the lawn, with great stealth, turn on a torch, and you should see worms lying on top of the grass. They have no doubt been brought to the surface to breath, as when the ground is thoroughly soaked, the air in the soil is driven to the surface. When you see a worm, grab it and then stay still. DO NOT attempt to drag it from the ground, as if you do, you will most probably break the worm in half. Just retain your grip, and wait for the worm to relax, and gently slide him from the ground. Having made your capture, do not just put him in some wet soil in a box, ideally you should try and find some moss, and put this into a container. Add some soil and make sure that the container has plenty of air holes. Kept in good conditions they last for weeks. You can speed up the worm catching rate, by soaking the lawn with a watering can that contains lots of water and some washing up liquid. The worms obviously do not like the washing up liquid, and promptly make their exit. I DO NOT use this method, one because it is not necessary, and secondly I do not want my worms tainted with washing up liquid. There are several types of worms available from good tackle dealers, There are Redworms, Blue Head Worms, Dendrabaenas, Brandlings, and good old Lobworm's, but I find no need to look further than the humble old Lobworm. I remember years ago fishing with Brandlings, as it was a relatively newly talked about bait. I managed to find a dealer who had a few tubs and I brought them and took them the following day when I went fishing. What I do remember is that I managed to get some of the worms body fluids onto my fingers, and the next time I ate my sandwich, I can tell you that they taste bloody awful, and I can’t believe that any self respecting fish would find them enjoyable. If you are after perch, then the worm is unbeatable. If you can get hold of Redworms, they are good in a bunch for perch, but they can also be used with great effect by using a combination of Redworm and a couple of maggots on the hook. Worms can be cut up, and used inside an open end feeder that has the ends plugged with loose ground bait. Small Redworms can be put inside a block end feeder, and they will slowly escape over a period of time. You can now purchase a wormery, complete with soil and worms, and this would be the way to go, if you ever decided that worms are a super bait. Once set up and running, it goes on forever if you follow the simple instructions you get with the kit.
