Ideas for worms

[nicky]

A friend of mine invited me to his allotments (at the end of my street fortunately) to collect some worms for fishing.
I dug up a large pile of chicken cr*p and have never seen so many worms, i was picking up 10 at a time and by the time i finished i had hundreds, further more i can go back whenever i want.
The worms i beleive are brandling, rings going down the body with a yellow secretions when peirced with a hook.

I've had enough lately of catching loads of tiddlers on wag and mag and fancy using the method / cage feeder to catch some larger specimens.

I did alright using worms and rubber maggots (to keep the worms on the hook and get it out the way of the hookpoint) on thursday night with one nice slab around 5lb a small carp and one small perch.

Fished yesterday and hardly got a bite, using the method with loads of chopped worms added, 2 rods, match and specimen.(eventually went back to the float on one rod with maggots and had a bream)left the carp rod out had a few short beeps but that was it.

with this amount of free worms available any body got any good ideas to get the bites going, want to make good use of this valuable resource

 

[njb51]

you got a blender?

 

[nicky]

yes

 

[njb51]

good

 

[Jim Pullin 2]

I'm not sure that brandlings are very highly rated as bait. The problem is in that yellow secretion which is, I understand, a chemical defence mechanism to stop them being eaten. And as that's exactly what you want to happen, you have a problem. I'm not saying you won't catch, and indeeed you have, but there are better worms like dendrabenas, reds and lobs.

 

[Nigel Connor(ACA ,SAA)]

Jim, they do secrete a yellowish fluid but I have used them on the hook in the past and have had barbel,grayling and perch on them.They are not very robust though and go limp fairly quickly.

Nicky, maybe the fish just weren't feeding.How was every one else doing?

 

[Jim Pullin 2]

Yeah, like I said, they do catch fish, but perhaps not as well as other worms. If you want to toughen them up, you can always use the old fashioned method of "scouring" them in moss and grit or brick dust for a few days. I found this method in an old fishing book and it does work. Still prefer a lob, though.

 

[nicky]

i have got an old fishing book that tells you to leave them in a pot of heather for a few days it toughens them up and makes them really wriggly, i tried it once years ago and it did work, but i suppose anything rough will do.

Like i said i think they're brandlings that seems to be whats available in my area my garden compost seems to be full of them as well. Mind you there are some approaching the size of what i would call a lob worm so maybe i've got it wrong, does anyone know how to identify them for definate

 

[stikflote]

ive found brandlings dont work as well as other worms, i can get a lot from sisters stables ive been told its to do with the yellow fluid so i prefer lobs or red worms

 

[Jim Pullin 2]

The yellow bands on the body and the yellow gunk that they produce if you handle them roughly means they are brandlings. They are the classic compost heap worm. Redworms are just that, red, small and like rotting horsemuck. They are fantastic bait. Lobs are paler with the flat tail. You'll find them on damp grass at night, in damp soil and in rather expensive tubs in your tackle shop. Next to the dendrabenas. If you are looking to branch out in the world of worm fishing I recommend Tommy Topsoil's worms on 01422 831112. Not cheap but great service and lobworms that you have to stun with a mallet to get onto the hook!

 

[captain carrott]

brandlings give off a yellow fluid when you try to hook them and are the worst of the worm baits.

if you bury a stack of news papers under turf you get good red worms as well as from manure heaps.

 

[nicky]

you have made me feel very depressed now.

I'll persevere with them for a while as an experiment and let you know how i get on.

by the way jim they dont have yellow bands more like brown or dark red bands.

at the end of the day that was the biggest bream i have caught this year so they must have something going for them.

I tend to find with worms they are not an instant bite type of bait but can produce good fish if you have the patience to wait it out.

 

[nicky]

I have just been looking at pictures of dendrabenas and i think that is what they are, they dont have yellow bands, but have lots of redish brown rings, there is only a small amount a yellow fluid when they are hooked.

i cant find any picutres of brandlings to compare them against.

 

[paul williams 2]

Nicky.......i hope you told the fish they didn't like em before you used em??

You may well have caught that that years PB bream under false pretences if not!

 

[Phil Hackett disability bad speller with Pride]

And how many on here have the taxonomic skills to tell small immature brandlings from red worms or dendras for that matter?

Brands don?t start to exhibit the yellow banding until they?re over 1.5 inches in length.
Both reds and brands will coexist quite happily in all well rotted manures.

 

[Budgie Burgess]

Worms? I love em! caught most of my big bream on them.Superb big fish bait.

Dendras have the yellow stuff in their saddle and still catch so I dont see why normal brandlings dont?

My gardens got too much dog chod on it to get too any worms and Ive had far to many awkward situations with the Police whilst collecting lobs! (dont even ask!) due to these circumstances I always buy mine in bulk and keep them in a bucket of compost/potting soil.Due to that its lobs and farmed Dendrabenas for me but Im sure I used brandlings in the older days and caught.

You stick with the ones you got Nik.

I much prefer to use them as a hook bait over bread crumb or sweetcorn but when Ive got a load I chop some up with a pair of triple bladed worm scissors and add these into the mix.Ive had some stonking sessions on them mate.Theyve acounted for three of my PB's. Namely Bream,Tench and Perch.

 

[nicky]

Some of the worms are much longer then 1.5 inches and still dont have any yellow bands.

Thats given me a bit more confidence budgie

i have looked on other websites and have read the complete opposite, that infact the yellow stuff is actually a fish attractant, i suppose i'll just have to see for myself.

 

[Budgie Burgess]

Worms is deffo a subject that none of the angling experts can agree on! Some say you MUST hook them through the "saddle" others say its the kiss of death! Some say hook em in the middle others the head and yet more others the tail! As you say they cant even decide wether the yellow gear is an attractent or a reppelant! Out of interest if its a reppelant what do the fish do when they try and eat one? just nibble inwards from either end? Not the ones that have eaten my worms for sure.NB by my worms Im refering to the worms I own/use not ones that have indeed come from my own body...

All I can say is thank god bream,tench,perch,eels,carp and everything else that swims cant read!Especially the rubbish I write about them!

 

[captain carrott]

"Out of interest if its a reppelant what do the fish do when they try and eat one?"

the same as they do when they eat any other worm, just not as often in my experience. i have caught on brandlings from waters where i have used other types of worm, but i haven't caught as much or as often as when using other types of worm.

i have even switched them round between 2 rods in 2 swims on the same day and found that i was less likely to get a bite on the brandling than on other types of worm, after reading something about them not being so good back in the 80's.

 

[Budgie Burgess]

Damn you Capt! next time I run out of Dendras and have to scrape up some brandlings my confidence will have been shattred!

Seriously though always having a supply now of both dendras and lobs I doubt if I will ever be in a position to test this out!

Im still not sold on it but must accept what Capt C says as he has compared both.

Nikky your in a great position now to get your self a 1/4 kg of dendras and try them on one rod alongside your brandlings.Be interesting to here how you get on.The truth is out there pal.....some where!

If they do prove inferior you could always spend an evening or twenty "converting" your brandlings by using a syringe to "syphon" the dreaded yellow stuff out! Or conversely if Im right injecting some of the yellow stuff into your dendras of course...............well "Waste not Want not" as they say!

Er who are "they"?