Lob worms, also known as the common garden worm, this worm is one of the most under rated and under used worms in the country possibly because of its price as it can be expensive to buy by the kilo unlike dendrobenas or brandlings which are relatively cheap now if you shop around or have a connection at a worm farm, these worms can be gathered for free during the summer months right up to September if the weather stays fairly mild it is best to find a stretch of parkland close to a busy road that is well lit by street lamps as the worms will be used to vibrations from the traffic and you will not need to use a headlamp to spot them so they will not disappear as easily but make sure that we have had a good amount of rain for a couple of days beforehand as this will bring them to the top to breed, you will also have to wait until well into darkness about 11 o clock in the summer as they will only come out at night, I have managed a kilo in about half an hour under the right conditions so they are fairly easy to gather, they keep well in a large bucket out of the light or covered with an old piece of carpet in a mixture of soil and moss as long as you remember to keep them moist and feed them with a little sugared porridge every now and again they should last as long as you need them or well into the next year if you can keep them that long without using them !.

Lob worms can be fished whole for Perch, Tench, Carp or bream but it is far better to fish the tail section pushing your hook point into the severed end and out through the side, a piece about an inch to two inches long is about right chopping up the rest to use as feed, there are many other baits that can be used with the lob worm as a feed bait such as Casters, ground bait or hemp depending on the targeted species, if you want to catch a good amount of quality Roach on this bait then you will need at least a kilo fished in conjunction with about six to seven pints of hemp, pot about three pints of hemp into your swim using a large pole pot the size of a coffee cup make sure that you spread the feed as it goes in then pot in two full pots of chopped lob worms by the same method this should equal about half a pint, fish a small piece of chopped dendrobena from the off until you start getting regular bites or hook a good fish on two separate rigs one with a fine wire 18-20 and one with a 18-16 forged both using around .4 to .8 strung out shot this will take about 45 minutes to an hour and a half but may be quicker depending on the fishes willingness to feed, once you are getting regular bites fish a chopped lob worm tail on a size 16-14 with a reasonably heavy rig around 1 to 1.5 gram depending on conditions, keep potting around ten to fifteen chopped lob worms in every 20 minutes even if you are not getting as many bites as you would like but do not put any more hemp in until the bites begin to slow or well into the session , around four to five hours, then put the remainder of your hemp in with a full pot of chopped worm and leave it for about half an hour before you start to feed any more chopped worm, you should catch many quality fish using this method along with a few surprises as the lob worm and hemp will attract and hold very big fish in your swim, good luck.

Dendrobena, This bait is another firm favourite with many worm anglers and is not dissimilar in make up to the lob worm just a little smaller they are easy to keep and last for at least four to six weeks on the feed that is provided within the soil, if you keep them in a cool fridge, they can be used whole or chopped into pieces about an inch long.

Fish dendrobena whole or copped in conjunction with a ground bait feeder, size 18-14 hook chopping up into small pieces and incorporating these pieces into the ground bait with some fresh casters fantastic for summer Bream and Tench fishing or fish on the pole using this worm as feed and fishing small red worms on the hook, chop pieces of dendrobena for Roach , Skimmers and Perch.

Brandlings, These worms differ in make up to any other worm they are adorned with yellowish stripes over the entirety of their bodies which oozes a yellow acidic liquid when pressure is exerted on them however this will not put the fish off which seem to take them as readily as any other worm or so many may think !, I do prefer not to use these worms unless I cannot get a hold of any others with reds and dendrobenas being favoured instead especially when Roach fishing  towards the backend of the season, If you must use them then try to fish them whole and do not overfeed them in chopped form when fishing for delicate feeders.

Red worms, These worms are deadly when used as hook bait fishing for all types of fish, use them chopped when fishing for very small fish in the winter and whole throughout the summer, try and pot in some finely chopped dendrobena on your pole line then fish a full red worm on a size 22-18 fine wire hook and light tackle for monster Roach or fish a whole or bunch of red worms over a bed of hemp.

Bloodworm and joker, The bloodworm is a naturally occurring adult midge larvae that should be present in all waters in one form or another, this worm will catch fish from most waters even during the coldest winters when it seems impossible to catch fish on other baits or when a venue only holds a head of small fish, many match men will use this bait (where it is allowed as it can be banned on some waters so please check before fishing) throughout the winter as hook bait feeding in jokers which is the immature larvae of the midge about one third of the size, the adult larvae (bloodworm) can be found in large numbers springing from the lake, river or canal bed and fish will seek out and gorge themselves on this worm whenever they get the chance often becoming preoccupied with it beyond all other baits, The bloodworm and joker will appear naturally 1 to 5 inches from the waters bed as their swimming motion makes them rise and fall using sharp propulsions of their body to gain momentum through the water and lift them from the silt so the angler must fish this bait to imitate the bloodworms motions to be as successful as they can be in their days fishing , often rising and lowering their ultra fine tackle a few inches to induce a bite, Te bloodworm and joker can be expensive to buy with a standard match pack costing around £11 to £15 which should last you around the five hour mark, feed the joker in with some damp leam (fine dampened clay dust) mixed with a very fine ground bait in hard balls to get the joker to the bottom where it will stay and begin to work, fish single or double bloodworm on very fine tackle hook sizes 26-22 fine wire with very light hook lengths and a wire stemmed float in sizes 4x10 to 4x14 using strung out shot, if the venue has a little tow (flow or current produced by wind or lock gates opening) then larger floats may be used (up to .75) with a small amount of bulk shot to combat this. The bloodworm can be collected from stagnant ponds, small water outlets, some larger lakes or general places where midges are present during the summer but this is a tiresome task and requires some knowledge of their whereabouts and collection.       

    Back To Top

Back to Main Bait Page

On this page worms including lob worm, dendrobena, red worms, brandlings, bloodworm and jokers