Digging Lugworm for beginners

[Bluesbro]

I spent some of today bait digging and thought i would take my camera with me and write a thread showing how it`s done. If anyone is wonders how lug is collected or wants to have a try themselves then i hope this helps

Firstly you need to find a lugworm cast and it`s blow hole (A cast is the spirall of sand that the worm has made on top of the sand)


You shoud then dig in a line from the blow hole towards the cast, firstly push your fork into the sand , level with the top of the forks.


Then to get the depth you should push forward on the fork and then pull back and push in deeper (not to deep though, you need to be able to lift it out after)


Lift out all the sand so you got a clear hole, checking the sand you have cleared for worms


Then step back towards the cast and push your forks in about 20cm`s behind the hole. Take a second dig at the same depth and carefully tip the sand off the forks and check the sand carefully (i usually find a worm on the 2nd or 3rd take )


Rinse the worm off and put in ya bucket, if you have caught the worm and it`s bleeding it`s no good and should be chucked out as it will kill all the other worms quickly. Its not worth risking all your worms for a few bleeders no matter how annoying it is to keep popping them


Finally once you have dug your worm you should then refill the hole before moving on to your next one.


Once you have enough worms you can then rinse all the sand off of them and then fill the bucket with enough water to cover them. Pop the lid on your bucket and head home.


I managed to dig 60 in a hour and a half and that was with photo breaks and with a 2 year old running about so can get more with less distractions.

Some people like to trench dig which involves digging at the site of a lot of casts and trying to get several at one go but i find this method a bit hit and miss and do better targeting single worms at one time.

If anyone else wants to add to this then feel free and i hope it helps

Im off fishing now so tight lines all

Joe

[barbelblanker]

Superb post! Nice one.

[Ellie01]

seems a bit too much like hard work for one worm lol
but cheers, i didnt know how to do it.

[cuckoo]

Excellent post joe , that will help a few people no end , well done for taking the time mate

[MRG2000]

Cracking thread Joe , thanks for taking the time and effort to put it together ,very informative ....

[Martopp]

good post, i used to dig bait for a living, both lug and rag, i use to carry a small tub inside the main bucket so any gutted worm would go in that, they still work well as baits. I use to wash the worms off before leaving but never left them in water, the longer in the water they tend to purge themselves, and dont seem as effective as baits, dont know why as they send most of there lives in water.

[Portland Pirate]

Great post and I liked that you pointed out about refilling the hole.

Well done. PP

[BaggieRich]

Top post. Nice one Joe!

[chrismc]

well done m8

[scottish_and_mental]

Originally Posted by Martopp

good post, i used to dig bait for a living, both lug and rag, i use to carry a small tub inside the main bucket so any gutted worm would go in that, they still work well as baits. I use to wash the worms off before leaving but never left them in water, the longer in the water they tend to purge themselves, and dont seem as effective as baits, dont know why as they send most of there lives in water.

Im in agreement with all of the above

Keep blown worms in a seperate bucket - its the same as snapped ragworm , fine if you're fishing that night and not worh chucking if your ending up with half a pound or so ..
rinse the worms and then i pat them on blue roll to remove excess water .store amounts of 30-50 worms in fresh clean newspaper .. the fridge is the best place to store them for a few days but change the paper each day and remove any manky worms ..
Nice one Joe mate

I'm starting digging rag again soon so might follow suit and take the camera