A Can of Worms

[@Clive]

Worms from the tackle shops and supermarkets in France are ridiculously expensive. Around two quid for 15 dendras and three quid for ten lobs. I used to rear my own and top up from the little compost bin, but we haven't now got a small compost bin, it all goes in a much harder to access large clamp and worm farming wasn't that successful in our basement. I find a few lobs in our and other people's gardens, but never enough. So I started to freeze any left over lobworms in my bait freezer. Sea anglers use frozen lugworms and ragworms, so why not lobworms? The initial batch went well. I caught bream and barbel on the thawed out worms.

I had a look online for mail order worms. The prices were no less than the shops once delivery was added. Then I came across a guy who runs a Carpodrome, basically a commercial fishery, who rears worms as a sideline. The premises are situated less than two minutes from my Monday working route so last time I was passing I called in. Monday wasn't the best day as he dispatches all the mail order packages on Monday morning, but he got me a mixed tub of dendras, redworms and brandlings for €10. I worked out that this was 50X the amount I would get at the tackle shop.

I put some compost and leaf mold in the bottom of a 5 litre bait sealed bucket, drilled some holes in the top, tipped the worms in and put a thick layer of moss over them. So far I have fed them tea leaves, dried breadcrumbs and powdered milk every three or four days and it is looking good. The redworms inhabit the attic moss, the dendras are in the middle layer and the brandlings are burrowing away in the basement compost layer. I have ordered a tenner's worth of large dendras to collect next week and I'm thinking about splitting the brandlings off and having two buckets, one mossy bucket for the reds and dendras and a compost filled bucket for the brandlings.

Hopefully I can be self-sufficient in future and plan to start taking some worms out, cleaning them and freezing them in small batches to be used to make chopped worm loose feed.

 

[Keith M]

I used to keep lively redworm in a large bucket containing soil and damp sphagnum moss; with a few drainage holes in the base of the bucket; and keep mine on the cold concrete floor of my brick shed. I didn’t seem to lose any worms through these holes.

I started off with alternative layers of soil and moss in the bucket but after a while it started to get mixed up and every few months I replaced the soil and the sphagnum moss layers. I also used to regularly spray some water on top to ensure a little dampness and make sure that it didn’t dry out.

I got my Redworm initially from under a well rotted manure heap in the field next to our club lake but eventually this heap disappeared.

I fed them with dead leaves, potato peelings and lettuce mainly; but always had a few pieces of thickly sliced Apple on the top; and whenever I wanted a few worms I just lifted the Apple slices and there was usually loads of them under the Apple slices. In the warmer months there were often tiny white worms under the Apple slices as well, which I assumed were tiny new born worms.

After a days fishing I always put any unused worms back into the bucket but made sure that no dead or damaged worms were returned as that was a sure way to kill the others; which I found by accident once.

I currently don’t have my wormery as I haven’t needed any worms for quite a while as a pollution incident put paid to my old Tench water, however if I do find a good Tench water again I’ll probably renew my wormery again as I still have the old large bucket.

NB: The bucket was about two to three times larger than a normal average sized bucket.

Keith

 

[Wakou]

Worms (dendros, compost worms) LOVE melon of all kinds.

 

[no-one in particular]

I don't know if this has any relevance but frozen lugworms never work as well as fresh ones, the freezing breaks down the structure of the worms and they go a bit mushy and I think they lose a lot of there scent as well. I do not know about ragworms but always try and get fresh lugs if possible, fish still take frozen ones but they never appear to work as well.
If it is the same with earthworms I don't know but just thought I would mention it.

 

[@Clive]

I don't expect them to be as good as live lobworms, but the large worms that they sell over here in France are a lot softer and less active than the lobs I used back home. Anyway, I think that I have solved my problem now as the dendras that I got direct from the worm farm are huge. And they are thriving so that I will be able to use them as chopped loose feed.

 

[Keith M]

If I need Lobworms during the spring and summer I go out onto my lawn after dark with a small torch (not too bright else they will disappear back down their holes in an instant) and there’s usually lots of lobworms lying on the surface of the lawn with the end of their tails stuck down their hole; but you need to creep around the lawn gently else they will disappear back down their hole before you can grab hold of them.

To gather them I push my thumb over their rear end to prevent them from dissapearing back down their hole and gently ease them away from their hole; but don’t pull too hard as a damaged worm is a sure way to kill the other worms in your bait box and so will have to be discarded. I can gather enough lobworm for a days fishing in no time.

If it’s during a particularly dry period I will sprinkle some water over the lawn before the sun goes down; which will help.

I often wonder what the neighbours are thinking when they spot me creeping around on all fours around my lawn on a dark evening

Keith

 

[@Clive]

Back in England I just used to leave a piece of carpet on the ground in a shady place on our shoot. When I lifted the carpet there would be hundreds of lobworms laying on the surface under it. Here the worms aren't the same. They are softer, more purple and orange in colour and are found in poor soil. I get a few proper lobs from my customers gardens, but nowhere near enough.