Finally Caught A Few Worms

[OWZAT]

G`day Fellas ,

I must admit to having given up in Disgust trying to Catch Beach worms , but yesterday after some extremely patient and professional coaching From Lawrie , I scored a total of 4 .

Now although we missed the sweet spot in the Tide , Lawrie took less than 6 minutes to have his quota in the bag , and then the fun began.

" aaaah , don`t lunge at them , just come up behind the head and..............., well you all know the drill .

I perservered for 30 minutes or so untill I finally locked onto one .

Now from memory I had only ever caught 2 prior to this in 20 odd outings , but yesterday I mastered the skill , and was looking forward to going back today , but the Big Fela slipped over and pulled a muscle in the Garage at home last night , so I await the next outing where I get the chance to brush up on my technique.

I just loaded 330 metres of 20Lb line on my new Beach reel , and will soon be lining up with all the other hopefulls here this week , because some whopping big greenbacks have been taken over the last few weks or so.

Lozza tells me one went a good 8/9 LBS .

Mick

[Gibbofisho]

good work mate!

I nearly did my block trying to get them the other week, got one tiddler through sheer luck and though stuff this, i'm fishing, turned it into a whiting and went home!

[Mondo Rock]

Good stuff Mick - it's a hell of a feeling of satisfaction once you master the art of beachworming.

The beauty of it is that, once you can do it, the whole bait gathering process is almost as fun as the fishing!!

My mate and I caught one last weekend on a Sydney beach that was easily as thick as my thumb and which we were forced to dig out due to the hold it had on the sand. We were hooting like we'd just landed a PB jewie (or any jewie for that matter) and showing it to anyone who walked past (which was many many people, it being a Sydney beach and all)!!

Did you use your fingers or were you cheating with pliers?

[Coach]

any tips for a newbee to worming??

I was up near your way Mick the other day and saw a bloke pulling one up every 30 seconds and he made it look too easy!!!!

I have an "Appointment" with apparently "a guru" in the next few weeks to try and teach me.. but must confess my previous efforts have all been woeful?

is there anything that you look for on a beach that shows worms are around ( like bumps that Pippi's sometimes show). or is it just a case of walking along the beach and looking for them to surface to the bait bag?

Cheers

[Mondo Rock]

Coach

Beachworms will usually congregate around the edges of gutters and holes, although only if the sand is 'clean' (i.e. not too much shell grit etc). When I'm worming these will be the spots that I first try. I never try close to headlands as, in my experience, the worms like open sections of beaches much better.

If no joy around the gutters then I'll try working other areas with the bait bag and wait until I start to find them, although if you can't find them around the gutters they may not be around at all.

There's nothing to indicate a worm's presence in an area until you actually see their heads poking up - they're not like pippis in that regard.

This time of the year you shouldn't have any trouble at all finding worms on most beaches. The best time is obviously low tide, but you should also be aware that strong wind will really hamper your efforts. The worms will barely poke their heads out when the wind is strong and this makes them very difficult to catch.

If you're a Sydney fisherman I'd be hapy to take you worming one day down at my favorite spot. I've been worming now for about 15 years and am reasonably competent (although still miss about 25%, particularly the really big ones).

[Coach]

Coach

Beachworms will usually congregate around the edges of gutters and holes, although only if the sand is 'clean' (i.e. not too much shell grit etc). When I'm worming these will be the spots that I first try. I never try close to headlands as, in my experience, the worms like open sections of beaches much better.

If no joy around the gutters then I'll try working other areas with the bait bag and wait until I start to find them, although if you can't find them around the gutters they may not be around at all.

There's nothing to indicate a worm's presence in an area until you actually see their heads poking up - they're not like pippis in that regard.

This time of the year you shouldn't have any trouble at all finding worms on most beaches. The best time is obviously low tide, but you should also be aware that strong wind will really hamper your efforts. The worms will barely poke their heads out when the wind is strong and this makes them very difficult to catch.

If you're a Sydney fisherman I'd be hapy to take you worming one day down at my favorite spot. I've been worming now for about 15 years and am reasonably competent (although still miss about 25%, particularly the really big ones).

Mate

If its ok to come for a look see then that would be great.. i will repay the favor in kind by taking you out for a fish on my boat when i get her fixed up (nothing serious wrong with her..just a time consuming job!!!)

It would be good to be pulling out worms and showing off when I have my "appointment" with "the Guru"!!!

I'll PM you my details, let me know next time you go out and can handle someone tagging along.

Cheers!!

Edited March 2, 2006 by Coach

[kenmare]

Hi Mick,

So, what's the secret? Is it really all to do with the way you hold your mouth?

Went beach worming myself on Monday with a mate from the fishing club. He'd recently done a course conducted by a "guru" through a local evening college and was pretty fired-up. Never tried worming myself, so my role was to just observe and learn, and assist with the detecting of the little buggers.

All went according to plan at first: reasonable day, arrived two hours before the bottom of a very low tide, had all the necessary equipment, plenty of worms located ...

But either the worms were too fast, or John was too slow (most likely) because, when the tide turned and started to push up the beach, we still didn't have any.

I'm sure there's plenty of Fishraiders would also appreciate a few tips on how to successfully catch the elusive beach worm.

How do you place your hand each side of the head, when a worm's located?

When, where and how do you grasp the worm?

How do you avoid the worm gripping the sand to avoid being extracted?

Why do you reckon you caught some this time, when on other occasions you hadn't been very successful?

Regards,

Bob

Edited March 2, 2006 by kenmare