Farmed worms!!

[squideyebarnes]

Farmed worms! good bad ok or just not worth it?
Used them a few times and never had a good result any veiws on this would be really intresting!They seem so dry with no juice smell and in peat to taint them I think they are pants ;D
Andy

[squideyebarnes]

grown in peat might as well use lob worm or lazy lug ;D

[Lavy]

Tried some farmed rag,( we dont get them naturally round here) and never caught a thing on them though i must say they looked ok.

[solehunter]

They dont stand up to fresh ones (obviously) and have had many a bad session on the flatties with them, but i have also had some good sessions. I remember me and dunner getting a few sole between us and i had 2 sizeable plaice one night all on farm rag, this may have been a one off but it shows they do get eaten and it restored my faith just a little.
Looks like we are going to have to use them tonight............
That white stuff that comes out of them is weird though......?

[scotty-b-]

By the time you pay the over inflated price for a decent amount for a days fishing you would be cheaper gettting into your car and driving to the beach. I used the frozen stuff in cyprus and it was like puttin a bloody shoe lace on my hook first cast and they just fall off. could not be arsed after that so fresh is the way to go. I know alot of you love some way away from the coast but it makes sence to take your fork with you and do half an hours digging before you fish. pain in the ass but at least you will get more fish and you save money to buy more tackle to. that is always good in my books.

[mick75]

i found them no different i have had some good fish on them but i can not stand all the pete all over them it gets every were why do they keep them in it

[skatenchips]

My experience with farmed worms bought from a couple of
Southampton shops were that if kept/stored in Vermiculite

www.thegardensuperstore.co.uk/vermiculite__uses_in_the_garden.htm

The worms would gorge themselves on it and end up exploding
when handled/threaded on a hook.
Whereas fresh dug worm always looked a brighter red/green
colour that seemed to have a much tougher skin when handled.
I read somewhere that the best peats for rag storage are dried
sea weed that has been blitzed down.
Is it that bait shops are using industrial peat for cheapness
and the bait quality is suffering as a consequence.
Wheres Justin.....? he runs a tackle shop.....maybe he can
shed some light on "keeping bait methods" and why some
products are used instead of others for bait storage.

Gazza

[Richieawt]

First time i had used them for years yesterday and noticed they exploded and went to about 1/3rd there size as soon as they went on the hook

[skatenchips]

Also found this article by West Country tackle dealer Phil Hyde.

Vermiculite is a by-product of smelting, is produced at high temperatures and contains metal and acid anhydrides (acid with water removed). It is an insulator, and ragworms feed in the dark by detecting temperature changes. Put a ragworm on your hand and it will try to eat you...it doesn't dislike you and is not trying to attack!! I found the "fizzy worms" problem many years ago, and a marine biologist well-known to sea anglers showed me what had happened. He asked for a worm and a razor blade, slit the worm from the head to near the tail, and down the middle were small bits of vermiculite! Feeling it as warm, the worms ate the stuff, which clagged up the intestinal tract, and the worm then swallowed air to try and dislodge the obstruction, hence the fizzing. The worm of course cannot survive once it is stored on the stuff. One of my diggers when I sold bait had a solution. He soaked his "Micafil" in sea water for several hours in a sack to remove the "fines", squeezed it to remove the excess water, then stored the worms in that. Result - perfect worms.

Hope this helps,

philtherod


Recipe.........
Micafil
1 x sack
sea water..............ahhhhh 100 miles from the coast Gazza...doh

........plan B

[dave phillips]

farmed worms are crap

have used them when i could not get out digging ,they just aint the same

fresh dug worms are bright red and full of juice but farmed is a dull red and dry

best stuff for keeping ragworm i have used is when you dig you come across old trees in the mud ,just brake it up in to little bits , worms last a couple of weeks in the shed

[squideyebarnes]

never gonna use them ever again m8 fished your spot to the nose not a sniff tales came in every time.Think there grown in peat and a salt water sprinkler on the top.think ritchie caught as he had lug on to.
Andy

[greysfanboy]

yeah I saw it on TV once they are all hanging out of the peat and the water is warmed by a local power station or something. I suppose at the end of the day, unless the farmers can feed them an identical diet to what they would have wild they will inevitably be different.

[Wizard]

I used farmed worms last week fishing from the shore ,all i caught was crabs load of shite

[squideyebarnes]

greysfanboy said:

yeah I saw it on TV once they are all hanging out of the peat and the water is warmed by a local power station or something. I suppose at the end of the day, unless the farmers can feed them an identical diet to what they would have wild they will inevitably be different.

Your not wrong there at all very alien to any fish!

[squidlips]

i used green worms on wednesday and they caught ok.
but as i rarely use them i cant realy comment