Advice on worming

[aber angler]

Hi guys

Wonder if you could help as i fish the rheidol it's up and down with this rain and the hydro electric scheme which means clearish water to clear for spinning in the day any way, want to try worming for them but apart from needing worms that's about as far as my knowledge goes.

[Salarex]

No expert, but here is one way - maybe the experts can correct me!

Run a small swivel up your line and tie a swivel on the end. From the dangling swivel run a short length of weaker line, perhaps 4" and place a VERY light weight on the end - the weight varies according to the pool you are fishing so needs to be changeable. From the end swivel run a length of perhaps 2' of mono ending in a hook.

Thread the hook through the body of a single worm for sewin, and cast it into the pool. There should be enough weight on for the worm to fish on the bottom while the weight is bumped slowly along the bottom in an arc back to below you - just as if you were fly fishing.

If it stops it is either grabbed by a fish or in a rock! If it is light enough it is more likely to be a fish....

For salmon use 2 or three worms.

In spate fish are more likely to be in the side, out of the main stream, they will search for water flowing at a speed with which they are comfortable.

[aber angler]

Thanks for that very useful will it next time i'm down the river :>

[Teifi-Terrorist]

Hi Aber-Angler,

Rex' advice is spot on, as always.

Couple of different methods;

For a quick set-up I would just make a dropper up the line and attach some split shot to that, fishing the weights perhaps some 18 inches from the hook.

For sewin I would go for a small hook, size 8-10, kamasan b-980.

Another option is to place some rubber stop-knots up the line, like the ones used for sea-fishing. Then place a loop of nylon around the mainline and secure with a split shot, this creates an adjustable and sliding rig.

For salmon and high-water sewin worming, I would go with Rex' rig and advice, simple, but effective.

TT.

[Dovey]

Another useful weight for worming over a broken or snaggy river bed is plasticine. If you want it to slide - say above a small swivel or course fishing 'stop' - attach the plasticine to a small length of plastic tube (from a cotton bud). It's easy as pie to mould Plasticine onto the tube and thus it's straightforward to adjust the weight to suit conditions. It's also cheap, and thus no great hardship to lose when snagged.

Sea trout in flood conditions will often 'play' with worms (mouth them then drop them), as will a grilse, whereas salmon, given time, will frequently ingest the worm(s). For this reason, a single worm (or two small blueheads) will succeed where a salmon wormer's 'mouthful' of lobs will fail.

Please be careful though, when worming late in the season. Even sea trout will sometimes swallow your offering - particularly sewin (the 'grilse' of the species). If you intend putting fish back it might have to be with a hook deep in it's gut; not ideal.

[Steve M]

What size rod and breaking strain would you reccommend using also any pictures of the suggested rigs would be great

thanks

Steve M

[sewinbasher]

I use a coarse fishing feeder or barbel rod of about 12ft and a test curve of between 1.5 and 2lbs but really any similar "Avon" type coarse fishing rod in the 10ft to 12ft range will do. The same rod is fine for shrimping and will pass as a spinning rod as well.

The line breaking strain depends on what bottom you are fishing over but for salmon I would normally use 12lb reel line with possibly 8lb - 10lb for the trace. For sea trout or grilse it would be 8lb reel line with a 6lb trace. I often use Stren in either yellow or clear (actually blue) as it is highly visible and you can clearly see where the bait is, I also use it as my spinning line for the same reasons although I now have braid on some reels.

If the bottom is rough the weight would be on a 6 lb rotten bottom and if using either Arseley Bombs or Bouncing Betties it would be a snap swivel at the end rather than a plain swivel as this allows a quick and easy change of weight.

[pickawindow]

Hi - I do a bit of worming in the west country & use a wychwood 12' salmon worming rod - this is ideal being purpose made for the job, there is some debate over the use of 'circle hooks' the idea is they are less likely to deep hook a fish - their design is supposed to improve chances of the hook turning into the mouth /scissors as it is expelled , I have used them but the worms always slide down into a clump unlike the salmon hooks with barbs up the shaft that stay in better shape, I would tend to use 20lb/25lb running line and drop the "leader" to 14lb stren clear approx 2' long this allows you to control the fish quite well - fewer lost fish with hooks in them, the plastacine weight is also good because if it does get jammed on a snag it will break up rather than break the line.

p.s in the west country /fowey/camel, you can use the same method with a prawn or shrimp, these really do induce takes!

[stump]

I always try and keep all my bait fishing simple,below is a simple way to fish for salmon and seatrout using the worm,i would tend to change to a size 14 swivel for seatrout,needs to be as free running as possible so fish dont feel any resistance and you can use`the same set up for the shrimp and prawn using a treble instead of the single hook,very cheap to make(about 10pence),


stump...

[Salarex]

Thanks for the pic Stump. Interested by your hook length - I find that in heavy water I cant use the pipette as it pulls out and a bullet is better, and if i use a long hook length it tends to wrap around the pipette! Not ideal!

Do like that set up in slower water, though.

[stump]

Salarex,do you glue your swivels in to the pippette to stop them pulling out?to avoid your hook length tangling in heavy water try putting 2 beads on above the swivel as this helps to stand the hook length off the pippette that little bit more|\...

stump...

[Salarex]

I have shop bought pippettes for medium water, and just run them up the line with a swivel below. Will try putting a bead in there! In lower water I just run a line from a swivel and put swan shot on that, enough to slow the swing.

Dont have the tangling problem with other rigs, just the pippette in heavy flow.

[Beanzy]

I have used them but the worms always slide down into a clump unlike the salmon hooks with barbs up the shaft that stay in better shape

See how you get on if you superglue a few bristles of 4lb mono up the line. Try Zap-A-Gap or the likes and only a tiny bit for each bristle, the worms should stay on well, there'll be no big knots and the whole lot above the circle hook stays much more flexible than a long/straight shanked hook with barbs. I used to do this when worming for trout as a boy just with normal super-glue and it worked well back them.