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Earthworms as saltwater bait


Volitan

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I used to use earthworms around the mouths stormwater drains after heavy rain and do really well on bream.

I'm too lazy to bother collecting bait these days and only throw lures these days in the estuary.

Edited by Green Hornet
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1 hour ago, Green Hornet said:

I used to use earthworms around the mouths stormwater drains after heavy rain and do really well on bream.

I'm too lazy to bother collecting bait these days and only throw lures these days in the estuary.

That’s making me think. There is a stormwater drain entering Brisbane Water a few metres from our house - and it’s raining.

I hadn’t really thought of that till you mentioned it.

cheers

arron

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4 hours ago, Green Hornet said:

I've even done OK on the gulp 2 inch worms, fishing them just like bait.

I get packets of the longer gulp sandworms and cut them to size. Same idea. They don't have the wriggle but they are really smelly!

I would have thought earthworms would die too quickly in the salt water, the only reason I haven't tried them myself yet! I have tons of big fat ones in the garden... Might take some to Wondabyne with me on the weekend. 

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21 minutes ago, MainframeJames said:

I get packets of the longer gulp sandworms and cut them to size. Same idea. They don't have the wriggle but they are really smelly!

I would have thought earthworms would die too quickly in the salt water, the only reason I haven't tried them myself yet! I have tons of big fat ones in the garden... Might take some to Wondabyne with me on the weekend. 

How do the gulp worms compare to real beach worms, and do they stay on the hook OK?

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3 hours ago, Volitan said:

How do the gulp worms compare to real beach worms, and do they stay on the hook OK?

They stay on great, tougher than real worms. They work well with bait keeper style hooks, you can rig them on a small snelled rig, or even use them on jigs/jig hooks if they have an inline eye. As long as it sits pretty in the water its fine. Other tricks like using bait elastic or bait stoppers work too. 

The one caveat is that they're quite narrow in the body compared to most SPs, so you're limited to thinner gauge hooks to keep the SP from splitting too easily. 

If you ever use a sabiki or take kids out fishing for little bream etc, then a very small piece, max size about the same as a maggot, just dangling on the hook can be great. You can pull up fish after fish and it almost never comes off. 

As for how they compare to real beach worms, I've never seen anything outfish real, live bait, but the Gulps are probably 2nd best from my limited experience. I don't have the time or skill to catch beach worms and Gulps don't go off between weekends, so they work for me. 

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