Ragworm

As a sea fishing bait, ragworm is the quintessential all rounder. Not only are many different species attracted to them, but it’s pretty much the bait of choice for several of them - and for that reason alone I almost always take some along wherever my sea fishing session takes me. Since you never really know what will be fishing well when you arrive, you can easily hedge your bets cover a lot of the bases if you carry a few quid of rag in your bait tub.

Depending on what species you intend to target there are several ways to present you bait, so here are some of my favourites including mentions of what you may catch (as a rough guide, not an exhaustive list!):

Head Hooked - It does exactly what it says on the tin. Select a good sized ragworm and pick it up just behind its head to avoid any little nips from the two pincers that pop out from its head. Tease its mouth a little with the tip of the hook to encourage the pincers to pop out and grab it and, when they do, push the hook in and bring it directly out behind the main bulk of the head. That’s all there is to it.

It does look a little flimsy and you could be forgiven for thinking that a fish will eat the bait and miss the hook altogether – but although this does happen when your fishing among hordes of smaller species, a larger fish will take the lot, hook and all.

The benefit of this method it that the worm stays alive and wriggling in the water for a long time, and the whole of its body will move incredibly naturally making it irresistible to many fish. Its best fished in clear water since the scent trail is lower (than if it were punctured several times) and you are principally relying on the ragworm’s movement to attract fish.

The head hooked ragworm can be fished on the bottom or in mid water – on either a float, free lined, or retrieved over rocks as a lure.

Downsides to head hooking ragworm:

1. If your swim is plagued by mini species and other fish such as small, hard hitting wrasse as dropping down among these with long trailing baits will result in plenty of unproductive knocks, severely shortened ragworm and well fed fish!

2. It can be a little fragile, so go easy when casting out.

NB. Dipping the ragworm in the sea just before casting is a good way to reduce the chance of your bait disintergrating/breaking when it hits the water for the first time.

Expect to catch: Pollack/bass/ mackerel on the retrieve or when free lining or float fishing, mullet (small ragworm on the end of a Mepps spinner), flounder/plaice/dabs/dogfish/ gurnard on the bottom. Wrasse just off the bottom.

Big Bait – When it comes to catching bigger specimens, Rule #1 is never skimp on bait - it’s a false economy. Using ragworm too sparingly may make it last longer, but its highly likely that you’ll hook into less fish during that period than if you were to have a shorter session with more generous baits.

With this in mind, if you choose to fish a head hooked worm in can sometimes beneficial to feed a fat, juicy ragworm over the hook and up the line first. This will give you a bait that’ll be twice as long, still have the same movement, have a larger scent trail and look even more appealing! Setting this up on a Pennell rig (with something like a size 2 or 4 hook at the top and a larger 1/0 hook at the bottom) will ensure that the bait doesn’t end up bunching around the bottom hook during the cast/retrieve.

In addition, cramming a couple of worms up the line will only serve to increase the scent trail further and works particularly well when bottom fishing stationary baits. If you’re feeling extra generous then also consider using multiple head hooked ragworms even greater appeal. Although there are no hard and fast rules regarding how many worms you should use, longer thin baits will be more effective as midwater lures whereas bunched baits with a greater scent trail will be better off the bottom. Using a bait needle makes life a lot easier.



First, feed the worms onto the bait needle...


then push this onto the bottom hook and feed them on.

Expect to catch: Better Pollack and Bass on the retrieve/float, more flatties and dogs on the bottom. Wrasse of the bottom.

As a cocktail – Adding squid/mackerel /prawn/peeler crab to the mix can be incredibly effective. You can either feed a worm up the line (again, using a bait needle can make life a lot easier here) and tip of the hook with, for instance, mackerel or squid strip, or use a well secured fish bait up the line and tip of with a wriggling head hooked ragworm or 2 to give the bait scent and movement.

Expect to catch: Thornback Rays , Huss , Dogfish by the bucket load , gurnard , and rockling on the bottom and more Bass and possibly bream a bit higher up.

Mini Bait – I mentioned bigger baits for (potentially) better specimens, but if there are only tiny fish around or you just want a wild half hour then switch to tiny hooks (size 6 or smaller) with tiny baits (sections of ragworm no bigger than your little fingernail) and scratch around tight to underwater features such as harbour walls, rocky outcrops, or pier legs etc. When the fishing is slow, embarking on a mini-species hunt can be just what’s needed to inject a bit of fun back into the proceedings!

Expect to catch: poor cod, blennies, gobies, rockling, corkwing/goldsinny/small Ballan wrasse and weavers(be careful!) to name but a few species.

Of course, there a few hard and fast rules when it comes to sea fishing and these are simply a few tips and suggestions to get you started. After all, the chopping and changing of baits and rigs and the experimentation involved is half the fun of fishing!