In these cash strapped times it’s reassuring to find the humble worm still provides excellent ammunition for big perch. However, catching a supply of free bait can be a task in its own right, discovers Dominic Garnett.

  A cricket pitch or city park on a soggy night seems about the last place on earth you might consider a spot of specimen hunting. But crawling through the damp turf up and down Britain’s playing fields and gardens are monsters. Not fish you understand, but lobworms of mutant proportions. Perfect for skint anglers as well as greedy perch.  

   Like any prized Angler’s quarry though, these beasts have no respect for our comfort or convenience. In fact a dark, rain drenched night is prime time for the biggest, juiciest worms. This evening all thoughts of being warm and dry like any normal human being are eclipsed by a different kind of logic, as I recall my Grandfather’s words “the bigger the worm, the bigger the fish.” As a ten year old boy this slogan had a beautifully simple logic as we ransacked Gran’s vegetable patch for bait. Twenty years later I still believe in the power of a big worm for a big perch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s why you’ll find me down at the park, sneaking past dog walkers and groups of hoodies for a fresh supply. Location is our primary concern. My favourite spots are the edges (or “margins” to an angler) underneath the street lamps, each throwing out a pool of yellow light. A quick glance may reveal little though and it is only once you stoop down and look harder that you start to find. In the right spot these mighty worms multiply before your very eyes. Tails waver, bodies glisten. You might assume that grabbing a fistful of prime bait was a formality. Wrong.

   Tricky customers these lobs. Heads pop up suspiciously like little periscopes. One heavy step or clumsy move and your target will vanish in an instant. Extracting the best worms is a grimy business and one that requires split second timing and poise. The trick is to move slowly within striking distance before grasping the worm with lightning speed. Some are gone before you know it. The others must be eased out of the ground with a steady pull. Too much vigour and you end up with a grizzly half worm between finger and thumb.

   “Have you lost something mate?” asks a stranger. I lie unconvincingly: The truth is that I’ve not lost, but rather found something. It’s no ring or wrist watch but a massive lobworm. Were there a UK record for the lobworm (which I firmly believe there should be) I would be posing with it before sending a picture in to the angling press. Two dozen specimens later and I’m heading home, soggy but satisfied, my worms wrapped in damp moss.

    With the hook bait gathered, a decent quantity of groundbait is a far easier task. Half an hour is all it takes in the folks’ compost heap. No expert skills or ninja reflexes required here thankfully,  just a garden fork and a low regard for personal cleanliness. The smaller redworms love the places you hate; seams of rotting potato peel and decaying apples are capital. Hit the right patch and you find more worms than compost.

    As well as the curiously satisfying process of gathering bait, the other big plus is that a healthy supply of this deadly bait is completely free. No costly boilies or pellets for me this weekend, just two bait boxes brimming with juicy worms. With this simplest of baits I don’t believe in doing things by halves- several hundred red worms will give me plenty to chop and feed should I need to really bring the fish on. The capture of some beastly, barrel shaped perch should be a mere formality, I tell myself. If only it were that simple.

   If the worms themselves are a bait for every fisher, you could also say the same about perch. No syndicate ticket or exclusive access required here. With their vast stocks of silver fish day ticket fisheries are perfect for the species and the matter of five or six quid is unlikely to level the bank balance.

   Like the lobworms, perch are no lovers of bright, dry conditions and so I choose a cold, dull day to try out a little pond I’ve been meaning to try. Its snaggy margins and reedy corners look inviting, but sadly the Mr Crabtree branch of fishing doesn’t always work here. Indeed, apart from the odd margin raid in pursuit of fry, the perch prefer to hold deep when the temperature sulks near the zero. No matter; if possible I like to pick a cold day, as low water temperatures are likely to slow down the little lake’s many carp, which are very much the dominant species. With corn and pellets the staple foodstuff, many of the poor perch here have never set eyes on a juicy worm. Until today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Like the bait gathering itself, worm fishing is no job for the squeamish. Play opens with a fistful of the critters sliced into wriggling pieces and carefully dropped over my float, writhing and bloody, to sink their way to the bottom of the shelf where the water deepens off. A head hooked red worm goes in over the top and the game begins.

   A worm may seem a crude offering, but a fairly refined set up allows for some finesse and my first choice for the task is a pole style set up on running line and a long, six metre match rod. The bait is carefully set just scraping the bottom and in classic perch angling fashion, a little lift of the rod tip is thrown in at intervals to jig the worm tantalisingly. A fine set up offers low resistance and results in little danger of the worm being swallowed down deep.

    At first the float taps and stutters, a sure sign of small silver fish. So be it. If these little thieves want to play, it won’t be long until the perch take notice. Whether this branch of perching is match or specimen fishing is open to debate. For my money it’s pure pleasure fishing, but the feeding is critical. A regular gory deposit of “chop” every few minutes is a must. If there are perch in the area, they are certain to make an appearance. Your only real worry is carp moving in and it can pay to feed a separate line, or even put in some pellets elsewhere if this occurs.   

  Half an hour into this worm massacre the swim falls quiet and the perch bite back. Is there a more gloriously deliberate bite in the fishing year than a perch seizing a worm? It is a slow, definite affair. The float bristle takes a walk sideways at half mast before slipping clean out of view. The fight is equally distinctive, a series of solid thumps and every so often the jagged sensation of a thrashing perch, shaking its bony chops from side to side. Just a small one this time, but a huge head, a huge appetite.

   More unsavoury helpings of chopped worm follow, each time met by a knock or two on the tip before that sneaky, snaking away of the float and connection with another chunky perch. After a while the pussy footing with a red worm on a size 14 ends and I slip a whole lob minus head onto a size 6. Sure enough, the rod soon takes a deeper curve. “Carp” I say to myself, the float plunging deep and dogged below the water line as the centrepin creaks. But as I draw the fish upwards, a striped flank slides into view. Perch. A bloody good perch no less. This one doesn’t have stripes so much as thick bars on its sides, a proud banner of spikes on its humped back, vivid orange fins below. A handsome old devil with all the personal grace of a mugger. And there in its jaws hangs the very evidence itself: a worm big enough to strangle a cat.

   Where one decent perch lies others will be found, so goes the cliché at least. Today the saying rings true and with the clouds holding low, more stripy party crashers arrive offering a pleasing thump on my light set up. A bruiser of two pounds and seven ounces tops a quintet of two pounders amongst many others, a silly days fishing amidst some truly dour winter days. And if there’s one thing more satisfying than catching some good fish, it’s catching them on your own free supply of prime bait. In all honesty the weights seem a minor detail in a ritual that began two nights earlier on a wet playing field and the whole exercise has a feeling of completeness: gloomy weather and bright expectations, big worms gobbled by big mouths. Maybe my grandfather was right.

 

TACKLE:

Rod & Reel: A long match rod of 17ft coupled with a centrepin reel is perfect for playing soft mouthed perch.

Float: A sturdy pole float of around 0.5g, set with plenty of bristle showing is ideal for worm fishing.

Lines: 5lb line on the reel and a low diameter 4lb hook length.

Hooks: Use a barbless, wide gape pattern for worms, size 10-14 for red worms, 6-8 for lobs.

 

TIPS:

1. Get a good supply of worm and keep adding “chop”. Perch will soon bully their way in.

2. Set the bait at dead depth and strike early to avoid deep hooking.

3. The margins may look tempting, but if it’s cold deeper areas may be better.

4. Perch don’t usually take long to investigate if they’re present. If you’re not catching after an hour or so, move.

5. If the carp decide to muscle in, feed a separate line or move swims.