Fishing catch is directly dependent on the quality of the bait, so it is very important to properly store the worms. If the rules are not followed, they may die or lose their best properties and become unusable for fishing.

There are several ways to keep worms, they differ depending on the length of storage periods. Following these rules, you can not only save, but also increase their number.

Short term storage

Worms need to be prepared before use. Do not dig them right before fishing. In case of lack of time, you should at least try to collect the bait in the morning, if a trip to the reservoir is already planned for the evening. Keeping the bait for a short time period, a few hours or even days is a completely simple task.

To achieve a positive result, some actions are not recommended:

1. 1. First, you can not settle together worms of different types, such as earthworms and dung, as each produces a special excretion of waste products, which, as a rule, harm the other species.
2. 2. Secondly, you should not place the bait in iron utensils such as tins, as beginner fishermen often do. The fact is that the smell of such containers repels fish, these containers tend to heat up quickly, which worsens the quality of the bait and causes the worms to stray into a lump, which is not so easy to break later.

It is best to use wooden packaging. But a bag is also a suitable choice, its size depends on the number of invertebrates harvested. On earth can't skimp it is required to pour three times more than was the one from which they were excavated. The soil must be taken in the same area where the worms are taken from, this will help them quickly assimilate. The easiest way to save your fishing worms at home is to place your chosen container in the refrigerator. The most optimal place is at the bottom or on the door shelf, since the temperature there is not so low, which allows you to maintain vital activity and not completely freeze the worms.

To increase the quality of the bait, there are several tricks:

1. 1. Add moss to the container. This will help to get rid of the unpleasant odor and thereby increase the attractiveness to the fish. If it is not available, then you can use burlap or sand, but this is much less effective.
2. 2. Add wet brick chips. When making contact and processing it, the worms acquire a bright red hue, this makes them more visible and increases the likelihood of a good bite.
3. 3. Add sunflower oil. This will give a pleasant aroma that will help attract fish, especially large ones. You can put cake, food flavors and nut butter.

It is allowed to use cabbage for storage. To do this, cut off the top and place the future bait in the resulting hole, and then put it in a cool, damp place.

In the process of fishing itself, you need to leave the bait away from sunlight, especially in summer, hide it in the shade or in your pocket. If you have to fish for several days, then the best way out is to bury the container in the ground or sand, preferably in the shade. This will help to successfully preserve the content for the entire required period.

In winter fishing, it is necessary to protect the worms from frost, as under the influence of cold they become inactive and die quickly. Therefore, the container should be stored in especially warm places, for example, in the bosom of a winter jacket.

Long terms

The rules for long-term storage at home are somewhat different, since the task appears not only to preserve everything that has been dug up, but also to increase in quantity.

You should choose a suitable container, for example, you can take a wooden or plastic box. The bag is a completely unsuitable choice. At its bottom, you need to drill several holes so that excess water leaves through them. Under the bottom you need to put a container with sand, which will absorb the descending water.

At the bottom, you need to pour 5 cm of sawdust or straw, then purchase biohumus at any flower shop and fill the box by another 10 cm. This is followed by a layer of food, which should take about 5 cm. vegetables, cottage cheese, broth, coffee grounds and other vegetable-type food waste. The last layer to the top of the container is covered with earth, it must be dug out from the same area where the worms were taken from.

From time to time, the contents must be watered with water, food should be added as the previously added is processed. This can be determined by the consistency of the earth, the processed soil is collected in small spools. From above, the box should be covered with either a cloth or damp cardboard and stored in a dry, cool place protected from direct sunlight. It is required to carefully monitor the temperature, the optimal values ​​​​are from 18 to 24 degrees, it is important to take into account the acidity normal for the soil and constantly maintain humidity, which ideally should be 80%. Thus, it will be possible not only to keep the bait in an attractive form for fish, but also to multiply the number of worms several times, since they have the peculiarity of multiplying very quickly. This, in turn, will make it possible not to worry about where to get the bait for the next fishing trip.

There is a way to store it in a special worm box, if there is space on the territory of a private house. It is necessary to dig a small trench about 50 cm deep and 2 m long. At the bottom, tightly compact a layer of clay 10 cm thick, then cover the ground 20 cm and fill the remaining space with humus or compost. After that, you can release the worms, evenly distributing them along the entire length of the trench.

For the winter, so that the soil does not freeze, it is required to cover the worm with bags and sprinkle with a large layer of earth. If the weather is snowy, then fall asleep on top with snow. This will help protect the worms from the cold and store them for later use.

One of the most pressing issues for an angler is finding a way to save worms for fishing, as it often happens that after catching, collected or purchased worms are left that can be used on the next trip. Also, in the case of long trips in the summer, it becomes necessary to store the bait in hot conditions for several days. To do this, you need not only to know how to collect worms, but also to have in your arsenal ways to store them in various conditions.

Which worms keep longer

Not all types of worms are suitable for long-term storage at home. Dung worms and leafworms can be stored for the longest time if they are provided with a comfortable habitat. The storage of earthworms, in turn, requires specific conditions, the failure to comply with which will lead to their rapid death.

It must be borne in mind that it is impossible to store different types of worms in one container. For example, dung worms secrete a liquid that is poisonous to other types of worms, but at the same time they themselves can be poisoned by the rotting remains of dead worms of another species.

How to collect crawl worms

It must be remembered that light crawls are best suited for fishing, they are denser and tenacious than their dark counterparts. Collecting earthworms is best after rain at night. A few hours after the rain, you can take a lantern and go out onto earthen and even asphalt paths laid next to the ground, where crawls will be selected after the rain. Also, this type of worm is often chosen in areas without high vegetation next to bushes and trees, where they are easy to notice. It must be remembered that creeps do not like bright light, so it is better to take a flashlight of moderate power.

There are also some tricks. If no rain is planned in the near future, and fishing bait is needed, you can water a piece of land where worms can live, and in the dark they will definitely appear. You can also choose a place with greasy soil, put wet rags or straw on it, and then cover it with boards, and the worms themselves will crawl out into the wet substrate. However, once collected, the worms must be saved.

Often there is a need to save worms for a long time. This may be dictated by the impossibility of digging them before each fishing trip, or simply by a fortunate combination of circumstances that made it possible to collect more worms at a time than it takes for one fishing trip. It is also often required to keep the worms throughout the winter.

Keeping worms at home, although not an easy task, is quite feasible for any angler.

Storage in a private house

Homeowners have a significant worm storage advantage over multi-family dwellers because they have the ability to store worms on their property. For this option, the best way to store worms in a pit.

Pit storage is one of better ways storage of bait in the warm season, because it is as close as possible to the usual habitat of worms. To do this, you need to dig a hole, about 50 centimeters deep and a little more than half a meter in diameter. This space is enough for a comfortable stay of about two hundred worms. Next, you need to place a fine-mesh mesh on its bottom, and then pour the soil there. The ideal option would be the land from which the worms were removed, however, if this is not possible, any will do.

This habitat option will be optimal, since moisture will flow through the grid, leveling the moisture level in the pit and the rest of the soil, but at the same time, the worms will not be able to crawl out of their kind of aviary.

As feed can be added to the pit a small amount of tea leaves or coffee grounds and mix with soil. If storage is carried out in hot, dry weather, it is necessary to pour water into the pit from time to time to prevent the soil from drying out and the bait dying.

It is best to cover the top of the hole with a mesh after filling it to prevent the worms from getting out, and sprinkle it lightly with earth. In the case of a sufficient amount of moisture and bait, the worms can be stored in this way for quite a long time, but about once a month it is worth changing the earth in the pit to fresh. If there is no desire to change the land often, you can proportionally increase its volume, which will allow its inhabitants to stay in it longer.

The previous method is optimal for storing worms in the warm season. However, with the onset of cold weather, it is necessary to find a place where a positive temperature will be maintained. In winter, the best way is to store worms in boxes. To implement this option, wooden boxes that do not have slots are needed. Their bottom and walls can be lined with wet gauze, then filled with soft soil, rotten leaves and other plant remains, and then placed in the ground worms. In the event that the creeps are expected to be stored, it is imperative to add a thick layer of grass to the substrate, in which the creeps will live a significant part of the time.

For long-term storage, it is imperative to maintain humidity in the boxes, as well as feed the worms. As food, you can use leftovers from the table ground in a meat grinder, the main thing is that they do not have salt. They are added to the soil and mixed so that it is convenient for the worms to eat them.

The volume of the box should be the larger, the more worms live in it, otherwise they may not have enough soil for life.

There is another option for filling boxes. The bottom of the boxes is laid out with moss, in which the worms are placed, a new layer of moss is placed on top. This method is considered more successful, but it has a significant disadvantage - every week the moss must be changed or at least washed in running water. Also in the moss you need to add a little honey with milk. This method allows you to find and remove weak and non-viable worms from the colony, which has a positive effect on the health of the population. Also, worms aged in moss are considered more suitable for fishing - they become more dense and active. However, not every fisherman has the opportunity to change the moss in the boxes every week, sorting out the worms, which makes this method somewhat less attractive.

Regardless of the method chosen, long-term storage of worms should be done in a cool, damp place. For residents of private houses, the best option is the cellar, which maintains a comfortable microclimate for worms around the clock.

Storage in the apartment

Living in an apartment building dictates its own conditions for storing worms. Often, due to the inadmissibility of excess moisture, as containers for storing worms for fishing at home, not wooden boxes are chosen, but plastic or enameled containers. A box, bucket or pan is filled with soil, peat, it is permissible to add rotten leaves, hay. Bait is placed in this substrate. Under these conditions, it is also necessary to moisten and feed the population in the same way as in the case of storage in wooden boxes. It must be remembered that the container must not be tightly closed, otherwise the worms will die. However, if you do not close the box completely, then they can crawl around the apartment. The best cover would be gauze or other breathable fabric.

Plastic containers are preferred for indoor storage because they do not allow moisture to pass through and do not absorb odors.

The storage place must be cool, otherwise the worms may die. The best option is a refrigerator, but not everyone has the opportunity to store worms there, so you can find another cool place like a dark corner of the pantry. In cool weather, as well as at night, the best option would be to store worms on the balcony.

Some anglers adapt old aquariums to store worms, filling them with soil and peat. In a spacious container, the worms feel much better, respectively, and remain alive much longer.

Another storage option is a canvas bag filled with damp earth. Worms are placed in it after digging directly with the soil, after which it is placed on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, checking and moistening from time to time.

Storage in the heat of fishing

It is not easy to create conditions for storing fishing worms at home for a long time, but it is possible if there is a cool place. However, it often happens that during long fishing trips in the summer it is necessary to store the worms taken with you in hot conditions for several days.

For a short period of time, worms can survive in hot summer weather, but for this you need to constantly monitor them. One way to keep worms out during hot weather is to use a canvas bag or mitt. The worms are placed there along with the earth, after which the mitten is tightly tied and lowered into the water for a second. The fabric gets wet, while the earth does not have time to absorb moisture. The wet bag is placed in the shade and rewetted as it dries.

Also, worms can be placed together with the earth in a plastic container, sprinkled with dry leaves on top. After that, the container should be closed with a lid with holes for ventilation and wrapped with a damp cloth. This design is placed in the shade. In this state, the worms can be stored even if it is very hot outside, you just need to regularly moisten the rag.

When moisture evaporates from the rag, the container will cool, which is why the worms will feel comfortable and remain mobile in any weather.

If the fishing is planned to be really long, it is necessary to place the worms together with the earth and rotten leaves in a thin fabric bag(you can use a female stocking), dig a small hole in the shade of the trees, place a bag in it and sprinkle with earth. If necessary, the ground can be slightly moistened, but do it sparingly, since excessive moisture harms the worms.

The use of one of these methods guarantees the fisherman the preservation of the bait during the whole fishing.

Conclusion

Catching earthworms for an angler with certain skills in this field will not be difficult, just find a place suitable for the worms to live and wait for the right weather. In turn, the storage of earthen inhabitants is a rather difficult matter. And if there is no particular difficulty in keeping the bait for several days, then in order to keep it for several weeks or months, you need to try. In order for the worms to remain alive for as long as possible, they need to provide suitable living conditions. Creeps are a more fastidious species than, for example, dung worms and require a large amount of grass in the composition of the substrate in which they live. Also, their storage involves maintaining an optimal low temperature and high humidity for them, as well as introducing food into the substrate, to which the worms are quite unpretentious. It is important to remember that it is unacceptable to store different species in a common container, as this can lead to their death. Thus, for the successful storage of worms, it is necessary to provide them with the conditions necessary for life.

Igoryastik;22582 said:

While on the Volga, I ran into a problem, the worms brought from St. Petersburg were rotten on the third day, as a result, I was left without bait. He kept the worms in a linen bag, in the shade, moistening regularly, but this did not help either, and there was no way to get the worms on the spot. Does anyone have any tricks on how to keep the bait in the heat??

Click to reveal...

Extraction and storage of the worm.
The most common bait are worms.
All worms are baited on a hook under the skin, 1-1.5 cm away from the head, a hook with a sting is hidden in the middle, and the tail should wriggle freely. Large worms are partially shifted onto a leash and the sting is removed in the middle of the body, then the worm is bent or wrapped around the forend and the hook is reintroduced into its body, bringing the sting closer to the tail. This method of bait masks the hook well, gives the worm more liveliness and keeps it alive longer. Small worms are put on a hook in a bunch, for which they are pierced across at the head and in the middle of the body. It is better to put the first worm on a leash, and close the sting of the hook last. To bait a worm, you should not use a hook that is too large and thick, the so-called double-strength hook. It should be 3-4 times shorter in length than the worm, and thin enough to put the worm not through the center, but under the skin.
They get worms in the ground, in heaps of old garbage, manure humus, under old leaves, etc. A shovel or pitchfork facilitates work, and in dry times it is generally impossible to get worms that have gone deep into the ground without a shovel. In wet weather or in spring, worms can be obtained directly from fishing with a pointed stick.

You can store worms for two or three days in a bag made of dense undyed fabric. Before placing the worms in it, it is better to wet the bag and squeeze it well. Together with the worms, it is necessary to put a double amount of the earth from which they are collected. It is even better to put moist, soft, preferably white moss in a bag in advance. It is necessary that the worms are not in a ball and do not touch each other. On a Sunday trip with an overnight stay, the worms collected on Friday can be stored in a tin can with a lid, but always with a large number of holes in the bottom and lid. It is important that when fishing they do not fall into the rain and do not overheat in the sun. Each time after use, the bag or jar should be placed in the shade or pocket on the shady side. Wooden boxes with holes are especially good for storing worms.
During long fishing trips in the summer, it is best to transfer the worms for storage to a specially dug hole measuring 0.5x0.5 meters. The place for the hole should be chosen in the shade near the camp, so that moles do not come to hunt for worms. The hole is filled 2/3 with humus earth, slightly moistened and the worms are thrown out. After 20-30 minutes, when the live worms go into the ground, the remaining ones at the top must either be thrown away or used for feeding. The hole is then covered with sod or grass to keep the worms from birds and drying out. All liquid leftovers should be poured near the hole.

It is necessary to collect worms for bait at least a day in advance so that they clean up and get a little hungry. In extreme cases, those collected in the morning can be consumed in the evening dawn, if they are slightly moistened with hemp oil. In winter, worms can be harvested in greenhouses, garbage dumps, in old greenhouses, near sewage drains and warm water. It is very troublesome to store them for the winter, especially in urban areas.
Worms are suitable for catching all fish in the spring, immediately after the hollow water, with which a lot of them enter the reservoirs, and the fish get used to them. Fishing for a worm lasts a month, until the growth of algae and the appearance of any aquatic living creatures among them. In the middle of summer, worms remain a good bait only for bream, white crucian carp, ruff, snout and perch. The rest of the fish are reluctant to take on the worm until autumn. The exception is a short-term improvement in the bite on the worm after showers and prolonged rains.
In winter, fish take on a worm in reservoirs that are poor in bloodworms.

Updated at 13:01

More about worms
Fishing for beginners. Nozzles for fishing. Worm.

The most common bait is the worm. On the worm you can catch roach or rudd, perch, bream, carp, carp, and other fish. Few people know that not all worms are equally suitable for fishing. Earthworms come in several varieties. Dung worms have a bright red color, high mobility and a specific smell that attracts most fish. It is dung worms that are the best for the purposes of the fisherman. They tend to live in landfills and livestock farms.

Dung worm can be found in decaying manure, rotten stumps, garden soil. The dung worm nozzle is convenient in that it can be successfully used at any time of the year. The worm can be found even in winter, in severe frost - under such weather conditions, the worm lives in manure at a depth of 25–30 cm.

On the hook, the dung worm is very mobile, which attracts fish to it. Thread it across the hook using #5, 6, 7, 8. If the worms are small, thread a couple or three on one hook. Perch, eel, ruff, roach, bleak, carp, crucian carp, minnow, bream, etc. are perfectly caught on the dung worm.

The next type of worms - garden, or earthworms - are white in color. They are less attractive to fish, but "peaceful" fish are caught well on them. It is good to catch cyprinids on earthworms (perch, roach, carp, crucian carp, bream). Earthworms live, as a rule, in damp places of vegetable gardens, in lowlands and ravines. They can usually be found under rocks and logs. earthworms used as bait throughout the year.

Worms just dug out of the ground are not suitable for catching. They should be pre-prepared as follows: put the worms in any dish filled with sand, wet grass or moss, pour a little milk or vegetable oil on top and leave for a couple of days. This procedure will help the worms get rid of the smell that is unpleasant for the fish.

For long-term storage, the worms are placed in a plastic, iron or wooden box with damp moss, where they can be stored for several weeks. You can keep the worms in a canvas bag filled with damp earth. Small holes should be made in the container with worms. When hooking a worm, remember that a live, moving worm will attract fish much faster than a stationary worm, so hook it so that the tips move, that is, across the hook, not along. It is also important to choose the right hook size: if the worm is large, put it on hook No. 1, 2, 3, 4; for the middle, hooks No. 5, 6 are suitable.

The subleaf has a cherry-red color, is very mobile and tenacious. For fish, it is more attractive than an earthworm. It lives in the ground under overripe leaves, especially under oak ones.

The largest earthworm is the creeper, which sometimes reaches 20 cm in length and 6–8 mm in thickness. The color has a grayish-red, serves as an excellent nozzle for catching large non-predatory fish, and sometimes predators can be tempted by this bait. Usually such worms are collected on the ground at night after heavy dew or good rain. This worm, despite its impressive thickness, is very soft and breaks off easily, so you can’t pull the creep out sharply by the end, get it smoothly and carefully. Store in a jar of damp moss. Put on large hooks - No. 1, 2, 3, 4.

In the same way, other types of worms are stored and mounted on a hook, for example, iron ore, which has a gray-smoky color and lives in clay soil. You will find a river worm in the bottom soil of rivers and lakes, at the roots of algae. The light marsh worm lives at the bottom of reservoirs, in the roots and stems of algae.

An experienced angler always tries to provide himself with baits regardless of the season or the vagaries of the weather. This is much easier to do if you create a small nursery for worms. This can be done as follows: in the shade, select a plot of 2–3 m2 and dig it to a depth of 50–60 cm. Then loosen the soil and add old foliage, vegetable waste from the garden, scraps of rotten matting and bags into it. Then run a few dozen worms. Periodically, you should water the nursery with water and feed the worms with various food residues (waste vegetables, bread). After about a month it will be possible to start taking worms from the nursery. For those who do not have the opportunity to organize a nursery in the garden, as well as to provide worms in winter, you can organize such a nursery in a garage or cellar. This will require a wooden box. The bottom of the box will need to be covered with sand mixed with garden soil, then a layer of rotted leaves should be poured and then again covered with earth mixed with leaves. Top cover with matting or burlap. After that, launch several hundred healthy worms into the box. Caring for such a nursery comes down to systematic (once every 2-3 weeks) moisturizing and feeding the worms. The box must be in a cool place. The larger the volume of the box, the more favorable the conditions for the life and reproduction of worms. It must be remembered that dung beetles should not be stored together with other worms, as they secrete substances that are poisonous to other types of worms.

Now a few words about how to put a worm on a hook. There are several ways of attachment: by the head, without closing the sting and forearm of the hook; closing the forearm; without removing the sting; stocking, i.e. hiding the entire hook and leaving only the tip of the worm free. If large fish are being caught, then several worms are put on the hook in a bunch, when the worms are pierced in the middle and near the tails and heads. For catching small fish, only a piece of the worm is planted on the hook.

Some rules:

1. You can not store worms of different types in the same container. Each type of worm has its own secretions, which, as a rule, kill the rest.
2. It is necessary to store dug out worms in the same land from where they were mined.
3. It is best to store the worms in a wooden box or in unpainted canvas bags.
4. Dead and cut worms should not be collected.
5. Observe humidity and low temperature.
6. There should be enough space so that the worms do not intertwine.

Preparing for fishing

Not many people know that worms need to be prepared for fishing. That's why . The earliest is the use in the evening of the worms that were dug up in the morning. If you need to keep the worms for a couple of days, then it is enough to place them in a wooden box with air access and moisten it periodically so that the soil is moist. Store in a dark and cool place. It would be nice to feed the worms, vegetable peelings are best (except for potatoes), you can use old tea leaves or add a little unrefined vegetable oil, as well as hemp. This will give the worms a more attractive smell and color to the fish.

Short term storage

• Worms should not be stored in metal containers because their smell repels fish.
• You can not skimp on the land for storage, it should be three times more than the one from which the worms were dug out.
• Great for storing moss, it needs to be placed in the ground. This is done in order to cleanse the worm from the earth and unpleasant odors. If there is no moss, then you can use sand or burlap. But they are not as effective.
• Some paint ordinary earthworms to turn red and attract fish. To do this, brick chips are poured onto wet burlap.
• Some keep worms in cabbage. The top is cut off, and the worms get in there. Then clean in a cool, damp place. When necessary, cut off a couple of sheets and choose worms from there.

Long term storage

For long-term storage, all of the above rules are good, you just need to remember about temperature, nutrition, humidity and air access. The bag will not work, the best solution is still a wooden box. At all something like breeding worms, you can combine these two activities.

How to save worms for fishing If fishing is planned for several days, you need to dig a hole for the worms, approximately 50 by 50 cm. Place the worms there along with their native soil. Live worms will crawl into the ground, while the dead and wounded will remain on the surface. Throw them out or use them first. The hole should be dug near the camp, because in an area where there are moles, this can attract them.

Also, in order to save worms from birds, sod should be placed on top of the hole. Next to it you need to pour food waste. Do not use sweet and salty waste, as well as waste of living origin (fish, meat).

In order to save the worms for the winter, you can make a box with a capacity of a couple of buckets of earth. Fallen leaves should be poured onto the bottom and the leaves should be arranged in such a way that there is a thin layer near the walls. Then fill up the ground and place the worms (of the same species). Worms need two glasses. They will begin to multiply, so worrying that they will end is unnecessary. Next, it is worth feeding them and moistening the earth. The temperature in the storage area must not drop below zero.