RAGWORM

They look like soft centipedes with a set of pincers that can give a nasty nip, they have been recorded up to 3 feet long.

They are very good all round bait for Bass, Founder, Place, Dogfish, Ray and Eels and really come in to their own in the summer months

There are three main types of ragworm generally available to the angler these are:

King Ragworm these are the largest of the three and can be dug or are now farmed. These can be survive for up to a week in damp newspaper kept in a cool place or can be kept in shallow aerated trays filled with silver sand and seawater, a tip is to keep only the same size worms together otherwise they eat the little ones. Remember to remove the dead ones or they will poison the others.

The larger King Ragworm are usually fished using a fine 2/0 hook like an Aberdeen, they are threaded onto the hook a baiting needle helps (remember those pincers). this is great for Bass, Dogfish, Ray and even for Cod. King rag can be used with float tackle for Bass.

Harbour Rag, Maddies, Reds are smaller and can be a bit fiddly and can fall apart easily when freshly dug or removed form aerated storage trays, a tip is to harden them off in newspaper overnight

Maddies are usually fished using a fine 2 hook like an Aberdeen in bunches this great for flounder and sole  or with float tackle with a small 12-8 hook baited with one worm for Mullet.

White Rag are between 6 and 9cm, but can grow to 18cm. colours can varies from beach to beach, but generally a pearly white these don’t travel well and must be kept in sea water, do not keep in newspaper as they will die in a few hours

White rag is the match fisherman’s friend they often produce results on those off days when all other baits are fail. used singularly or as a tip bait.