Bloodworms or Tubeworms???

[thelump]

I have recently seen quite a few tackle shops around the bayside selling what they call bloodworms. The worms in question are quite fat with a fair set of choppers on em. They used to breed these worms in Lake Macquarie when I lived in Newcastle and sold them as Tube worms. I was under the impression blood worms were very deep red in colour and quite fragile to handle. :-/ Any opinions???

[itsmango]

what about garden worms anyone ever tried them for whiting

[Rumrunner2]

I think you'll find the worms for sale are blood worms. They do have a fair set of choppers, they actually drew blood on me once. Blood worms are pretty tuff and easy to handle. They are in the family "oligocheates" which means few hairs. As such they arepretty smooth on the outside, and fairly dark in colous, garden worms are in the same family.

The worms they grow at Dora Creek (Lake Macquarie) are tube worms or sometimes called wrigglers. They are "polycheates" meaning many hairs. This family includes beach worms and as the name suggests, they have lots of little feet/hairs. Tube worms are pretty soft and break apart fairly easily. They are generally brighter in colour.

The old fellas around Newcastle would say you'll catch 5 whiting on tube worms to 1 on beach or blood worms. Not to say bloodworms aren't great bait, just that tube worms are better.

There is some research going on at the moment to look at growing polycheate worms on prawn farms in their sand bed filters as a way to keep the filter beds clean. The worms would then be sold as bait for rec fishos, sounds pretty cool, hope it works out!

Cheers
RR2