Worm types and gathering techniques

[sambino]

So after searching throught they myraid of posts on ausfish about worms all be it messy posts just wanted some clarification and perhaps some advice on worming as many ppl seem to have beach worms, blood worms and both types of wrigglers mixed up its proving difficult to find the correct information.
heres what i have so far

beach worms i know how to catch them but can they be found at any surf beach and is it only surf beaches where they are found?

Blood worms - get them in the mud in between the mangrove roots and the waters edge and dig down up to 300mm to get them.
Q: can you get them just out of the mud flats too, do you just find a spot and dig ie are they any place or are there signs to look for.

True Wrigglers - sift through layers of sand with a worming fork starting 1M above the high tide mark if none are found then move closer to the water
Q: again do i just dig anywhere or are there signs to look out for, are they at any place or just certain places

Wrigglers found under rocky rubbley areas dig up with a fork at the low tide mark,
Qagain do i just dig anywhere or are there signs to look out for, are they at any place or just certain places.

If i have any of this wrong or you can give me some advice then i would be grateful for the help thanks, if anyone is keen to go get some id be up for a trip just pm me.
sam,

[tunaticer]

This will be a keen thread to follow.
C'mon guys, what are the signs of worms below?

[hooknose]

Good wrigglers can be sourced from canals in the Broadbeach/ Mermaid Waters systems, low tide, dead end canal use a yabby pump and be gentle with them or they will break easily(small holes in the substrate show areas where they are thick, holes cannot be seen when the water drops off the spot), very good bait for Nerang whiting and not as much drama to get a hold of, Jelly prawns are also very good but not as quick to rig on a hook.

[sambino]

ok so i just spent 2 1/2 hours digging for the true wrigglers (white sand worms) on the beach inbetween redcliffe and scarborough, i dug from 1m above the high tide line down to the high tide line the top of the trenchs i dug were damp and sandy then it got gritty and shelly still very damp i dug about 50m worth of trenches down to about 400mm or more,
i didnt try for the redcliffe rockies as the tide was not out far enough same for the bloodworms i will try for them soon though as for the white sand worms i think i will give it a miss unless someone can help me with some more info...Please someone hook me up.
:)

[petelaska]

the council uses a tractor to sieve the beaches for used syringes (to many druggies shooting up on the beaches???) would be flat out finding a wriggler these days, unless you have a look in the back of the tractor sieve. Try finding a bit of beach where the tractor cant get to.
Pete

[Mike Delisser]

The tractor won't go down far enough to bother the wrigglers too much. They stay deep and start to rise as the tide comes in. Sometimes you'll get heaps where you have unsuccessfully dug 1hr ago and try again just befor the tide covers it. Try as the tide is rising from 1/3 to 2/3s in and dig a few feet up from the water, hopefuly there'll be some washed up weed there, scrap that away and dig under it. Very close to any pipes, rocks and ramps is good, maybe because it gets overlooked by other diggers (and tractors I supose). A wriggler fork should have about 10 long prongs, I used and old railways coal fork. All of the Reddy Peninsular can hold them, Scarbby end is better though, my fav spot here was around and south of the big pipe in frount of the shops at Scarb, pipe could be gone now. Cleveland and Wynnum were good also but Horseshoe on Peel was the best by far. You can keep them in the grit you dig them in for over a month if you store them in a foam box with drain holes and pour 1/2 a cup of saltwater on them once a day and cover with a wet towel. I know guys that can keep them alive for 2 months but that is a skill in itself. If you dig them at Peel they won't live that long in grit from over there so get it from Reddy. Great bait for whiting during the day and moonlit nights when the fish feed by sight.

Rockies come from under the small rocks closer to the low tide mark from Woody pt around to Scarb. I think you can get them near the mouth of Cabage Tree Ck also. Easy to dig but you need a very strong fork, we used to weld the fork to a handle of water pipe, heavy as hell but at least it wouldn't snap turning over rocks. Rockies don't live too long, esp in summer. Best for that day or that night. They're soft, smelly and bleed a lot so they're great on nights with no moon when the whiting feed by sent.

True Blood worms are in the sloopy stuff close to the edges or mangroves, they're red and very soft, break easily and won't live too long in the heat. You can store them in a little sand if you're using them that day but they'll last longer in shallow water changed often. Found it best to dig these by hand, messy job. We used to get them in Boggy Ck, Wynnum Boat Passage, Pine River, Cabbage Tree Ck, Bald Hills Ck and about a thousand spots up the Bribie Passage, vertually any little drain or creek with soft mud would hold them. Around fallen and rotting mangrove logs are hot spots. They're soft and ooze blood so they're an excellent bait on a dark night.

Cribbies or mud worms are the main ones you'll buy from a bait shop as "live worms". They can be dug on firm mud banks with a 3 or 4 prong fork. Parts of Hayes, D Bay, Boggy Ck and Wynnum, Wynnum Nth is good but there's a few pro only spots around there. A good alround worm for whiting but not as good as Wrigglers when it's light or Bloods or Rockies on a dark night. We used to keep them in shallow water (changed often) if we needed to keep them a long time. A couple of days would be the max.
I've given up digging worms for lures years ago so I don't know if these spots are still legal or not, don't blame me if you get busted.
Hope this helps some.
Cheers
Mike D

[sambino]

Mike you are the man, thank you so much.
It has been very hard to find any info that's anywhere near as good as this. I was digging for wrigglers on the outgoing tide so they probably dug in to china plus i was probably 15M away from the water anywho i guess i got some exercise man was it hot today. guess ill go looking for rockies next time when the tides on the end of the run out and then try for some wrigglers on the incoming with a line in the soup of course,
Guess im making a worming fork this weekend.
By the way if anyone is still up for a trip to get some worms flick me a pm.im off work till the 10th
By the looks none of the places you mention are green zones but at manly you must not dig within 100m of the foreshore rockwall, as for the pro spots cant find anything on them i guess ill find out where they are when im in one :)

[finding_time]

The other place we always went to get our wrigglers was Saint Helena Island.

[sambino]

st helena island is a green zone now. as well as surrounding waters

[finding_time]

st helena island is a green zone now. as well as surrounding waters

Only until the next election ;)

[Freeeedom]

Mike Delisser said it all - spot on information. I don't bother collecting my own worms anymore (except beach worms) - too much like hard work these days!
Cheers Freeeedom