Just_chips
01-10-2006, 08:43 AM
After this year's annual family holiday at Fraser I have finally mastered the art of catching beach worms.
In past years I have used those alvey worm pliers with limited success (5 or 6 for an hour). I thought that was pretty good till a bloke up there came and had a chat while I was trying to pull some and he said some magic words that helped me to heaps. I knew how to get hold of them but couldn't get a grip in time to pull them out so that's why I opted for the pliers. I had been doing it by sight watching the worms head arch out of the sand but using your fingers lets you use another sense.
This bloke said to me you can feel the worms relax. That is what got me thinking and putting the pliers away to give it a try. Now I'm no expert but this is how I go about pulling a worm.
Raise the worms with your burley, fish frames on a rope or heavy line tied to a PVC rod holder staked in the wash works for me.
Step lightly around the worms so as not to alarm them of their impending fate as whiting bait.
Use a piece of pipi in my left hand (I'm right handed) to get the worms attentionand try to get it to extend out of the sand a bit so that you can get your fingers around it down below it's white head.
While it is concentrating on getting a good grip on the bait ready to try and pull it back down into the sand I get my thumb and pointer finger around the worm, at this stage it is still quite solid to touch and very wary. It may get hold of the bait quicker than you want and pull back into the sand but don't panic it will be back just let do its own thing, make sure you move slowly so as not to spook it.
Hopefully by now you will have a solid worm between your fingers that wants your bait so SLOWLY tighten your grip on the worm, don't snatch at it, you can feel the worm relax between your fingers. It almost feels like you have nothing between your thumb and pointer finger but you can see the worms head sticking out above them. At this point as long as you have them below the head I don't think you could grab them too hard. If you could imagine how much pressure would be around the worm down in that hard wet compacted sand squeezing your fingers around it makes it feel right at eaze, that is why I think it relaxes and that is when I start to draw it out of the sand in one steady continuous motion, sometimes it will get a grip on the sand again and your pull-up will come to a stop but just keep the pressure on and eventually it will give in.
Now I'm not an exepert at this and would be happy to be corrected by anyone that may know better than me in this particular skill. I showed my 9 yo how to do it this way and he took straight to it and pulled nearly 10 worms in have an hour, I even got my 7 yo who is having a few probs with his fine motor skills (fingers and co-ordination & stuff) onto his first worm. I held the bait and teased the worm up for him while got his grip and pulled it out. I even got the missus onto a worm as well.
The most important thing I kept on saying to them was to slow down, when you think you're going slow enough slow down again.
I was pretty pleased with myself and just thought I'd share what I picked up because I know how much frustration it has caused me over the years. I hope it helps someone out there as I know this is a frequently discussed topic on this site.
Cheers Kev
In past years I have used those alvey worm pliers with limited success (5 or 6 for an hour). I thought that was pretty good till a bloke up there came and had a chat while I was trying to pull some and he said some magic words that helped me to heaps. I knew how to get hold of them but couldn't get a grip in time to pull them out so that's why I opted for the pliers. I had been doing it by sight watching the worms head arch out of the sand but using your fingers lets you use another sense.
This bloke said to me you can feel the worms relax. That is what got me thinking and putting the pliers away to give it a try. Now I'm no expert but this is how I go about pulling a worm.
Raise the worms with your burley, fish frames on a rope or heavy line tied to a PVC rod holder staked in the wash works for me.
Step lightly around the worms so as not to alarm them of their impending fate as whiting bait.
Use a piece of pipi in my left hand (I'm right handed) to get the worms attentionand try to get it to extend out of the sand a bit so that you can get your fingers around it down below it's white head.
While it is concentrating on getting a good grip on the bait ready to try and pull it back down into the sand I get my thumb and pointer finger around the worm, at this stage it is still quite solid to touch and very wary. It may get hold of the bait quicker than you want and pull back into the sand but don't panic it will be back just let do its own thing, make sure you move slowly so as not to spook it.
Hopefully by now you will have a solid worm between your fingers that wants your bait so SLOWLY tighten your grip on the worm, don't snatch at it, you can feel the worm relax between your fingers. It almost feels like you have nothing between your thumb and pointer finger but you can see the worms head sticking out above them. At this point as long as you have them below the head I don't think you could grab them too hard. If you could imagine how much pressure would be around the worm down in that hard wet compacted sand squeezing your fingers around it makes it feel right at eaze, that is why I think it relaxes and that is when I start to draw it out of the sand in one steady continuous motion, sometimes it will get a grip on the sand again and your pull-up will come to a stop but just keep the pressure on and eventually it will give in.
Now I'm not an exepert at this and would be happy to be corrected by anyone that may know better than me in this particular skill. I showed my 9 yo how to do it this way and he took straight to it and pulled nearly 10 worms in have an hour, I even got my 7 yo who is having a few probs with his fine motor skills (fingers and co-ordination & stuff) onto his first worm. I held the bait and teased the worm up for him while got his grip and pulled it out. I even got the missus onto a worm as well.
The most important thing I kept on saying to them was to slow down, when you think you're going slow enough slow down again.
I was pretty pleased with myself and just thought I'd share what I picked up because I know how much frustration it has caused me over the years. I hope it helps someone out there as I know this is a frequently discussed topic on this site.
Cheers Kev