How to preserve worms for fishing at home and what to feed

The earthworm is a classic of the genre among baits of all times. They probably caught fish with it even during the reign of Tsar Gorokh. The familiar earthworm (or, as it is also called, earthworm) belongs to the annelids of the Lumbricidae family. In Australia or Africa, the aborigines eat huge earthworms, growing up to two to three meters. Our worms are much smaller in size than these monsters and usually grow no more than twenty centimeters, but this is rare. Most often, their sizes do not exceed ten to fifteen centimeters, and these sizes depend on the species. Among fishermen, all earthworms have a completely different classification. They are divided into dung, crawlers, ironweeds, underleaves, white and green.

Types of worms and their descriptions

The main types of worms used by fishermen include dung and earthworms (also called earthworms). In this case, earthworms are divided into sublists and crawlers, but they should not be considered as independent species.

• The habitat of earthworms is loose and moist areas of soil, which are well protected by the shade of trees and shrubs or rotten leaves (underfoliage).
• Those representatives of invertebrates that crawl out onto paths after rain are called crawlers. Storing crawlies is quite a troublesome task. Especially considering their high requirements for humidity levels, temperature and oxygen. If storage conditions are violated, the raincoat will die in a short time.
• Based on the name, the habitat of the dung worm is animal waste, as well as an organic environment with signs of decay (food remains, for example). Fishermen use dung beetles more often, as they are more unpretentious in storage.

Before storing worms for fishing at home, separate containers are prepared for each type. Invertebrates cannot be kept together. For example, the dung beetle produces a substance that is toxic to other types of worms. But for him, the fumes from the rotting remains of his brothers are dangerous.

Types of worms for fishing

Despite the many personal names, worms belonging to the same family are used for fishing. The first of these is worth mentioning earthworm . It is called differently: rain, crawl, underleaf, and so on. In fact, this is one species - an earthen one, it’s just that fishermen gave it a lot of names based on its location: in the ground, after rain on the surface of the soil or even asphalt, under rotten leaves.

This bait provides a rich catch even with a bad bite! More details

Keeping an earthworm alive even for several days is not an easy task: it is very demanding in terms of humidity, temperature, and oxygen saturation of the soil. In conditions of summer heat or winter frosts, this task becomes even more difficult. If the conditions of detention are far from natural, the crawl will quickly fall asleep and then rot.

The dung beetle is another species from the same family that is successfully used in fishing. As the name implies, it can be found in stale manure, compost, and rotting food waste. Getting it is, frankly speaking, unappetizing, but what can’t you do for your favorite hobby!

The dung beetle, unlike its earthen counterpart, is much more unpretentious and demanding in terms of keeping conditions, however, some principles need to be known when handling this potential bait.

All earthen subspecies and the dung beetle do not get along together: they require different conditions of detention. In addition, the dung beetle is capable of poisoning its earthen counterpart with toxic secretions.

Which worms last longer?

Not all types of worms are suitable for long-term storage at home. Dung worms and underleaves can be stored the longest if you provide them with a comfortable habitat. Storing crawling earthworms, in turn, requires specific conditions, failure to comply with which will lead to their rapid death.

It must be taken into account that different types of worms cannot be stored in the same container. For example, dung worms secrete a liquid that is poisonous to other types of worms, but they themselves can be poisoned by the rotting remains of dead worms of another species.

Storing worms in freezing conditions

Some winter fishing enthusiasts manage to stock up on worms in the fall and keep them alive throughout the ice fishing season. On the one hand, it’s easier to find a cool place, but this delicate bait dies from frost. a basement or cellar for storage : when it is frosty, the temperature there usually remains above zero. insulated loggia is also suitable . In other cases, you will have to run with the precious cargo from the balcony to the apartment and back, or, according to tradition, occupy the home refrigerator.

When going fishing, the main thing is to prevent the bait from freezing. To begin with, you should pack it together with the substrate in several bags (to avoid tears), tie it up and put it in a fishing box. If the frost is mild and the box has sufficient thermal insulation, you can store bait there during fishing. Otherwise, you will have to follow the example of the fishermen of the past and warm the precious bait with your own heat, placing it under your clothes.

Please note that sealed containers and plastic bags are not intended for long-term storage: the worm does not receive enough oxygen, and the substrate quickly becomes compressed. To increase its viability in these conditions, you need to take fewer worms per amount of substrate and periodically let them “breathe” fresh air.

How to collect crawling worms

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

There are also some tricks. If there are no rains in the near future, but you need bait for fishing, you can water the area of ​​land where the worms can live, and in the dark they will definitely appear. You can also choose a place with rich soil, put damp rags or straw on it, then cover it with boards, and the worms themselves will crawl into the wet substrate. However, once collected, the worms must be preserved.

How to get a crawl

The crawler is considered the largest worm used as bait in fishing. Its length can reach 30 cm, thickness – 9 mm. The body of the worm is covered with mucus, which protects it from drying out and promotes rapid movement. Hunting for a crawl has its own characteristics. In order to find this worm, you need to walk along park or garden paths. If you notice piles of earth while walking, carefully move them. Round holes plugged with leaves will indicate the home of the worms. It is useless to dig the crawl; its passages run very deep. Come to this place when it gets dark. Shine a flashlight on the area adjacent to the hole. The crawlers, as a rule, lie near the entrance to the burrow, with their tail part lowered into it. Carefully approach the “prey”, grab it with three fingers and pull the worm out of the hole. The crawler is an ideal bait for catching large fish.

After collecting the bait, place it in a wooden or cardboard box, or preferably in a clean canvas bag, along with the soil from which you dug it out. Plastic bags and cans are not suitable for storing worms.

When fishing in the traditional way using a float rod, you cannot do without bait. A universal bait that can be used to catch fish at any time of the year is worms. To collect or dig, you should know in what places and on what soil they are found.

Instructions

• Roach, bream and medium-sized carp fish are good to catch with a dung worm.
  It is the shortest and thinnest of all those used on worms.
  Its color is reddish-yellow. When placed on a hook, such a worm secretes a liquid with a pungent odor. The dung worm
  should be looked for in rotting manure; it is less common in dry or very damp manure. Sometimes such bait can be found in greasy soil, for example, in an abandoned greenhouse.
• The earthworm is larger and has a gray-white color; There are large specimens of a pinkish tint. earthworm _
• mine in, at a depth of 15-20 cm. Clay will do, but it’s best to try on well-kept garden soil. The warmer the air, the deeper the worm goes from the surface. When getting an earthworm, you
  cannot do without a shovel. But on the eve of inclement weather, an earthworm crawls to the surface. Mainly used for fishing.
• An even larger worm is the underleaf. It has a red color with a bluish or purple tint. The habitats of the underleaf are under old wood, sawdust, shavings, under heaps of rotten leaves. Such worms usually lie openly on damp soil; there is no need to dig them up. The fish reacts well to the subleaf, but on the hook it quickly stops squirming and hangs motionless.
• But the crawl sometimes reaches a length of 20-30 cm. Walk along garden or park paths. If you see piles of dirt, move them - often you will see a round hole plugged with leaves. If you come to this place in the dark with a flashlight, you are highly likely to find a crawler peeking out. Grab it with your fingers near the ground and carefully pull it out, trying not to rush (otherwise the worm will break). Large fish are caught well on the crawl.

To find a complete bait for fishing, you need to know where different types of worms prefer to live and take into account the peculiarities of their behavior. There are ways to lure earthworms to the surface that can be used in urban and rural environments.

Fishing enthusiasts are not always able to buy worms in pet stores. Before the weekend, especially on Friday evening, it often turns out that they are all sold out. Therefore, it makes sense to pay attention to ways to search for bait yourself. The most suitable for it are earthen (rain), dung, water, and subleaves.

Storage conditions

How and where to store worms for fishing at home? It is necessary to create an environment for them that is as close as possible to the natural one for a particular variety of invertebrates, and take care of feeding them.

• To ensure that the storage of worms for fishing lasts as long as possible, they are fed with crushed eggshells or chalk at least once every 2 weeks. The calcium contained in these foods contributes to their longevity.
• It is very important that the moisture level of the soil in which the wards are located is not below 70%.
• In places where underground inhabitants live, it is important to comply with sanitary standards. To do this, dead individuals are regularly removed, taking into account that only in normal environmental conditions will invertebrates be able to live and even reproduce.
• If the “stock” increases, you need to transplant some of the worms into another container or release them in the park to increase the living space of the rest of the bait.

What you should know about earthworms

You can catch dozens of species of fish with a worm. We can say that earthworms are a universal bait. There are up to 2000 species of worms in nature. Many of them are not found in our climate. But those 100 species that were able to adapt to its conditions grow and develop normally.

Worms can come in different sizes. It is determined by the type of creature and its living conditions. The minimum size of an individual is 3-15 centimeters, but there are giants up to 40 centimeters in length. Worms are active at night, so they are not easy to spot.

During their life, they pass the earth through themselves, forming humus. The creatures feed on organic remains of roots. plants, leaves. Not all the food that the worm eats is digested. When pieces of organic matter fall back into the soil, they enrich the soil with useful substances.

In places where there are a lot of worms, the vegetable yield is always higher than in places where there are no worms. After the rains, you can see earthworms lying right on the ground, being washed out of the soil by water. Raising worms in captivity is quite simple; they grow actively and are easy to care for. The main thing is to provide them with enough food and optimal living conditions.

How to properly store worms

The key concept that needs to be learned when storing worms at home or even outdoors is to create an environment close to their previous life. In addition, it is important to constantly feed them so that they do not die.

The following calcium-rich foods are recommended as a supplement:

• eggshells, pre-crushed;
• chalk that has been previously crumbled.

With timely feeding and conditions acceptable for their survival, the worms will live for a long time and wait for the next fishing trip.

At home

It is very important to understand that worms come from soil or manure; normal home conditions are not suitable for them. Here it is important to find the ideal environment that will support their existence. To do this, you need to select a certain container - a plastic bucket or metal dish, inside of which the nutrient substrate will be placed. The size of the container should be large so that the worms can move comfortably inside. It is important to make holes first so that air can get inside.

Worms for fishing

To preserve worms, it is important to maintain comfortable conditions for their survival:

Storage in an apartment

The conditions in which worms should be stored for fishing at home should not be too different from those at the countryside. But in this case, you will need to prepare a plastic or enamel container with a lid for them. It is also possible to use boxes, buckets, and pots that are definitely not planned to be used on the farm.

The selected container is filled with a moistened soil substrate with the addition of peat, rotted leaves or hay, after which the worms are introduced into it. The soil will need to be moistened regularly, and its inhabitants will need constant feeding.

It is important that invertebrates can breathe normally, otherwise they will die. Therefore, it is impossible to cover the container with airtight materials.

But you shouldn’t give the bait the opportunity to spread throughout the apartment either, so they find a compromise solution. Many small holes are made in the plastic cover for air access. You can also cover the container with a rag (gauze) or other similar material.

Home storage

The most common way to store worms at home is to use specially prepared containers filled with nutrient substrate. The ideal container would be a wooden box, but in the absence of one, you can use plastic or metal buckets and basins. In the latter case, you need to say goodbye to the integrity of the container: you need to make holes in it for air circulation. Worms need a large living space, so the larger the container, the better.

The container must be filled with nutrient substrate. The simplest option: this is loose soil (for dung beetles - food waste, manure) mixed with fallen leaves. Peat, moss, hay, straw can also be used, and chalk or eggshells can be used as a neutralizer. It is necessary to moisten the resulting composition - and you can move in the residents. The container must be covered with something, otherwise you will collect crawling creatures throughout the apartment. You can’t seal the “house”: the residents will suffocate. You can stretch a piece of cloth or gauze over the top - it will be ideal.

The ideal storage temperature is 6-10°C . You can use a balcony or loggia for this purpose, but in the summer heat this is not the best option. A cool basement or cellar is ideal, or, in their absence, a household refrigerator. Just don’t forget to enlist the support of your household: not every wife will be sympathetic to the proximity of a box of worms and a pot of borscht.

During the process, you need to monitor the moisture and oxygen saturation of the soil. The substrate needs to be periodically watered and mixed, but you should not overdo it with water: the soil should be moist, but not wet! This is why the worm needs to be stored in an unsealed container: excess water drains through the holes and oxygen enters.

When kept for a long time, the “fish delicacy” needs to be fed periodically (once a week is enough). For this purpose, you can use chopped banana peel, drunk tea, cottage cheese, chopped raw potatoes, and moistened paper without printing ink.

Features of feeding

Worms are considered a classic bait. Having this bait in stock, the angler can count on a good bite from varieties of carp fish and many river predators. This type of bait can be used for both float and bottom gear. The advantage of worms is their availability. Each fisherman can get them on his own. All he needs is a shovel and a piece of land. Most of the creeping creatures can be found in roadside earthen pits, areas near places where garbage accumulates and in manure heaps.

People who fish professionally usually grow worms at home. Becoming a breeder is not at all difficult - you just need to dig up or purchase several individuals and create a feeding environment for them. In the presence of water and food, crawling pets begin to actively reproduce.

The only drawback of earthworms is that they do not reproduce as quickly as the breeding specimens from the store.

It is better for professional fishermen to spend money and buy dendrobena or red Californian worms; such individuals are undemanding in terms of nutrition. The only thing that is important for them is that food arrives on time. They reproduce very quickly; a couple of individuals can breed more than 1,000 young in one year.

At any summer cottage and in the house you can always find something to feed the worms. According to reviews from fishermen who were involved in their home breeding, the main difficulty lies in something completely different:

• how to properly arrange a container so that your pets feel comfortable all year round;
• where to hide boxes for the winter;
• what foods worms like and in what form they consume them;
• what types of food are strictly contraindicated for them.

How to ferment worm food?

• Sprinkling with living earth.
• Watering with water and diluted living soil.
• Spraying with vermicha.

Since fermentation of food means its colonization with microbes, bacteria and fungi, which, in general, are food for underground predatory producers of vermicompost, because they are far from vegetarians and ingest only rotting plant debris, since they contain a huge number of living microorganisms. I often read something like this on the Internet:

I agree, then only if this waste may contain anthelmintic drugs and your vermicomposter is small and not protected from rodents. Now what absolutely should not be in the nutritional substrate of our hardworking pets in small and very small vermifactories.

Tips from experienced anglers

And at the end of our publication, according to tradition, we offer you advice from experienced fishermen:

• It is better to add peat, moss, and sawdust to loosen dense clay soil. The substrate must be periodically loosened and mixed, ensuring its saturation with oxygen.
• Before fishing, you can put the potential bait into a “fighting state”: adding crushed brick to the substrate will give the bait an attractive bright red color, and cinnamon, vanillin, cake or unrefined vegetable oil will give it a seductive smell.
• For dung beetles, the use of attractants is undesirable: fish already find its “aroma” extremely attractive.
• If optimal conditions are created, the worms will not only survive, but will also begin to reproduce. Avoid overpopulation!
• No matter how or where you store the worm, you need to remember to remove dead individuals in a timely manner, otherwise the entire population will soon die.

In modern conditions, there is no need to bother with the extraction and provision of optimal living conditions for worms: in a specialized store you can purchase not only the necessary equipment, but also any bait. In short, if you have the desire, there will always be an opportunity for great fishing!

Characteristics of red worms

Men who fish at a professional level know that the most valuable material is red worms. They grow quickly; in one growing cycle you can get up to 30 kilograms of living creatures. Their body composition contains fats, minerals, carbohydrates, and proteins, which are useful not only for fish, but also for poultry.

By growing worms, you can provide yourself with bait for the entire winter and summer fishing season, and add vitamins to your bird’s feed. Worms eat organic waste and other debris. They can be fed with vegetable scraps, bird droppings, straw, meat industry waste, and animal manure. Maintaining the creatures is inexpensive due to their unpretentiousness.

Video “Universal storage tips”

This video describes in detail and very competently how to handle worms so that fish bite on them all year round.

Sources

• https://kakxranit.ru/raznoe/kak-soxranit-chervej.html
• https://intellifishing.ru/raznoe/kak-sohranit-chervey
• https://ArcheryRing.ru/bytovye-veshchi/kak-sohranit-chervej-na-zimu.html
• https://rybalkapros.ru/kak-soxranit-chervyakov-dlya-rybalki-zimoj.html
• https://lykistreli.ru/kak-sohranit-chervey-dlya-rybalki-v-domashnih-usloviyah.html
• https://luojatar.ru/sistemy/kak-hranit-chervej-dlya-rybalki.html
• https://IaRybak.ru/prikormka-i-nasadki/sohranit-chervej-dlya-rybalki
• https://manrule.ru/primanki-i-nazhivki/chem-kormit-chervej/
• https://vermitechnologii.ru/chem-kormit-dozhdevyih-chervey/
• https://rybalkavreke.ru/kak-xranit-chervej/
• https://fermabusines.ru/chervi/ryibalka/zimnyaya.html.

How to sell products

While the process of mastering production is underway, you can use the fertilizer yourself - in the garden and for house plants. As soon as the family grows, you need to think about where you can sell the leftovers. These are shops for fishermen, pet stores where they sell various birds - you can supply individuals for their food.

If there is no place to reproduce worms, some of them are processed for the production of protein flour.
This substance can also be applied to the soil or fed to pets. It is stored in the refrigerator or basement, after drying well. Did you like the article? Share with your friends:

Uncle Denis

Hello, dear readers! I am the creator of the Fertilizers.NET project. I am glad to see each of you on its pages. I hope the information from the article was useful. Always open to communication - comments, suggestions, what else you want to see on the site, and even criticism, you can write to me on VKontakte, Instagram or Facebook (round icons below). Peace and happiness to everyone!