bloodworm

Guest · #1

why do places ban bllodworm?

#2

why do places ban bllodworm?

Where do you start! the list goes on and on..

Obvious answers are Fishery owners rights to ban and allow what ever they like to try to conserve there stocks.

Some small clubs such as those around my area that own stretches of the weaver,trent an mersey canal,bridgewater canal etc ban it without having a clue why they have a ban on it.. which in my oppinion is just plain ignorance and lazy anglers who are not willing to learn how to use it, then you get anglers who come up with a riddiculous excuse that its to expensive! yet the same anglers fish the likes of the weaver and other natural venues and spend twice as much money on bait than it would cost for a match pack of w/j.
Surely 10 quid isn't much to spend if your more guaranteed a few bites when you go out fishing in the cold weather.

No natural venues should have w/j bans full stop!

#3

Kinell thats a big write up queenie boy ! Have you been practicing while everywhere has been frozen up ?

Very true tho !

#4

Have you been practicing while everywhere has been frozen up ?

Sure have bud me and neil have been every day apart from christnas day and today! been bored out me head all day today wish i'd of gone today. had 30lb of roach through the ice yesterday on the shroppy

on bloodworm!

#5

The kids are doin me head in !

#6

No natural venues should have w/j bans full stop!

I have probably tried to answer the original query hundreds of times but never really successfully. It is only the same as saying why do places ban pellets/trout pellets/sweetcorn/coloured maggots/boilies/paste/ bread/wasp grub and basically any bait you can think of- I have come across them all.
I can only say that match anglers must nowadays (whatever we all think) form basically 5% of all anglers if that and those numbers are dropping.

I highlighted the top line because I believe we have some excellent fishing in these parts (Staffordshire) without the nuisance of wineos, dog crap, motor bikes, ordinary bikes and the like.
We do have to pay for it though. Both Wolves AA and Izaak Walton (Stafford) AA pay a huge amount of money to have these long stretches of canals to supply fishing for the members and I suppose offer the likes of the match angling fraternity the chance of fishing some decent contests.
Believe me it is the members that pay for these stretches but the peg fees we charge, £2, do help, especially like last year following a National. We did actually charge £3 peg fee for that but by the time all the various car parks were paid for some clubs income was actually less than £2 a peg.
It is also the members that make up any Rules that the said Club has to go by; it is, like I have said before, their club's waters not ours (match anglers I mean).

The best angler I (and countless others) have ever seen is Kevin Ashurst. A few short years ago, over a few pints, I asked him what his view on bloodworm and joker was in matches. His simple answer was that if you didn't need it don't put it in. I, for one will not argue with that.
I do thoroughly understand that there are waters, especially in the West Mids and maybe up your neck of the wood that do 'need' the bait.

I don't think there is a proper answer to this. I have heard it from all points of view over the years.

Anyway, how the crappity smack do you transport a barrow load of bloodworm and joker over to Muckno every year

craftytafty · #7

I don't think there should be bait bans, especially bloodworm, can't think of a more natural bait, it's just another bait and if it helps you to catch more then use it.

I was due to have a match yesterday but couldn't fish cos i've been ill (as over all christmas), but i'd bought some b/j as it was the right thing for the venue in the conditions.

I think it's the age old expense/ availability thing which as we all know is cr*p

A question for you guys who fish it a lot, I saw in the national press an article where Richie Reynolds had been laid up with stomach cramps which he put down to joker imported from Russia. Now years ago when I fished b/j a lot it was mostly from this country but I am led to believe it comes ( mostly) from abroad.
Do you think there are any health issues round this and are there any controls on it's import.
I'm not making any judgement myself, just interested in you guys' opinions.

Muckno_Mafia · #8

There's definately been cases of russian / polish joker causing illness in people, but I don't see how it can be any worse than English (other than how long foreign is wrapped up for before we get it).

When you think about where people scrape worm in this country, plus the amount of other creatures you get in the wrap its a wonder it doesn't make people ill more often ;-)

As for bans, the type of people who say its too expensive spend far more money in a tackle shop each Friday then I ever do!

#9

I agree with Charlie and Crafty

You can walk into any tackle shop on a friday afternoon / evening and you will see anglers spending loads of dosh on all sorts of crap ...... good for the tackle shop yes ........ does it catch the angler more fish

£8 - £10 spent on joker deffo gets you more bites imo and with the weather as it is at the mo you could frame from loads of pegs on commies catching silvers and F1s. Granted there are days you just wont catch on any bait but the techniques required to fish b/joker are invaluable and can only help any individual to become a better angler.

#10

I agree 100 percent with 90 percent of what is said.
I have been over this before but what is a 'natural' bait?
To me a 'natural' bait is one that lives in the venues we fish, somebody correct me if I am wrong.
Maybe you can add worms, larvae and stuff like that, that enter rivers in times of spate.

I am not disputing what Andy says about bloodworm/joker being a 'natural' bait.

The stretch of canal that I mainly fish is the Shropshire Union Canal that runs from Wheaton Aston through to Shebdon and that represents a good few miles (ten at least). Being a townie I have always preferred to fish in the country and the Shroppie fits that bill for me.

This stretch is dug and blasted out of sandstone and in the past I have been along this length (and others have too) and we have not found one bloodworm in the whole length. It does not live in the sandstone bottom.
Contrary to this I have scraped bloodworm from the Staffs-Worcs and the T&M Canals so I can say it happily lives there and I would class that as a 'natural' bait on those particular venue lengths but how can you class it as such on a venue where there ain't any in there in the first place?

Maybe this has answered the question as to why Norbury fished particularly poor (miles worse than it usually does anyway) when it was allowed for a Warwickshire WL in 2008.

It was also allowed at Norbury many years ago for two years. The matches had massive turnouts those days, (200) was nothing but over those two years the fishing really deteriorated to next to nothing. It could have been no fault of the bloodworm at all and just one of those unexplainable things that happens but happen it did.

#11

The best angler I (and countless others) have ever seen is Kevin Ashurst. A few short years ago, over a few pints, I asked him what his view on bloodworm and joker was in matches. His simple answer was that if you didn't need it don't put it in. I, for one will not argue with that.

Couldn't agree more Bill.. but you shouldn't take the option of w/j away from the angler and ban it from a venue.. But it has a bad name across a lot of the country and that probably will never change.... Shame really because a lot of venues that ban it now would fish a lot better with it allowed.

#12

Couldn't agree more Bill.. but you shouldn't take the option of w/j away from the angler and ban it from a venue..But it has a bad name across a lot of the country and that probably will never change.... Shame really because a lot of venues that ban it now would fish a lot better with it allowed.

Q Around here, (in most cases anyway) it is the club that bans bloodworm (not as some think the match organisers) and as match organisers we have to go along with their Rules. EG pellet and boilies in Div One, 2010.

Just for the record one club, Stoke City and DAA, did get the Rule lapsed, just for the sake of the Warks WL in 2008 but this is a rarity.

In my experience of being in contact with match anglers from many points of the country an awful lot of them simply do not want bloodworm and joker and the cost is nearly always cited, whatever we all think.

Funnily enough hardly anybody ever asks my direct views on the subject as I, rightly or wrongly, generally sit on the fence.

Nobody can ever actually accuse me of being anti-bloodworm after putting a fair bit of my own dosh into some Leagues (the now defunct FMS for one).
I will however put a different slant on it that may or may not make it slightly easier to understand from an 'against' point of view.

I am coming up to 62 and loved fishing bloodworm and joker. However I am sure lots my age will agree (but will not like to say for vanity reasons, whatever) that the bait is a lot harder to cope with with 'advancing years' and the like. I think only match anglers around my age group (and there are too many to be ignored) will understand this. One of the key reasons although it doesn't affect everybody is one of sight. It does take a very keen eye to fish with joker, for me it is specs on to get it on the hook and specs off to see the float, some are even worse, they can't see their floats very well.

Just chaging tack slightly I honestly think this is one of the reasons that the older match angler does well in Ireland where baits are bigger lines are thicker and floats are bigger and heavier.

This sight things certainly doesn't happen to us all but I think it does with most. It is difficult to envisage this until it happens, if you forgive the pun I have seen it but like most my age, and older, we still want to compete. Match fishing can certainly not afford to loose, after all, what is a huge part of its entry.

There are different ways into reading into this but it could well explain why turnouts in b&j matches have gradually dwindled as the older matchman moves on and, all but a few, he is not being replaced by younger anglers.

I might be totally barking up the wrong tree here but this is my honest opinion, lump it or leave it

Anway Q keep bagging and don't get too involved with the politics of it all, look what happened to me

joffmiester · #13

its a love hate relationship with B/J i put as much time in cleaning the bait as i do fishing it some anglers don't care for there bait I've seen anglers picking it up on the morning of the match to me thats not right as its probably been in the paper for 4 or 5 days before hand i the current matchfishing mag [that i have just received] there is a feature about keeping the bait and is well worth a read [i'm glad to see i'm doing it right]i used to look after other anglers bait but its such a time consuming job on the morning and often you'd get no thanks for it so i don't anymore
i love fishing it but i must say it has to be the right sort of matches for me i don't want to turn up to a 20 pegger with it and i'm not keen on breaking ice to fish it either. give me a cips match where its limited its the way forward
bill i trust what you say [or KA said] if you don't need it don't put it in but a few weeks back when i weighed 10lb of roach in i started on bread and i know it was only 5m out but i would of thought i would of caught on it but i never had a bite yet at 10m on B/J i had bite straight away i realise that fish feed where they want to feed but it did surprise me that day

#14

Anway Q keep bagging and don't get too involved with the politics of it all,

Yepp, politics should be left out of sport bill ;)

Sepp Blatter, that French Woman's wetter Platini and UEFA take note ! W@nkers !!!

:D

#15

I accept what you say Joff 100 percent but these things will always happen; there is nowt hard and fast as far as this is concerned; another day it may or may not have been the other way round..

I remember a match on the Staffs Worcs Canal years ago. There was a huge turnout on a freezing cold December day. Everyone turned up with bloodworm and joker expecting a pretty good match. I drew on the narrow side of Farmdown Road up near the rail bridge. I was the only one there without any b&j because quite simple you have never really needed it on the S-Worcs at Stafford until the New Year. I won this match on squatt (by quite a long way). I was obviously on a few fish but that was not the point. What did dismay me was the treatment I received after; it was if I was some kind of leper for turning up without b&j; I hardly got spoke to and quite a few just didn't like what had happened. I never did get to the bottom of that one, after all it is just another bait.
This wasn't an isolated case either as I had loads of placings after and section wins after without it and some with it to be fair.
Not all canals are bloodworm dominated although it can be lethal at times.

I don't do any winter matches there now but I know the same thing can happen on that venue.

endpeg · #16

I think a lot of it depends on the venue. Ive fished the T&M lots of times and bread has always been 100% better than B&J for me, even if you feed it in the same depth of water (eg 10 oclock and 2 oclock). Ive done similar with bread countless times on the Coventry Canal in Coventry and you rarely get a bite on bread, yet 4 or 5 metres away you can get a chunky roach every chuck on B&J!

At Tunnel Barn, some pools are a waste of time with B&J most of the time, yet others are great with it BUT only if you have a big enough head of fish in front of you in the first place. Then you can fish one pool and its definitely a 'pellet' lake (sorry for swearing!) and then the adjacent pool, which is very similar in contours and fish stocking etc is definitely better with maggots at this time of year.

Look at the Kennet & Avon. That is dominated by bread on the short pole 4m to 6m out and B&J is nowhere near as good on this line. Im sure Chavey will vouch for this.

I sometimes think that the way we all commonly feed these places creates these situations but I also think its just each venues being different. Ive wasted loads of matches by trying to be different and feeding something against the norm but it rarely pays off for me. The only exception is bread on B&J venues which I do like to feed if I have the room as a throwaway line, but theres definitely lots of venues where it is sadly a waste of time once B&J has gone in, particularly on the West Mids cuts.

#17

I think a lot of posts on this subject are more or less on the same theme.

Ie all venues are different

Muckno_Mafia · #18

Ie all venues are different

After 1 match at Wigan on the Leeds Liverpool this winter a few of us were moaning about how pants it had been, and the usual comments about "if only we could use worm" came out. Wigan is a weird venue though and while I think you could bag on worm on certain pegs, I tend to think on others it'd just get you a few more bites.

End of the day as long as you can catch dumpy roach with the odd netter thrown in does it matter if its on worm or bread this time of year?

#19

Well said bill.. i'm not into politics an al that cak... i'm sure i'll lose my eye sight a bit one day mate lol

I best make the most of it while i've got it! my dads as blind as a bat so i'll probably cop it soon! :(

endpeg · #20

Heard you had a good day again on the Cov cut Queenie

I had a feeling it would be 'icebergs at dawn' with the boats (sounds like I was right!) so went to Tunnel Barn instead. 30+ of us smashed the ice and came third with 27lb

. Hopefully another decent turnout there tomorrow... Worst Xmas period I can ever remember for decent matches though. :(