Rag as bait - whole or pieces?

I got my hands on some rag today for a session tomorrow. Some of the worms are huge - one of them is nearly a foot long and as thick as my baby finger! :shock: Biggest rag I've ever seen anyway...

Are they still an effective bait if you chop 'em up into pieces?

I always thought their wriggling was their main attractor to fish...

[beachcaster]

depends very much on what you are fishing for to be honest,i tend to use them hole or as part of a cocktail bait like rag and makerel or rag and sandeel ,alough king rag on there own can count for some good bass.or fished whole for species like pollock [just hooked through the head ]smaller species like dabs and sole would take bits of ragworm fished on size 4/6 hooks.

Last edited by beachcaster on Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:42 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Rag can be chopped up into smaller sections, those large ones can be ridiculous in size.

u have to remember that rags biggest attraction is movement... so dont imobilise the bigger one by chopping them into pieces, use pieces that will still have some movement in them..like the tail..

I think it really depends on what you are fishing for and where you are fishing. Keep them whole for larger fish or where you are fishing for species which would be attracted by the movement such as cod and flounder. On the otherhand when I go wrassing I generally feed the rag onto the hook and cut of the excess leaving only a max of a 1/2" tail. If you leave any more than that on you'll get lots of false bites as the fish pull at the loose end. Oh and don't throw away the old dried up pieces of rag as these on a small hook are killer for wrasse, they just go daft for it.

Oh and don't throw away the old dried up pieces of rag as these on a small hook are killer for wrasse, they just go daft for it.

Good tip, cheers

Agree with Drew about only using sections for wrasse, I'd only put one whole ones if the fish weren't feeding particularly well.

Its funny that wrasse don't seem to be bothered at all if the rag is half rotten. The stuff I used last night was unbearable but they still nobbled it every time.

one of the best bait for bigger wrasse is the common shore crab just hooked through the shell with a size 3/0 mustad viking.i find the smaller wrasse will get to the ragworm first all the time,but the whole crab seems to take the bigger wrasse .