hooking ragworms

As a newbie I'm having a bit of trouble hooking ragworms properly. I find that because they're quite long, the bit trailing from the end of the hook flies off during the cast if I use the full worm. I'm wondering should i cut them in half or should i be trying to thread the worm over the eye of the hook and up the line a bit? Tried the latter but made a dogs dinner of it!! Any advice would be much appreciated

Try thread the worm up over the eye and onto the line!! a bead or two and a crimp or stop above the hook should keep the bait from going the whole way up the line but you want to have room to slide the worm up a bit!!!! It will take practice to get right at first keep trying!! Make sure your hook knot is neat which will make it easier to get up over the eye!! You Can also try using a baiting needle if you still have trouble!! hope that was some help!!

just before you cast, dip your hook and worm in the sea water, this helps prevent half the worm flying off! a tip i read somewhere on this forum
deffo use a bait needle to bait yer hook, best thing i ever bought, another tip i found on here!

would definitely use the baiting needle for worm baits, and best to tip the worm off with a small piece of mac; this will also help keep the worm from flying off during the cast.

Some great advice there. Thanks for taking the time to reply. I'll be well armed next time with a baiting needle and some mackerel!! Practice makes perfect I suppose. Thanks again

why stick it all up the hook ?this will kill it quick and the best thing about rag is they wriggle and send out vibration that a fish can detect from quite a distance away ,try using size 2 baitholder hooks and just head hook them ,the head is the toughest part ,it wont cause the worm to break in half and it will wriggle like mad,go up a hook size or three depending on what size rag your using ,dont strike too quickly using this method for flounder ect,for bass i find med size rag good and for flats the smaller ones two headhooked on a size 6 are deadly

why stick it all up the hook ?this will kill it quick and the best thing about rag is they wriggle and send out vibration that a fish can detect from quite a distance away ,try using size 2 baitholder hooks and just head hook them ,the head is the toughest part ,it wont cause the worm to break in half and it will wriggle like mad,go up a hook size or three depending on what size rag your using ,dont strike too quickly using this method for flounder ect,for Bass i find med size rag good and for flats the smaller ones two headhooked on a size 6 are deadly

Good point roger ive just been doing it that way forever now so never really thought of head hooking them... mite just give it a try!!

Cheers Roger. I'll give that a try aswell so . Should I stick to using the baiting needle and getting the worm up over the eye of the hook for lugworm so?
Slightly off topic but if I use a 2 hook flapper with size 1/0 hooks and worms will I have a fair chance at both Bass and flatfish or is it better to use different rigs/hook size for Bass than for flatties?

two and three hook flappers are fine for bass and flats. 1/0 hook fairly big for flats but if its big flats your after then shouldnt be a problem. yes thread lug up the hook and over the eye. i catch plenty of bass this was. although a BIG bass may straighten a light hook!

Baiting needle all the way, i still get asked how i bait up so quickly, and simply show them and shocked how baiting worm is simple not a chore.

Even making baiting circle hooks a breeze.

Thanks lads, so do you reckon I should use size 1 or 2 hooks to give myself more chance of flatties while still in with a chance of a bass?

We have plenty of bass down south granted but FWIW, I catch as many if not more on small baits (size 4s) rolling around the surf as I do on larger baits.

http://www.gofishing.co.uk/Sea-Angler/S ... E-RAGWORM/

Good advice lads, nice to see people willing to help anglers just starting out.

Indeed, much appreciated. Now to put it to practice..!

for help keep the worm from flying off during the cast
laid worm on the hook and whiped on withelastic to present it as naturally as I could