How do I dig worms?

There are quite a few bays near the house in belmullet with loads of those sands squiggles that I take it are worms. But I have never dug worms for bait so I do not have a clue how to dig them. Do I use a spade or are fork? How deep are they? How many would you normally use in say a 3 or 4 hour session? I don't want to dig a pile of them and have to throw them away if I don't use them. Do you use them alive or dead? I know nothing lol

if there is a large amount of marks close together use a fork and trench dig them they could be anything up to 15inches deep.if there are few marks dig them single from the hole back to the cast taking a little at a time till you locate the worm,it's all to do with practice keep any damaged worms seperate form the good ones.
as for the amount you need that will depend on you and how many rods and hooks you are using 40/60 should be plenty for an average session,
they wont go to waste you can gut them by nipping off the head and squeezing the guts out and freeze or salting them for later use.

as JOHN 1 says nip the head off squeeze out the inards leave them sitting on newspaper singly for 10 or 15 mins to drain off a bit more then lay them on a sheet of dry newspaper about an inch apart and roll them up an store in the fridge for 3 or 4 days then rewrap them in fresh newspaper place in a plastic bag and freeze them they are great for all kinds of fish and flatties really love them hope this helps

Thanks lads for the info. What do you mean by "trench dig them "?? There is alot of them one every few inchs.

Thanks lads for the info. What do you mean by "trench dig them "?? There is alot of them one every few inchs.

exactly what it says, start at one point and dig a hole and then extend it along in a line till you have one long trench. or you can extended it by length and width to end up with a big hole. either way you should make sure you backfill as it can be hazardous for people who arent watching where they are going

more info here

http://www.anirishanglersworld.com/index.php/media/lugworm-a-versatile-bait/

Also the "Cast" ( the squiggle lines in the sand) can be an indicator to the size of the worm, if they are small thin cast expect small worms BUT if they are big thick casts they can be bigger

a simple trick is to think of the type of fishin your going to do, are you going after flatfish, or codling? Aim for the bait towards the size of the hooks you'll be using, i.e. if its flats ..small worms will do tipped with mack or razor, if its cod look for the larger cast.

Hi pok17r, try the following, copy it into your search bar.

http://fishing-lugworm-bait.blogspot.co ... -been.html

Very easy to follow..

if their is casts every few inches then its a bed of babys the bigger worms will be big casts and not that close together its better to leave the small worms where they are as they are the stock for the future

if their is casts every few inches then its a bed of babys the bigger worms will be big casts and not that close together its better to leave the small worms where they are as they are the stock for the future

or it is a very densely populated worm bed if you are lucky. http://baitdigger.wordpress.com/bait-collection/