Adolescent rag or maddies?

[Teegerstk]

Hi all,
Was digging at a new spot for lug this evening, was getting a decent amount and started to head back. At one point the sand kinda turned to shingle/mud with seaweed, ground which I recognized as ragworm territory. Down went the fork and I ended up digging up a few very small rag, probably 2-3 inches max length. They were all consistently this small, so I only took 3 or 4 of the larger ones.

Would you call these maddies (harbour rag) or just immature ragworm? I normally return undersized worms to the sand, should I have done the same with these? Also found a few white rag which were a similar size, which makes me think it's a nursery area of sorts?

Opinions appreciated! Cheers

[donal domeney]

There is a visible difference between maddies and rag. The maddie has a streak down it's back.

https://britishseafishing.co.uk/harbour ... e_vignette

[Teegerstk]

There is a visible difference between maddies and rag. The maddie has a streak down it's back.

https://britishseafishing.co.uk/harbour ... e_vignette

Brilliant, thanks Donal! Yes I did notice a streak on these worms. Another thing I just noticed, the article says they don’t last very long at all in newspaper. I found this to be true this morning when going for a session; they looked fairly rough after ~12hrs in fresh newspaper overnight. Still wriggling and colourful but not the same as before.

On the other hand, my local rag normally tough it out for a few days if I change their paper every day.
Cheers!

[donal domeney]

I use sweet tubs. About 6-8mm of sea water and about 20-25 maddies to the tub and store them in a fridge.
Change the water the next day and then every 3-4 days after that. I've had maddies for up to 2 weeks could have been longer but I dig bait every 2 weeks so they would get mixed in with the fresh ones. I've can keep lug for as long, rag/king rag I've had for over 2 months.
If you have the shop bought rag remove the shite their in and store them in the tubs of water. The rag after 2 changes of water will only need to be done once a week.
I still check them every day and remove any suspect ones.

I keep the sea water in 5lt. water bottles the ones you can buy in the supermarket with drinking water.
The tubs I get from my local pound-euro shop or whatever they call then selves these days
The lug in the photo are 16 days old and perfect to go

tubs.jpg

[Teegerstk]

I use sweet tubs. About 6-8mm of sea water and about 20-25 maddies to the tub and store them in a fridge.
Change the water the next day and then every 3-4 days after that. I've had maddies for up to 2 weeks could have been longer but I dig bait every 2 weeks so they would get mixed in with the fresh ones. I've can keep lug for as long, rag/king rag I've had for over 2 months.
If you have the shop bought rag remove the shite their in and store them in the tubs of water. The rag after 2 changes of water will only need to be done once a week.
I still check them every day and remove any suspect ones.

I keep the sea water in 5lt. water bottles the ones you can buy in the supermarket with drinking water.
The tubs I get from my local pound-euro shop or whatever they call then selves these days
The lug in the photo are 16 days old and perfect to go

tubs.jpg

Looks like a right job donal! I still live at home in the summer so i think I'd be executed by a firing squad if someone found a tray of maddies in the main fridge I know you mean a secondary fridge! Would be a worthwhile investment if I could hold them that long!
I suppose keeping them in fresh sea water in the shed wouldn't be of much use at all?