One of the best baits for fishing is the red worm and in this article I'm going to provide some tips for fishing with red worms that will make you a much more effective angler. I was introduces to the red worm by my fishing mentor in central Pennsylvania. Before being introduced to red worms I always used night crawlers for fishing. My mentor enlightened me to the fact that these worms can be much better bait than night crawlers for fishing, especially in certain situations.

This type of worm is much smaller than their night crawling cousins, who many times have to be pinched in half to use effectively as fishing bait. At the end of the day a red worm look just like a baby night crawler and is much more effective as fishing bait, especially when fishing in rivers and streams.

When fishing with red worms it's important to use gang hooks to rig them effectively. This way your red worms can be presented outstretched, they way God intended. Gang hooks are a pair of small hooks tied in tandem, and when fishing with red worm's size 8 or 10 gang hooks should always be used. Truth be told, with red worms size 10 should usually be employed. Size 10 hooks are small enough to be hidden by the worms body yet aren't detectable to the fish. If you think size 10 hooks are too small to catch large fish, consider the fact that I personally hook and land 3-5 pound trout and smallmouth bass on size 10 gang hooks.

Fishing with red worms obviously also involves carrying your worms with you, and having an effective way to accomplish this task is also important. Having an effective way to carry your red worms is especially important to the river/stream angler. Just throwing the Styrofoam container in your fishing vest will work, but having an effective red worm carrier is a big plus.

An effective worm carrier keeps your worms within easy reach, while still keeping your hands free for fishing. This way your worms are always at your fingertips and you know exactly where they are at all times. The most effective worm carrier that I've ever come across is the JRW bait bag. This is simply a small pouch that clips to your fishing vest, shirt, or pants and carries your live worms while fishing. The use of a bait bag is a must for anyone that's fishing with red worms.

My favorite place to use red worms for fishing is in the flowing waters of rivers and/or streams. Allowing a red worm to flow naturally with the current, as it rolls along the bottom, is an extremely effective fishing technique. This technique is effective for trout, bass, and walleye. Heck, it's effective for any fish that swims in the current of your favorite river or stream. The bottom line is that fishing with these worms can be much more effective than fishing with other worm species.

By: Trevor Kugler
Trevor Kugler is co-founder of JRWfishing.com and an avid angler. He has more than 25 years experience fishing for all types of fish, and 15 years of business and internet experience. He currently raises his five year old daughter in the heart of trout fishing country. Gang Hooks Tied & Ready To Fish: http://www.jrwfishing.com/gang_hooks.asp

Having fished the sport fishing boats based in Southern California for many years, I have learned that bait selection and presentation are probably the two most critical, yet often overlooked, steps in fishing with live bait that can ultimately lead to a successful fishing trip. Anglers who have the good fortune of fishing live bait such as anchovies, sardines, mackerel and squid, can easily better their chances of landing more fish with these simple measures that begin at the bait well or bait tank.

When selecting a bait from the well, spend some time choosing the hottest, or liveliest bait in the well. The bait should not be missing any scales and check to see if the nose of the bait is red. The nose should always be a natural color and not red. Baits with red noses and missing scales are normally stressed from improper handling, overcrowded tank conditions or disease and do not look or swim in a natural behavior, the key to enticing fish to feed.

After selecting the best bait, bait scoops should be used to remove it from the others. If a baits coop is not available, the angler should carefully slide his hand under the bait and slowly grab the bait with light pressure by the head, so as to not remove the slime or any of the scales on the body. Quickly bait the hook and fluidly cast it as far from the boat as possible, landing the bait softly in the bite zone. Make sure that your tackle, rods and reels, match the appropriate bait and creates as little excess drag on the bait as possible.

Anglers should always be aware of the fishing conditions that surround them. This includes tides, moon phases, currents, patterns and more. Knowing what the fish and the fishing conditions are doing should determine how the angler should bait their hook. Baits can be hooked in the nose, collar, shoulder and butt, depending on how the angler wants the bait to react. I like to nose hook my baits because I move them around as much as possible, including when I retrieve them. Nose hooking is the only way to retrieve the bait with a natural swimming motion, head pointed towards the angler. When you collar, shoulder or butt hook a bait, they usually get ripped off, fall off or come back in an awkward spinning motion. I only hook my bait in the collar or shoulder when the surface fishing is good and when I know the bait will be inhaled before I need to wind it in. On the other hand, butt hooking is used when the bite zone is deeper and not on the surface. Normally, butt hooking a bait will force it to swim down and away, the ideal scenario for many fishing applications. The price you pay is that you sacrifice the ability to wind the bait back through the bite zone if it did not get bit in the first pass. When butt hooked, the bait will usually spin and come in backwards, not a very appealing appetizer for a finicky fish.

Also, make sure your tackle matches in size and weight to your bait. Sometimes, fishing conditions demand heavy tackle for small baits and on other occasions, light gear for big baits. Other than these times, your rods, reels, bait hooks, fishing line, weight and sinkers should not create any excess drag on the bait. Spinning and conventional casting combos come in a wide range of actions and line classes in both freshwater and saltwater versions and carefully selecting the proper live bait rod and reel is essential.

With these bait selection and presentation tips, I hope you will someday be able to enjoy the thrill of being picked up by a trophy size fish. There is nothing more exciting than fishing with live bait, the heart stopping sensation when you feel that familiar thump on the end of the line, followed by a thumb burning grab of your line from the now, rapidly spinning spool waiting to be engaged with a flip of a button, turn of a handle or a slide of a lever with the familiar call of "hook up".

By: Henry Yoo
I have been fishing for over 20 years of my life and hope to continue to do so for the next 30. I have dedicated myself to sharing what I have learned through those years in the hopes of promoting this popular outdoor recreational activity by providing commentaries and reviews, video tutorials, fishing tips and more. Come visit my site at http://spinningreels.com for freshwater and saltwater fishing information.

Submitted by:
Tim Langdorn
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