Throughout the years, on many occasions I’ve either overheard or been among a group of sportsmen when the subject of fly fishing vs. worm fishing has come front and center. Often there is a general consensus that selecting the correct pattern, precision casting, and presenting a fly with enough finesse to fool a fish into striking is far more difficult a task than tossing out a worm and waiting.

After all, an angleworm is a natural bait and every fish will readily eat that, or so the theory goes. As a dedicated fly caster, let me admit right up front that I’ve turned to live bait many times over the years when literally nothing else would take fish, and there are definite techniques, tactics, and skills involved, and without them even the best bait is no sure thing.

When and where

Spring, for a few weeks after iceout, is without a doubt the most productive time of the entire season to enjoy consistent action fishing worms. With regional waterways running cold, high, and murky, few metal or feathered baits are even moderately dependable, let alone offering the steady hookups that worms generate. Despite streams being dirty and debris-filled, trout and salmon locate and eat angleworms while flies and lures are passed up for one simple reason-smell. While a handful of imitation baits look and move like a minnow, only a real live worm exudes the motion and natural odor that draws a fish to investigate regardless of water clarity.

When I was growing up, it was normal for the ground to still be frozen much of April, and even now much of the central and northern reaches of the state have enough frost remaining to make digging worms difficult if not impossible. If surface dirt is chilled and partially frozen, worms will remain deep in the ground, so the trick is to locate warm, soft earth to turn over. My old standby as a kid was the closest manure pile, say a cattle or horse farm, since the decomposition keeps the soil under and near the mound warm, unfrozen on the coldest days, and very attractive to worms. A compost pile from last fall’s garden, lawn, and leaf gatherings should also offer excellent worm mining if no farms are nearby.

Watch the birds on your lawn, especially robins. If they are bracing their feet to drag earthworms from the soil, you, too, can mine some bait. If time or weather prevent digging your own bait, nowadays a stop at the sporting goods store, corner variety store, or even the local all-in-one pharmacy will score some bait. Refrigerated containers of worms and nightcrawlers in a variety of sizes, all fresh and ready to fish, are at every angler’s fingertips for a reasonable price – and with far less exertion and frustration than wielding a shovel in hard ground.

Throughout late April and most of May, open brooks, streams, and rivers are abundant, but due to water conditions, the fish won’t be found in their normal lies. In fact, most summer pools currently have such a heavy flow of water, it’s impossible to properly present any type of fly, lure, or bait even if the trout were at hand.

Fishing slow and low and offering baits in backwaters, eddies, bogans, and coves are the real keys to spring success. Cold water saps a fish’s strength, so not only will they not chase food, but they won’t stay in a current that requires them to exert energy to hold position. Calm, quiet runs of water that funnel food along a specific path is where most trout will settle in. Find these and feed the fish your bait for steady strikes.

Bogans and backwaters are small temporary ponds that form in basins and other low spots beside a high, fast-flowing stream. Such lagoons generally have only one inlet/outlet path to the main flowage and will slowly recede and dry up as the flow in the main waterway ebbs. While bogans last, however, their temperate, tranquil conditions attract and hold fish by the carload and offer anglers a somewhat confined and hungry quarry with fairly dry and simple access. I’ve discovered some of my most productive transient trout ponds while wandering riverbanks in search of fiddleheads, and best of all, these fish-filled lagoons reappear each spring.

Which worms

To everyone other than a hungry bird, a feeding fish, or a selective bait caster, all worms are pretty much the same. In truth, the size, shape, and condition of earthworms used for enticing trout and salmon do contribute markedly to results. One faction of bait fishermen subscribes to the “bigger is better” theory, and while it’s not set in stone, I have seen big, fat nightcrawlers entice some truly trophy-size fish into biting. Personally, I go with medium-size earthworms and hook up two if I feel the need for more bulk and movement. Whatever your final choice, make sure the bait is fresh and lively to provide fish-attracting movement in the water and exude more smell. Baits should be checked frequently while being fished, and if worms become limp and lifeless, change to a fresh worm at once.

Sticking a worm on a hook willy-nilly may work if the fish are famished, but taking a bit of time and using a couple of tricks will assure long-lasting, more enticing baits for finicky fish. About a decade ago I switched from ordinary blue- and black-colored hooks to gold-finished hooks and was rewarded with better results, especially in coffee-colored water. Three years ago I once again altered my bait hook color and my selection of red-plated hooks for worms, plastic bass baits, and ice fishing has markedly improved my strikes compared to other anglers fishing the same spots with dark-colored hooks.

Push the hook through the worm’s body at least twice to assure fish can’t easily steal the bait off the hook. Leave at least an inch of worm sticking out the front and a good two inches trailing from the rear of the hook. These two ends will wiggle and move, an extra attractant in conjunction with the natural smell and color. Nightcrawlers run 6-10 inches in length and are the size of a No. 2 pencil, while earthworms are 3-6 inches in length and average half the circumference of a pencil. As I mentioned earlier, I’d rather use two worms than a nightcrawler, as they provide more motion for a longer period of time in the water.

When fishing spots with copious grass and weeds, it’s possible to thread the hook into the front third of a worm’s body and leave the point buried. This trick provides a weedless hookup and the rest of the worm trails behind the hook, swaying and undulating attractively during the retrieve. There are dual-hook worm rigs that allow a bait to be hooked up in two spots, helping the bait ride straighter in the current and providing two barbs to stick and hold a fish. Every worm has a noticeable band somewhere around the first third of its body, avoid putting hooks through this segment to prolong bait longevity and activity.

Presentation

For young anglers and novice worm fishermen, a bait and bobber setup is hard to beat for simplicity. Once a calm cove or backwater is located, it’s just a matter of putting a worm on the hook, attaching a colorful plastic or wooden float far enough up the line so the bait rests on bottom, and then playing the wait and watch game. Sooner or later a cruising fish will locate the bait, nibble away, and the surface float will alert the angler. And when the bobber begins to dip under the water or move rapidly across the surface, it’s time to set the hook. Bait-and-wait worm fishermen have the luxury of setting up two rods to increase their odds.

Another bobber fishing tactic involves slowly retrieving the line in a manner that allows the worm to cross the path of more fish, which are perhaps feeding from a stationary lie. I enjoy this style of float fishing because it allows me to participate rather than sit, watch, and wait. Simply cast out a good long line, allow the bait to sink and let it set for a minute or so. If there’s no strike, reel the bobber and bait three or four feet closer and allow it to settle again for a short time, then retrieve some more line. Keep this hop-and-stop retrieve going until a fish takes your worm or all the line is retrieved, at which point you cast out again to a different spot and repeat the retrieval technique.

Stretches of stream with any appreciable current flow are better fished without any style of bobber or float. Minimal current allows a caster to just use the hook and worm; mild water flow is better suited to a worm, hook, and spinner combo; and moderate-speed runs will require the addition of some weight of sinker to keep the bait from being quickly floated downstream. With each of these three techniques, keeping the worm on or very near the bottom and bouncing or hopping it in front of as many fish as possible is the key to consistent cold-water strikes.

Patience and lots of slow, steady retrieves are essential to spring success because lethargic fish may ignore a worm passing a foot away but slurp up one right under its nose. When water conditions are dingy, adding a gold, silver, or (my personal favorite) a pearl spinner will attract more attention to a worm. Trout seem to strike more aggressively when a flashy, wobbly spinner is involved, despite the cold water, yet they ignore lures, so once again it comes down to the worm as the main incentive.

Perhaps the most difficult technique of properly presenting a worm in moving water is judging the correct weight of sinker to use. Too little weight and the worm is swiftly swept downstream, too heavy a sinker and the bait is difficult to bounce from spot to spot on the retrieve, often catching on rocks or other obstacles and breaking the line.

A perfect weight sinker will hold a worm in place once it settles on bottom, yet be easily lifted with the rod tip and hopped to the next spot as the retrieve continues. Only experience and practice will teach this important tactic, and often the sinker weight will have to be changed from one stretch of water to the next. Round split-shot sinkers are my favorite and I carry a divided container with six varied weights and sizes.

Being a top-rate bait fisherman requires more than having a container of worms, regardless of how much trout enjoy this tasty, natural treat. In a nutshell, securing fresh worms, locating a slow holding run, and proper presentation go a long way to being able to catch fish when others can’t during high-water periods. Oh, and above all else, have perseverance. Every fishing trip should be a learning experience. Trying and succeeding is great, even trying and failing is good – both will make you a better bait angler if you stockpile a bit of wisdom from each outing.

Outdoor feature writer Bill Graves can be reached via e-mail at bgravesoutdoors@ainop.com