How to chop worms with Tommy Pickering

Worms are a fantastic bait at this time of year but how you prepare them before they are fed can make a huge difference to your success rates. This week I reveal my top tips for preparing the perfect chopped worms.

Bait size

Anglers rarely pay much attention to the size into which they chop worms.

The size of fish you are targeting dictates how fine you want your worms to be. For roach or hand-sized skimmers I will chop them to a pulp. This will not give the fish much to feed on but creates an attractive cloud to keep them in the swim.

If bigger fish such as carp, tench or bream are on the agenda I don’t want the worm pieces to be so fine. I think these fish need something to get their heads down on as opposed to just an attractant if they are going to stay put in the swim.

Scissor type

The type of scissors you use may seem like an irrelevance, but it really does matter. 

Double or triple-bladed chopped worm scissors give you very little control and they will hack the worms into a pulp quickly.

Use single bladed scissors so that you can control the size you are cutting the worms into. 

It may take a bit longer but you’ll have your worms exactly as you want them once the job is done.

Pole cup

You could cut your worms up in a bait box, but the shape of it means that some worms may escape the scissors and slide along the bottom of the tub. 

The spherical shape of a pole cup means you get access to every single worm and can cut them all to the desired size.

Batches

I see so many people cutting all their worms up at the beginning of the session, but this is a big mistake. 

The first few you feed will still have the juices oozing out of them but if you go to feed them a few hours later they will be lifeless and will have dried up, making them a lot less attractive to the fish.

Cut your worms up as you need them so that they pack a punch every time they are fed.