Peanut worms set to take sea fishing by storm

A UNIQUE new bait set to take the sea fishing world by storm has gone on sale for the first time in the UK.

Peanut worms are an unusual strain of lugworm with a large bulbous end and a tough texture, and have already been used with great success in Spain and Italy. Although native to UK and Irish shores, huge difficulties in finding and digging them up has made them almost impossible to source in the past. However, Sean Walker of www.peanutworms.co.uk has now found a closely guarded way of supplying them live to anglers by mail order. The lucky few to have tried the strain of worm so far have reported impressive catches of bass, pollack, wrasse, cod, mullet and bream.

“This is a completely new bait for the UK,” he said. “Throughout the process of setting up my business I’ve been working with Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) to make sure I’m operating within the law.  Peanut worms burrow deep into the sand and are underwater most of the time.

“I can keep worms alive for weeks by replicating their living conditions but this isn’t possible when sending them out, so each pack has its own individual ‘use by’ date - usually four days after the anticipated date each is received. My aim is to provide a first class live bait service.”

One of the first UK anglers to try peanut worms was Mike Tock of West Hull Angling Club who, fishing the River Humber near Spurn Point, shared a catch of 62 fish in three hours with two friends.

“I’ve never seen a bait like this before - it’s more like a slug than a worm. They are extremely tough and didn’t burst when I pierced them with a baiting needle. They also move a lot once you put them in the water. We were getting a few flounders early in the session so I changed to peanut worms and starting catching lots of bass up to 3lb. It’s unusual to catch school bass so early in the year here as the water is still very cold. I’ll definitely try this bait again,” he added.   

Buy them
Peanut worms are currently only available from Glasgow Angling Centre for £6.99 per tub. Visit www.fishingmegastore.com or call 0871 716 1670. For more information on the product see www.peanutworms.co.uk.