House on the Sheep's Head
Another blank session on the pier followed. I thought possibly the seabed had taken such a pounding that the area had been temporarily vacated by fishes, but at the same time I wanted to ring the changes on my normal fish and squid baits just in case. So today I set off on a drive off the peninsula to a spot I'd seen before and which looked to have some prolific lugworm beds.
It was a lovely peaceful spot and as far as I could tell undug in the recent past by anyone else - a pleasant change from Hampshire beaches.
It certainly was good digging. Some areas were too squidgy to dig properly but once on a drier part of the beach it was nice ground to dig and I collected these 60 or so worms in little over a hour.
Rather than trench dig I tend to select good-sized casts with an obvious blow-hole close by them and dig the worms individually. I find this minimises the number of broken worms and it enables me to select the biggest worms.
After digging I moved to a surf beach a few minutes drive away to use up the few broken and damaged worms. Unfortunately the swell which had been running for weeks had dropped right off, taking any serious hope of a winter bass with it. I set up with small hooks for a flounder ... and blanked again! Still, plenty of worms left for tomorrow ...