Why Bloodworm Is Super Effective for Big Carp!

The Bloodworm Banquet – Kev Hewitt

Bloodworm is as natural as it comes when it comes to food for the carp, so being able to include this into my baiting mix I believe gives me a huge edge, not only that but I feel like even when the carp are maybe not in the mood to have a proper feed, as soon as they pick up on that natural scent they have to drop down and investigate it.

When to use it

Because of how natural this product is, I don’t think there is a wrong or right time to start applying it into your mix. However, I do feel like as soon as we get into September the leaf matter starts to fall off the trees and the water temperature begins to cool, this is when it comes into its own. Them last larders of natural food are starting to decrease due to the drop in temperature so the implement of the bloodworm can really help get those extra bites when It seems like they are preoccupied on the natural food. It is fantastic to use especially throughout the colder months, when naturals are at their lowest and it can often slip up some of them trickier fish to catch that may only feed on natural food throughout the cooler months.

Areas to apply the bloodworm

The areas I will be focussing on when introducing bloodworm is either a hard spot or a soft silty spot but not with too much debris present, the way you have to think about it is the more choddy the spot, the more them carp are going to root around looking for it. Now this does sound like a good thing but can often mean they are burying their heads into the softer ground trying to find every last bit, potentially not moving around a lot and the less they move, the harder it will be to actually get a bite. I’ll also avoid weedy areas if possible because in every handful of bloodworm there is thousands and thousands of food items and it you put that over some weed, you are in the same situation but worse and are basically ruining your chances of getting a bite.

How much to use?

This is a question I often get asked, and there isn’t really a right or wrong answer, but typically if I made a mix of say 1kg I would include one big handful of bloodworm to that. Although it may not sound a lot, but I can assure you a little goes a very long way, if I find I’m starting to get bites consistently, I will actually drop the amount of bloodworm I am putting in the mix just so that the fish don’t get too preoccupied on it. This also works the other way too, if I am getting consistent bites then the spot starts drying up, I will actually put out a good handful of it once more to entice them carp back in, hopefully starting a feeding frenzy.

Get one spot rocking

 I have always been a big believer of fishing 3 rods tight on an area, I feel it gives me the best chance of getting a pick up should any fish come onto the spot and start grazing, rather than giving it 4/5 spods over each rod just give it 10 onto one area.

This is especially important when using the bloodworm, because of all the tiny particles present on the zone 3 rigs is definitely better than 1. Not only does it increase your chance of a pick up but I’ve had it on too many occasions where I have had double takes off a tightly baited area which I’m sure would not of happened if I was fishing 3 different spots.

The Mix 

The mix I use will near enough always stay the same from venue to venue, it consists of 10mm Live System boilies which I like to glaze in the matching bait booster, a tin of sweetcorn followed by a helping of hemp, the only thing I will sometimes change is the addition of some 15mm baits if I know there is nuisance fish present in the lake, then to that I will add my handful of frozen bloodworm. It’s a mix that I have the upmost of confidence in and it has served me well over the last few years.

Rig choice?

I like to keep things reasonably simple when it comes to rigs, I like to think one rig will suit me in 99% of situations, that being the Ronnie rig, I don’t change when I start introducing the bloodworm due to all the other items of food I have in the mix, I still have my 10/15mm boilies present so a boilie hook bait isn’t going to look out of place, I have however found my rigs getting shorter and shorter over the past couple of years, there isn’t really a reasoning behind it, it just sort of happened one day and it seems to work just as well if not better than when I was using longer ones!

 Coincidence or not?

For me this season I have been concentrating my efforts over at Farriers lake, which is one of the Carp Societies waters situated in the Cotswolds. Now up until September the biggest fish I had under my belt was a common of around 37lb’s. When this time came, I started to introduce bloodworm into the swim and instantly started catching 40lbers, not just 1 or 2 but multiple every trip including one session where I managed 7 over 40lb! I even managed the biggest fish in the pond at over 49lbs. Yes, it could be a coincidence due to the time of year and the fish being up in weight, but it happened to regularly for me to even consider it being coincidental, I believe them bigger older residents that are more in tune with their surroundings just couldn’t resist seeing their natural food being handed to them on a plate. One thing is for certain it definitely didn’t do me any harm so I will let you decide on that one whether or not it was just constant sheer luck of what picked up my hook baits