Knowing how to put a worm on a hook is an important aspect of fishing. A worm is a chief insect used as bait by fishermen all over the world to catch different species of fish more efficiently.
If you want to know how to put a worm on a hook and use it as your bait for catching fish, there are certain things you need to understand first. And this article is here to enlighten you about everything that you need to know regarding the hooking of worms for baiting. Let us get started!
How to Put a Worm on a Hook
Putting a worm on a fishing hook is actually very easy; that is if you know how to. Our article is going to walk you through all the steps on how to put a worm on a hook. So keep reading to find out all about baiting.
1. Getting Your Necessities
A very simple but important measure for putting a worm on your fishing hook is to gather all the items essential for carrying out the activity first.
This involves getting the right kind of worm(s), hook type and size, appropriate fishing rod, etc.
(i) Preparing The Worm
You can either purchase a jar of worms or dig some up from the soil in your garden or backyard.
Whatever you do, make sure that you pick the healthiest, active worms and store them in a cool place; preferably a container like Tupperware filled with cool soil inside. You can even put them in your refrigerator inside a container with dirt.
If kept in a warm environment, the worms will become mushy and unsuitable for being used as bait for fishing. Because the warmer the worms are, the more they will wiggle while baiting your hook.
Take the worms out of the container only when you are about to use them. There are a variety of worms available in the market that work well for different fish. Some of the most commonly used worms include the red worm, nightcrawlers, etc.
(ii) Preparing The Hook
The type of fishing hook you use to put your worm on or to catch your fish also has a huge impact on how well the bait will set on the hook or catch the fish.
There are different types of hooks available in the market; each with its own range of sizes and shapes that are ideal for specific fishes. If you have a specific fish in mind that you would like to catch, you should use the hook that works best for catching that fish.
For example, if you want to catch carp fish, using the bait hook or circle hook will be the ideal choice.
To find out more about fishing hooks and which is ideal for what species of fish, you can read our article on the types of fishing hooks.
(iii) Preparing Your Hands
Before you put the worm on your fish hook, you can follow a simple trick to make your bait successful. Before putting the worm on the hook with your hand, try to leave enough dirt on your hand. As messy as it sounds, this trick has two advantages.
Firstly, the girt of the soil will help you counter and control the wiggly movement of the worm when you spear one and help you push it into the hook successfully.
Secondly, leaving dirt on your hands also helps to mask your scent and keeps the worm smelling natural. Since fish tend to have sharp noses, there is a high probability that they will not come near your bait if they smell something fishy or foreign, aka, your human scent.
2. Putting The Worm on The Hook
Quite a few methods can be followed to put a worm on your hook as bait. We will be discussing the steps of two major methods used by fishers worldwide to catch fish using bait. They are the sock baiting and the standard baiting methods.
(i) The Sock-Baiting Method
The name of this baiting method is itself suggestive of how to put a worm on a hook. This process is very similar to the way we wear socks on our feet; that is, by pulling them up over our feet.
The only difference is that, in this case, we pierce the worm by the hook and push it through the body of the worm lengthwise.
Let us take a look at the steps of this baiting method.
Step 1: Piercing The Worm With The Hook
Use your hook to pierce the worm just behind its head. Make sure not to pierce it all the way through but in a way that leaves the hook inside the worm’s body.
Although this method is a little more difficult as it increases the chances of the fish biting off your bait but not the hook, it is also far more attractive to the fish.
Even if the fish bites off from your bait, do not worry about the bait being ineffective. A limp or ha;f eaten worm will also work as good bait for further hunting.
Step 2: Putting The Worm on The Hook
After you have successfully pierced the worm, push the hook very gently and carefully through the entire body of the worm lengthwise.
Be extra cautious while passing the curve of the hook. This step is exactly like pulling a sock over your foot. Make sure you do not shred the worm’s body by pulling the barb of the hook through its body.
Step 3: Finishing The Setup and Casting
When you find the worm’s head all the way up the hook’s length, stop pulling it any further and pierce the hook’s point through the body of the worm in a way that it sticks out of its side.
Let the rest of the worm’s body dangle freely off the hook. A wiggling worm is far more attractive to a fish than a still one.
This method also makes it easier for the fish to bite off this free portion of the worm without biting the fishing hook. Although it is a high-risk method, the reward is just as high in the sock-baiting system.
This method also requires having a large stock of worms since they are eaten up easily. You can even use worms split in half as your bait instead of using a whole one every time.
(ii) The Standard Baiting Method
This method is a little more simple than the sock-baiting method. But has more chances of injury as it involves more work with the hook.
To follow this method of baiting, you need to follow the steps given below.
Step 1: Piercing The Worm with The Hook
Use the sharp barbed end of the hook to pierce one end of the worm, close to its head, all the way through. Make sure never to press your fingers directly against the point of piercing as you may pierce your own hands.
Step 2: Putting The Worm on The Hook
Slide the pierced worm up to the top of the hook and place it just below the knot of the hook. To further secure the worm on the hook, you can use a half hitch knot to tie the shorter end of the pierced worm to the fishing line. Leave a little space along the length of the worm’s body and pierce the longer end of its body through the hook again.
Repeat steps 3 to 5 times like the worm resembles an accordion-like appearance and prepare for casting.
Read More: What is a Leader Fishing
Conclusion
Now that you know all about putting a worm on the fishing hook as bait from this article, we hope you will be successful in catching fish more efficiently with baiting.
If you keep practicing more and more, you will slowly but surely become more experienced in handling baits and fishing in general. For More valuable resources & any query stay connected with us.
So keep hustling and, happy fishing!
