Freezing Ragworm and Blacklug :::TOP TIPS:::

[burnley-steve]

FREEZING RAGWORM
Ok so you ordered too much fresh rag or had to cancel a trip etc and have no plans to go out and everyone knows you can't freeze rag without it turning to mush so it has to go in the bin! Not anymore.

I have found a good way to freeze rag and tried it and can confirm the results are pretty good.

The worms need to be in good condition prior to freezing obviously. Now mix 250gm of salt per litre of water into a container, drop in the worms, cover and place in the fridge.

Now I only left them 12 hours before wrapping in newspaper as you would a blacklug and placing into freezer. However i know that the worms are stiffer if you leave them up to 24 hours but I was happy with the results after a 12 hour soak. And for what its worth rag frozen this way is by far stiffer than standard frozen black.

So regarding results, they are soft for sure and I used them with other baits and used fine elastic to make wraps. The other day I fished using frozen black/rag wraps and black/squid wraps and the former outfished the latter by some margin.

FREEZING BLACKLUG
Again better if the worm is fresh. Now you need a syringe and either pilchard or mackerel oil. Get your blacklug and cut the sandy tail off it. Now using the syringe inject into the tail end about 2ml of your prefered oil and gently work the oil with your fingers into the length of the worm. lay all your worms onto newspapers, lightly salt, roll up and leave in fridge for 6-8 hours. Now simply freeze.

Results for black frozen this way are very good indeed and will surprise you. When the worm is thawed it is as stiff as near fresh black lug and full of juice. I have not actually bothered buying fresh recently as I batch froze 150 blacklug a few months back and have mainly been using this and anybody who sees my reports will know I always seem to avoid a blank.

I am planning to freeze some batches of rag down for when fresh is hard to come by as I am happy enough that it is a perfectly acceptable standby bait and may even outfish fresh on occasion due to better release of juices. (Flatties love a nice soft bait)

In closing I am a firm advocate that fresh is best in most circumstances but if you put a bit of effort into preserving unused bait I think the margins are not as large as some may have you think.

[rob f]

very interesting read Steve . I've never tried freezing rag . if I have any left over after a sesh , I will give it a try

[liphook]

Interesting Not tried the oil method above but I have total faith in blanched black. As soon as this wind dies down a touch I'll be out after codling with it