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Frozen black lug

Blanch worms certainly catch fish , my fishing partner won the 2017 euro open , he was using a blanch worm. Years ago i was not that convinced of how good they could be until i borrowed 20 blanched worms to fish spurn point over low water . I had four codling that day when no body else had any thing. Now would i have caught any way using other baits i dont no but what i do know they certainly did,nt put the fish off. To be honest i really do prefer fresh bait when i can get it which at my age is,nt always possible.
 
Only use blacks in winter when targeting unicorns. Have used both fresh and frozen blacks , fresh if available where I’m fishing, e.g Dungy coast or Chesil and have had good and bad sessions on both. One worm on a hook ain’t gonna pull in the fish like 6 or 7 will, so using both I’ll fish fairly large baits with lots of scent.
If the fish ain’t there you won’t catch them, but a big juicy bait will give you more chance.

Using frozen crab left from earlier in the year has always been the only bait that I can notice a difference with in catch rate when after unicorns in winter on chesil or Kent way, and a couple times locally.
 
2much said:
Only use blacks in winter when targeting unicorns. Have used both fresh and frozen blacks , fresh if available where I’m fishing, e.g Dungy coast or Chesil and have had good and bad sessions on both. One worm on a hook ain’t gonna pull in the fish like 6 or 7 will, so using both I’ll fish fairly large baits with lots of scent.
If the fish ain’t there you won’t catch them, but a big juicy bait will give you more chance.

Using frozen crab left from earlier in the year has always been the only bait that I can notice a difference with in catch rate when after unicorns in winter on chesil or Kent way, and a couple times locally.
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Thinking about it, I’ve had a few more codling this way on rag n squid sausages. ?
 
None of this seems to be helping me at the moment though. Last two trips were blanks if you don’t count dogs or pins. ?
 
Valleyboy said:
Rag works well in the upper BC for codling
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Is that because they are there in the upper bc or because they are cheaper than blacks and people use bigger baits?
We do get blow lug on some spots here, mostly small though and not blacks or yellows to my knowledge - it’s mostly rag. I’ve probably caught more smoothies in the Solent on king rag sausage than anything else, even crab.
 
2much said:
Is that because they are there in the upper bc or because they are cheaper than blacks and people use bigger baits?
We do get blow lug on some spots here, mostly small though and not blacks or yellows to my knowledge - it’s mostly rag. I’ve probably caught more smoothies in the Solent on king rag sausage than anything else, even crab.
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There is a lot of rag present there anyway but you could be right about bigger baits as well. Rag is easily outfished by blacks here but there are masses of blacks locally and very little rag which could be why
 
Valleyboy said:
There is a lot of rag present there anyway but you could be right about bigger baits as well. Rag is easily outfished by blacks here but there are masses of blacks locally and very little rag which could be why
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I’ve bought frozen Welsh blacks before quiet a bit. Bloody big worm!
 
Emmcee75 said:
Living in Berkshire and with a fishing trip being a spur of the moment thing sometimes for me with the potential of tackle shops being shut when I get to a chosen venue, I'm looking at getting a stock of frozen lug in my freezer. I've found plenty of suppliers for frozen blacks but there is one I've seen that blanches the worm in hot water , saying that it toughens the worm, before wrapping them up. I've caught on frozen blacks and happy to use them but has Anyone used blanched worm before, pros or cons? Can't help but think any juices/scent will be lost in the blanching process.
I know fresh is best naturally but I just want a back up for the occasions that fresh isn't possible for me.
Cheers for any info.
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i use blanch lug 99% of the time fishes well ,i blanch around 50 lug for 25-30 seconds in boiling water drain then straight in to cool water, then wrap in 3 layers of paper then cling film / or vac pack , i pump blacks and can get fresh most of the time but use blanch . you can mess around with the time in hot water to make them firmer . i given people packs and they think its fresh worm, but you must gut them or they can be mushy
 
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Interesting that you cook them for that amount of time JWillson. I've found 15 to 20 seconds ample and much longer than that can be overkill with the result being too leathery. The 'production line' is an old jam pan on top of a big gas ring (the one I bought for lead smelting) with salted water on a rolling boil. The worm go into an old chip pan basket and once the timer sounds get tipped out onto a riddle and seperated to cool. Smaller batches like leftovers from a summer bass 'pump and fish' session get done in 10s in a takeaway tub with boiling water straight out of the kettle. Like others I've found it often outfishes fresh but don't tell the soothsayers - they just won't believe it :D
 
Topwater said:
Interesting that you cook them for that amount of time JWillson. I've found 15 to 20 seconds ample and much longer than that can be overkill with the result being too leathery. The 'production line' is an old jam pan on top of a big gas ring (the one I bought for lead smelting) with salted water on a rolling boil. The worm go into an old chip pan basket and once the timer sounds get tipped out onto a riddle and seperated to cool. Smaller batches like leftovers from a summer bass 'pump and fish' session get done in 10s in a takeaway tub with boiling water straight out of the kettle. Like others I've found it often outfishes fresh but don't tell the soothsayers - they just won't believe it :D
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What is the idea with using salted water , never tried salted water , how much salt do you use.
 
Its quicker as salted water boils at lower temperature. I put about a handful of cheap cooking salt in the jam pan which holds about 15l of water or just use sea water if we do it down at the boat club
 
So an update from my opening post. After reading plenty of good points on both I've decided to order both and conduct my own experiment i guess.
I have taken delivery of an order of 200 frozen blacks and 200 blanched blacks. I always use a 2 hook rig of sorts on at least one rod so I will use both blacks varieties and use them fairly (eg so using them both on hooks above and below the lead etc) and I will write down results over time and report them here. Just need the weather to play ball now so I can get out and fish.
Thanks for everyone's input, definitely food for thought.
 
Emmcee75 said:
So an update from my opening post. After reading plenty of good points on both I've decided to order both and conduct my own experiment i guess.
I have taken delivery of an order of 200 frozen blacks and 200 blanched blacks. I always use a 2 hook rig of sorts on at least one rod so I will use both blacks varieties and use them fairly (eg so using them both on hooks above and below the lead etc) and I will write down results over time and report them here. Just need the weather to play ball now so I can get out and fish.
Thanks for everyone's input, definitely food for thought.
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where did you get blanched lug from.
cheers mick.
 

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