Worm is a great bait but it can quickly become expensive if you use it regularly and have to buy it from the tackle shop. For this very reason I have built my own wormery which will provide me with all the worms I will ever need, will save me a few quid each time I go fishing and allows me to compost some of the waste that our household creates. If your looking for step by step directions on how to build your own wormery and how to maintain it so you have a steady supply of worms then read on.
Step 1: Choose an enclosure
After a great deal of research it transpires that it’s all to do with having a large surface area, not depth. With this in mind I have chosen a plastic stacking box which is approximately ?? x ??. You could build a box out of untreated ply but I didn’t have any wood laying around that was suitable and couldn’t be bothered, besides the box only cost £4 from QD.
Plastic stacking box to be used as a wormery
Step 2: Prepare the drainage layer
Drill holes in the bottom of the box approximately the width of a pencil (be careful not to push to hard or you risk cracking the plastic), this will allow any liquid to drain. Line the bottom of the box with damp newspaper or if like me you have some weed suppressant material laying around cut a piece of this to size. I then poured in a mixture of sand and grit (often used in laying patios etc) which I had laying around. This is to aid drainage and also acts as a deterant to the worms burrowing down to the bottom as they don’t like the course texture of the sand/grit mixture.
Showing weed surpresent
Sand and grit layer
Step 3: Prepare the worm bedding layer
Next I poured in a layer of well rotted compost from our garden compost heap, followed by a layer of newspaper shredding that had been soaked over night. As I had the remains of a bag of sawdust I poured this in too. The aim here is to provide the worms with a variety of bedding material.
Compost bedding layer for the worms
shredded newspaper bedding
Step 4: Add the worms and food layer
Next I added a few pots of dendrebena worms that I bought from the local tackle shop, these quickly burrowed down in to the bedding material. Then I added a layer of kitchen waste, this included vegetable peelings, a couple of egg shells that had been crushed up and a number of tea bags that had been ripped open. You need to be careful not to overfeed the worms as this can kill them and as I had only added a couple of hundred worms I have only covered approximately half of the box. A quick spray with an atomiser spray to keep the wormery damp and then a few sheets of damp newspaper on top, after that the lid is placed back on (make sure you have drilled air holes in the lid).
kitchen scraps
Step 5: Choose a suitable location for the wormery
Choose where you are going to situate the wormery, somewhere out of direct sunlight would be best and ensure you place it on bricks (one in each corner should be surfice) to help with drainage, you could even place a tray/container underneath and use the liquid as fertiliser on your plant. I keep mine in an old outbuilding.
Step 6: Maintaining the wormery
- Make sure you keep the wormery damp but not too wet, I use an atomiser spray for this
- Make sure you don’t over feed the wormery and avoid things that are acidic, such as orange peel. I also avoid onion and leak, mainly because it stinks.
- After a few weeks you should start to notice that the worms have multiplied in numbers, to harvest a bait tub full for fishing, just pull back the top layer of rotting food and you should find the worms there. Ensure that you leave enough worms to keep breeding.
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would this wormery work for lobworms?, great site by the way
Hi Wayne, thanks. I keep lobworms in a different way. Try this. I use a deep plastic box as the container (or a small childs plastic dustbin would do), drill small holes in the base for drainage, tear up strips of newspaper and soak them, squeeze out the excess water and fluff up the pulp you are left with. Place the paper in the box/bin up to about half way. Add a handful of potatoe peeling and then put in your worms (guide to gathering lobworms). Cover the wormery with a piece of hessian sack or ply and place in a shady part of the garden. Make sure you check the wormery regularly for dead worms and remove them otherwise your whole wormery will die. Top up with a handful of potatoe peelings and agitate the paper now and again. This should keep going for a number of months. Lobworms hate rapid changes in temperature and they can often be difficult to keep during the winter months.
cheers m8, roll on da 16th hay,(well 12:01 on da 15th lol) me and my m8 aint been fishing long maybe a season and half missed most of last season due to broken ankle, so not much experince so more information can gather the better, we both live only bout 5/10 min walk from the river wensum(wensum park) not the best part of the river but do us for now, when first started i had a 7lb bream and a 2lb roach from opp the park. i’ve seen people catch 20lb plus carp there as well but these fish seemed to have moved on has dont see them showing anymore well hope that the case cause also seen ottters in same strech of river, but not for a year or so, is it possible for the otters to have eating all of the best fish cause thinking bout it don’t even see the bream showing anymore, or im just there at the wrong time(i hope).
Hi, no worries. A 2lb roach is a good fish. The bream are notoriously nomadic, meaning they roam about, not staying in one place so that could be the reason for their absence. The carp also don’t often stay in one place for too long and often have favoured breeding grounds they return to each year. My advice would be to get down to river a number of times and look for signs of fish, without a rod in your hand you will be surprised what you often see. Take a camera with you when you go fishing, if you get a good fish send in a pic, I’m thinking of putting up a Norfolk photo gallery and will take photos of fish caught in Norfolk.
Good luck for the 16th. I haven’t decided what I’ll be fishing for yet, an evening pike or perch on the spinner or the bream shoals, keep an eye on andylink.co.uk for a write up. All being said, make sure yoiu have fun.
will do m8, and yeah i’d say that roach is my best fish as yet, not my biggest weight but i gather for roach that is a good fish, seen few more big’ish roach on another strech of the river so think i’ll try for them and the bream this season also heard few people havin tench out of there which would be nice i’ve had couple little un’s from lake before but would love to catch a river tench as don’t like going to lakes due to lack of transport and not to mention the cost, what you spend on a ticket can cover the cost of bait if river fishing, thanks m8 and good luck