Beach worms Port Hughes

[Fiona 2]

Hi there I'm in Port Hughes for work over the next 6 months and wanted to know where I can catch beach worms on the York Peninsula?

Been doing it for 8 years but up in QLD and not familiar with this area.

[Hunter69 1,499]

Maybe north of Moonta Bay there might be some seaweed mounds you can dig up and find some. We don't get the long worms that you bait in the shallows there. Just the small type under seaweed mounds. Take a shovel.

[Fiona 2]

Thanks Hunter will give it a go.

[MAH 449]

13 hours ago, Fiona said:

Hi there I'm in Port Hughes for work over the next 6 months and wanted to know where I can catch beach worms on the York Peninsula?

Can't help with the beach/bungum worms, as I'm terrible at catching them. But there are two other types of worms that are easily collected, seaweed worms and a type of lug worm.

Seaweed worms are small worms that look a like garden worms. They can be found in the beds of seaweed washed up on the shore. You are looking for areas where the seaweed beds build up over time, not just what washes up after a big blow. You dig down to where the weed bed meets the sand underneath and will find the worms in the bottom layers of the seaweed. Don't be fooled by their small size, they are a gun bait, I've caught plenty of big YFW on these small worms.

The lug worms need a bait pump, but are also easy to collect and are definitely around Port Hughes. They are a bigger bait, but don't keep as well and can get a bit mushy. They also secrete a yellowy brown ooze that stains easily, making your fingers look like your a pack a day smoker.

The other option is pumping for nippers, which are plentiful around Port Hughes.

[MAH 449]

Also, you can easily catch squid from Port Hughes jetty, which would be another readily available bait.

[Rybak 636]

Go and see Jimsgotworms in Moonta. Just google....prepares the worms for sea fishing. I thing Pt Hughes deli has them for sale. By all accounts, they work well.............Good price too for the amount of worms you get...

[Wert 472]

Around that area you can also collect bloodworms by turning over rocks a bit buried in the sand/mud down by the low tide line plus you'll get shrimp and small crabs as well, just watch for blue ring occies.

Prawns, pillies etc all work perfectly well too.

Just remember in SA you probably want to be using smaller hooks for general fishing than what you're probably used to On the east coast.

[Soobz 559]

A mate did some testing on seaweed worms trying to breed them up himself. Turns out they are very slow breeders so don't take more than you need and turn the weed back over as you found it, ie. don't just scatter it around, this is to protect any eggs that were there.