Most of you have dabbled with bloodworm and joker, but if you’re honest you will confess to not understanding the science behind the bait. However, Alan Scotthorne has forgotten more than most of us know about it, and this month he reveals what makes him the best bloodworm angler in the world

All too often I hear how much better the continentals are at bloodworm fishing, and that the English match stars are light years behind. Okay, as a general rule many continental anglers get more exposure to the bait. It is cheaper, more readily available, and many of their contests are fished to international-style rules permitting the use of bloodworm and joker. However, we are catching up…
Years ago, I would agree that the continentals had the edge on us when it came to bloodworm and joker fishing. We simply did not get the exposure to the bait that we needed to compete with the likes of the French and Belgians.
I think this was down to several things. First, there were very few venues where bloodworm and joker was permitted, mainly because it wasn’t needed. As an example, on many of the country’s rivers you could sometimes sack up on a traditional maggot approach. For one reason or another, things are very different nowadays and these red-letter sessions are few and far between…that is, without the use of bloodworm and joker. It won’t catch fish that aren’t there, but it can tend to spark the fish to feed that are in the peg. A similar scenario has occurred on many canals across the country. It used to be the case that squatt would catch fish all the way through the winter. But on many canal venues bloodworm and joker is now needed to keep the bites coming.

Keeping bloodworm and joker
To gain the edge, I like to keep my bloodworm and joker in tip-top condition when storing it at home. Good bait is essential to ensure I stay one step ahead of the rest.
Bloodworm is easily kept in a shallow tray with just enough water to cover their backs. The idea is that the water is shallow enough for them to lift their heads out and get some oxygen. Without it they will die.
I use cold tap water, but if you suspect the water in your area has a high chlorine content always use bottled water (too much chlorine will kill the bait). I change the water daily, which takes literally seconds. I also fish out the dead worms with a fine-mesh net to ensure all the bait is perfect.
Joker is slightly more tricky to keep. I fill a 17-litre groundbait bucket to the top with water. I oxygenate the water with a fishtank aerator and two large airstones. Every three days I riddle the dead joker off. The way I do this is to put a very small amount of water in a tray and then place a riddle over the top, so it is just touching the surface. I then put the joker on top of the riddle and wait an hour or so for the live stuff to swim through. Once the dead joker has been riddled off, the live joker can be placed back in a bucket of fresh water.
On the bank, I keep my hooker bloodworm and joker in an inch of water from the venue. I transport both baits to the bank in paper, but quickly take the bloodworm out, as it can soon soften up in paper and make it limp.

Groundbait or leam?
I think feeding is the most important aspect of any method, but especially so with bloodworm and joker.
Obviously there is no substitute for experience, but hopefully I can pass on what I have learned about feeding, particularly in different weather conditions and when looking for certain species of fish. Water temperature plays a big part in helping me decide how I am going to introduce my jokers into the peg. If the water is below 10 degrees I prefer to feed my jokers either raw, or just with leam. Unless, that is, I am fishing a water that I know can be very prolific (where catches regularly exceed double figures). If I am slightly unsure of the peg’s potential I will always feed my jokers in leam. This is because leam should have no detrimental effect, whereas groundbait can occasionally put fish such as perch off the feed.
For today’s session on the Stainforth and Keadby Canal I have decided to feed my jokers in a double leam mix - damp leam bound together with grey leam so it doesn’t break up midwater but goes to the bottom of my 11 feet deep swim.
One of the questions I am often asked is how much joker to feed at the start, and how much leam to feed them in.
This is a massive generalisation, but if I am after perch on a canal, I prefer to feed a maximum of 100 ml of joker at the start, and bulk them out with several balls of leam. The reason? Perch are very greedy fish. They will come into the peg and eat everything available to them. This can often fill them up if too much bait is present. Putting a minimal amount of joker into several balls of leam forces the perch to root around, looking for the jokers and prolonging the life of the swim.
Conversely, if I am after roach I always like to have a peg where I feed at least 300 ml of joker at the start. My theory is that roach feed in a very different way to perch. Instead of coming into the peg and gorging themselves full of bait, roach tend to be much more fussy about what they eat, and pick off just the odd joker throughout the day. They also tend to swim in much higher numbers than predatory fish such as perch.
Even if I am fishing a very prolific water such as a commercial, the maximum I will ever feed will be one kilo in five hours, and this is very rare. Most times I feed half-a-kilo or less.

Judge the peg
For today’s session I will feed a line at eight metres with 100 ml of jokers inside four balls of double leam. I am targeting perch on this line, but wouldn’t be surprised if I caught the odd roach. My main line is at 13 metres, where I will feed 300 ml of jokers in six balls of double leam. I expect to catch mainly roach and the odd skimmer on this line. I have not fished this particular stretch of canal, right in the heart of Doncaster, for quite some time, but I know there is a good head of roach present. However, I feel I cannot be too selective, as there was a minus three frost last night and perch may be the only species willing to feed.


How many lines to feed?
If I expect to catch a few fish from a venue I normally keep it simple and feed two lines, one close in and one main line further out. This is a generalisation, and things can vary depending on the depth of the venue. Generally, the harder I expect the fishing to be, the more lines I will feed. I can then cover my options by feeding joker on each line, hoping to take a few fish off each one at different stages of the day. I won’t hesitate to put in six or eight lines, but will look for a similar depth on some of them so I can use the same rig. It is far too complicated to set up eight rigs, each to fish a separate line. I always feed a line or two more aggressively at the start, in the hope of persuading some fish to have a feed later on in the session. It also gives me the chance of hooking a big fish that has been drawn to the bait.

Alan’s Bloodworm rigs
I like to keep my rigs very basic when bloodworm fishing, and stick to some simple rules. When fishing bloodworm and joker the idea is to concentrate the fish on or very near the bottom. Therefore my rigs usually have a bulk roughly 18 ins away from my hook. I am fishing for fish in the last six inches of water, so this is where I concentrate most of my efforts on presentation. I tie all my hooklengths to 7 ins lengths of line. And I never place a shot on the hooklength when fishing for roach. I feel it is very important for the last length of line to fall naturally, and in a straight line.
Today, my main rig for the long line incorporates a 4 x 16 Trabucco Ultimate 1 float. It is shotted with an olivette and four number 12 droppers. It has a glassfibre tip, and is ideal when the fish are taking the bait confidently. I also have two rigs made up with hand-made wire bristle floats, again of 4 x 16 capacity and shotted the same way, but this time with number 13 shots to finely balance the wire tips.
Wire bristle floats can be difficult to see, especially in low light conditions. I find I can use a wire bristle float on the close-in line without any problems. Very important is the fact that sometimes the closer you fish, the more tentative the bites can be – this is especially true in winter.
I normally prefer to use glassfibre bristles for my bloodworm fishing, as they are easier to shot and are more visible, but will always use wire when the fish I am catching are very small, and when I am expecting to be fishing for a low weight.
My mainline is 0.10 mm Shimano Silk Shock tied to a 0.06 mm Silk Shock hooklength. My preferred hooks are Mustad Wide Gape Canal Seed in size 22. On very hard days I will use the barbless version, as it will damage the bait less and hang slightly more naturally on the hook. It is very important, when hooking bloodworm, to nick it as lightly as possible, in the slightly tougher part of the worm near the head.
Some people have a problem with missed bites when bloodworm and joker fishing, but this is rarely so for me. I tend to use a slightly longer line than most people opt for, and let the float bury out of sight before striking. I do this with bloodworm, particularly when I’m on a lot of fish, because I feel it is one of the most natural baits around, and the fish are not scared to swallow the bait. I also have half-a-metre of pole behind me, which acts as a lever when striking at indications.
Many people miss bites when small fish intercept the bait on the way down. A good tip when getting bites on-the-drop is to bulk your rig down and look for a more positive indication. Many people tend to spread the rig out and look for fish that have come up-in-the-water. That may be the correct thing to do when loosefeeding, but it does not often pay when fishing worm and joker.

Topping-up
Catching early fish on bloodworm and joker can be simple, but topping-up is one of the more technical aspects.
I measure all the joker I feed at the start in a Drennan pole cup. Thinking about it logically, it is very easy to gauge how much joker to feed when topping-up. An example is, if I feed 300 ml of jokers at the start, and my bites start tailing off after around three hours, this tells me that roughly 200 ml of jokers will keep the swim going for the remaining two hours. Thinking about it mathematically, you can gauge roughly how much jokers you should include in your top-up feed. This is not an exact science, but is a guide when first toying with bloodworm and joker.
The chances are that if you are feeling the need to top-up you have had a good run of fish beforehand, and bites have tailed off. This could be due to a predatory fish moving in, or a big fish such as a tench or a bream, so always have several put-ins, looking for the bonus fish. When you are adamant in your own mind that all the jokers have been eaten, you can then think about topping-up.
When topping-up with bloodworm and joker it is very important to ensure the feed ends up where you are fishing. Always add enough leam or double leam to the jokers to make sure they end up where you want them. In still or shallow pegs you can top-up with a ball of raw joker, or sprinkle some grey leam over the top of them. This will separate the jokers. They can then be atomised, which will make the leam stickier, binding the jokers just enough so they can travel a few feet down before breaking up.

Alan’s session – conclusion
Today I have fished the Stainforth and Keadby Canal in the centre of Doncaster. I knew from previous experience that there is a good head of various species present in this area. I fed my line at eight metres with 100 ml of joker, bulked out with four balls of double leam. In by hand went six balls of double leam containing 300 ml of joker on my main 13-metre line.
The day started slowly. I think this was due mainly to the minus three temperature the night before. Gradually my peg started to come alive, with perch ranging from 1 oz to 4 oz starting to show. I was a little surprised at the lack of roach action, and felt that it was possible that there was such a head of perch present that the roach were not getting a chance to get close to the bait. Just as I was thinking of re-feeding I took a 12 oz skimmer from my long line. Surprisingly, no more followed and my bites started to slow.
Three hours into the session I decided to re-feed the long line with 200 ml of jokers. I took this opportunity to have a look on my close-in line. I was slightly shocked at the reward – a 1 lb perch. I continued fishing this line, but felt that this perch had possibly eaten all my bait. I topped this line up with 100 ml of joker in two balls of double leam. As I anticipated, I started to catch roach from about 2 o’clock, and the extra bait ensured I caught right up to the end of the session. I ended up with about 7 lb in four hours.
I had caught steadily for the duration, showing that my set-up, initial feed and, most importantly, my feeding was correct!



This article appears courtesy of Angling Times Advanced