It’s that time of year, the water is crystal clear on my Syndicate water, and I have spotted several Match anglers scraping late Joker on a few ponds in the local area. Bloodworm and Joker In the 1980’s we took ‘Dutch Open Fishing Matches’ apart on waters in Holland while serving with ‘The British Army’ over there. I’m still a huge fan. Bloodworm The Bloodworm is a small, (approx. half inch - 20mm) bright red, segmented midge larvae found in the silt at the bottom of ponds. Collecting bloodworm is by scraping them. This is done with a long pole with a knife-like blade fixed flat to the bottom at a right angle. This is then drawn through the silt and when the blade is removed from the water the bloodworm is found draped over the edge of the blade. This is then put into a bucket of clean water. Anglers can buy Bloodworm from local tackle shops but usually need to order them first. Bloodworm and Joker is normally used by match anglers on still waters and canals. The bloodworm can attract and catch fish when all other baits fail and because of their catching ability the Bloodworm is banned on many fisheries and fishing matches. Bloodworm is not just a good bait in winter, it is the best natural bait, available and carp love it. Joker The Joker is an insect larva similar to bloodworm but is a lot smaller. Joker is used as the feed when fishing with bloodworm and is also bought from tackle dealers. It’s not cheap, I make no apologies for it, but is it value for money, and I believe in the method. (A bag of boilies costs about £1.68p to produce and its being sold for £12 quid a kilo in the shops. That's not the best value for money. Not knocking good HNV bait, I’m a fan used in its correct place & quantity... Bloodworm and Joker is tricky to handle if you’re not used to it, but it can be devastating at any time of year, especially in the Autumn. There is no boiled bait on the market which can replicate the sheer pulling power of 'live' Bloodworm / Joker / Red Worm. It’s very hard to beat.

(Tip. We like it fresh or frozen. Not out of a bottle unless it’s a refined extract. Artificial flavors are typically not harmful. However, I'm not crazy about them, because they don't usually reproduce the natural taste of foods and are often markers for low-quality foods. Whether natural or artificial, food flavors are made up of molecules that occur naturally and can be synthesised. In general, natural flavours are much more complex than artificial ones, which have far fewer component molecules. Artificial flavor's may be more stable than natural ones and certainly are less expensive, so manufacturers prefer them, and many consumers are satisfied with them. There is even a weak case to be made that artificial flavors are safer for consumption because they omit components of natural flavours, which may be slightly toxic. However we will take natural over synthesised every day.) Swim-feeder We will put our blood-worm, joker, chopped lobworms, chopped red worm, snails and molehill soil / leam (powdered clay) mixture in with a big Swim-feeder, to get it to the bottom very quickly. I have modified a Spod, by cutting the orange top off. Pack it into it fairly tight and drop it in the margin or get it onto your spot. You need it to go straight to the bottom. Tip…. Do not 'Spod' it in, in a very loose mix! Live Bloodworm and Joker swim, if you Spod it into the surface layers there is no guarantee that it will all end up on the same spot. (In fact, will not end up on your spot, just accept it. If its frozen it will still be subject to the surface tow created by wind. If it has 10 foot to travel to the bottom, its going to spread like a bad habit in the surface layers and below. In fact there is a strong case to say that the pattern will be spread out for many meters on the deck). When using Bloodworm & Joker you require a tight baiting pattern, so put it in with a swim feeder, or ball it in with a Whopper Dropper. At distance, simply modify it to allow you to chuck it 100 yards, feed it through a Preston Inline 40g feeder which will cast as far as you need it to go. If it’s not heavy enough, clip lead onto it. If you have a plastic ‘Benny Boat’, you could make up nice firm balls and drop them from the boat along with your rig! However, you choose to do it, if you choose to try it, it needs to go straight to a hard bottom and stay there!! You will get 'false positives' so ensure that you have a big mouthful for the carp. Big Bream looooove the stuff, as do big fat Tench. In-fact as soon as you ring the dinner bell, the table will have ALL of the usual suspects tugging on your rig. Accept it, it’s going to happen. Simply ensure that you have a proper carp mouthful on. We will have no fear of using a 6 Lobworm 'Kebab' in this scenario. To avoid hooking nuisance fish, you must give the carp a good mouthful of Red-worm, Lobworm, Maggot or Plastic Immortal Baits. ‘Red Maggot 'Medusa' Rigs’ = Good. (Glug it in some raw liquidized Bloodworm Soup. Do not use your family blender for this, you will not remove the scent easily. It will be sofa time for a month)!! I hope this helps. Give it a try. TT.