# Keeping bloodworms alive



## sand flea

Those of us north of the Carolinas know what good bait bloodworms are. Problem is, they're approaching $1 per worm. Everybody knows they keep in the refrigerator for up to a week, but after that, they rot and die.

You can keep them indefinitely, believe it or not. Buy a small box of Instant Ocean saltwater mix at any aquarium store and mix up a small batch according to the directions. Keep the worms stored in this mix in the refrigerator and change out the water every few days.

I did this last spring and was able to keep large numbers of bloodworms alive for an entire month without losing a single one. Problem was, their color eventually washed out.

So I wrote the folks at Maine Bait and found out how to not only keep bloodies alive, but healthy as well. They suggest putting in a few drops of Kent Marine Micro*Vert Invertebrate Food for Fine Filter Feeders, two or three drops per gallon.

There you go--for about 15 bucks, you'll have enough salt and food to keep as many as you need all season. You just need to get used to a mass of writhing, predatory worms in your refrigerator, linguini as imagined by H.R. Giger.


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## Dixie719

...and keep The Wife out of the Fridge before she throws them away while you ain't looking!


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## jjaachapa

Man that sounds like a great idea. But for some crazy reason I seem to keep fishing till i use them all up. I can't figure it out.
Chapa


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## Caught Myself

Dixie719 said:


> ...and keep The Wife out of the Fridge before she throws them away while you ain't looking!


If your wife will tolerate bloodworms in the fridge, she's a keeper.


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## tw

I was told last summer to use oatmeal. It worked like a champ.


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## Darkness

Now you just need to fgure out how to get 'em to breed while they're in there just goofing off.

Maybe a tiny radio and some Barry White?


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## jjaachapa

Darkness said:


> Now you just need to fgure out how to get 'em to breed while they're in there just goofing off.
> 
> Maybe a tiny radio and some Barry White?


Not sure if you could get the males to do their thing with it being cold and all in the fridge. Could be suffering from shrinkage.


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## catman

Good tip Flea. I bought a dorm size frig at a yard sale a few yrs ago for $10.00 that I've been using to keep bait in. I've heard talk that bloods could go as high as $18.00 a dz by mid summer. Something to do with the diggers in Maine. So buy them cheap and keep them alive. Thanks Flea.

Catman


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## BubbaBlue

jjaachapa said:


> Not sure if you could get the males to do their thing with it being cold and all in the fridge. Could be suffering from shrinkage.


  

Actually the truth is worse than that. From what I read about them last year... when the moon is right or Barry Whiteworm is playing on the beach boombox, the males and females both swim to the surface of the water and literally blow up, spreading their eggs and sperm. The results become plankton. 

They all get one shot at it and never meet the partner they're blowing up for. 

Interesting critters if you read up on them. Like they don't have a circulatory system... the blood is moved around by peristalsis.
.


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## Axon

SF 

I still have 1/2 dozen left from that first trip we took with clyde and fred. I just turn them every day and when I take them to the pier I rinse them off in fresh bay water and back in fridge at home. I think its pushing almost 3 weeks now.


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## BubbaBlue

If anyone's interested, here's a copy of some bloodworm facts I posted over the winter.

Bloodworm (Glycera dibranchiata)

Classification: Phylum: Annelida; Class: Polychaeta

Description: Bloodworms are creamy pink segmented worms with small fleshy projections called parapodia. Their pale skin allows their red body fluid to show through, hence, the name "bloodworm." Their anterior end has a small tapered postomium with four small antennae.

Habitat: These worms burrow in to sandy-mud or silty-clay of the intertidal and subtidal regions. They can tolerate low levels of oxygen in the substrate as well as minimum salinity.

Movement: Bloodworms are excellent burrowers utilizing their prostomium, short stiff parapodia and perisaltic muscle contractions. during the winter months, they redistribute by swimming to another area thus repopulating a flat.

Respiration: Each parapodia has two finger-like gills where gases are exchanged with their body fluid.

Ingestion: These worms have a large eversible proboscis armed with four hollow jaws which are connected to poison glands. These "fangs" impale and kill their prey and can inflict a painful bite to unwary humans.

Growth: Bloodworms can grow up to fifteen inches in length. Their rate of growth is affected by the availability of food, temperature and salinity.

Excretion: Liquid wastes are eliminated from each segment via tube-like structures called "nephridia." The non-digestible solids are packaged within fecal pellets and regurgitated.

Nervous System: The anterior brain is connected to a large ventral nerve cord. This cord runs from the anterior to the posterior end of the worm.

Circulation: These worms do not have a highly developed circulatory system. Coelomic fluid containing hemoglobin is circulated by peristalic body movements.

Reproduction: During the middle of June, the water temperature and tidal stage initiate the spawning process of the sexually mature worms. They swim to the surface of the water where the males and females burst releasing their sperm and eggs. Both sexes of worms die after spawning.

Common Names: "beak thrower"

Predators: They are preyed upon by other carnivorous worms, crustaceans, fish and seagulls.
.


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## rattler

i leave them in the bag they came in and put that one in a gallon size bag...keep 3-4 weeks...get a little skinny by the 4th tho...


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## fyremanjef

*what about implants for bloods*

I was thinking about this last night as I emptied about at 1/4 cup of blood/juice from a blood worm and reading BubbaBlue's bloodworm educational material.

I wonder how a blood would do with a little injection of water or air to puff it up. SImilar to a collogen injection for lips. 

Will have to give it a try. Don't expect it to work, but hey nothing like drawing attention to yourself by shooting up worms.


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## Rockstar

anyone been bit by one of those little bastards? that don't feel too good. especially when you had no idea that they bit in the first place.


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## Green Cart

*We All Have Been Bitten*

Sooner or later, a fisherman handling a bloodworm like an earthworm is going to get the shock of his life.


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## BubbaBlue

Been popped a number of times over the years and then started cutting the biting end off (<1/4") before I cut him up into segments. No more bites. 

Jeff, it may have been a joke, but I used to blow up earth worms with air when LM bass fishing years ago. Had a little syringe in my tackle box. Worked pretty good too. Won't work for bloods unless you leave them whole.
.


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## fyremanjef

*actually*

I was serious.

I may pick up a syringe from work and give it a shot 

Will try with the next tiny worm that I come across. The intact think makes sense. But I noticed that some times when cutting these suckers in sections, that parts retain fluid (in a pocket) then pop like a zit when the barb enters. I wonder if there are sections that will hold fluid or air once the worm is cut up.. Would like to give this a shot, but will be an expensive experiment. But it will give me something to do once I get bored playing with my pop net 

Jeff


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## rattler

been blowing up crawlers for years...makes them float higher...i don't think it will work with bloods...the only "sealed area would be where the heart (hearts) is...tried a small piece of blue in the bag once...seemed to help...


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## sand flea

You guys talking about bloodies reminds me of my favorite joke. Any time I take a new guy out fishing I tell them, "Careful of these worms. They're highly predatory and have hard, sharp, black beaks that they'll throw out and pump you full of venom. It's like a wasp sting."

9 out of 10 tell me I'm full of crap. I challenge them to hold out their hand, into which I dump a worm. They hold it a little, tell me I'm a liar, grin, giggle, laugh, then....*chomp*!

They never do it again.


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## sand flea

So I've been doing more reading on bloodies and I stumbled across this fascinating document (warning: it's a PDF, so you'll need Adobe Acrobat installed).

The thing that really stood out for me is that the fangs of these animals are made out of heavy concentrations (more than 10%) of METAL--zinc and copper, to be specific. They are full of a neurotoxin, which is why it feels like a beesting after one gets you.

And after my conversation with Maine Bait and how they feed on plankton, I could't help but wonder: if they feed on microscopic animals, why the jaws? As this document makes clear, there's some disagreement among scientists on that question. They clearly feed on small crustaceans, but they also filter plankton.

I've had a terrible time getting worms from my local tackle shop this year. Next year I'll be buying a flat directly from Maine Bait or one of the other distributors and keep them all spring long.


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## rattler

never had any problems getting bloods at farmfresh...$8 for 10...and always good size...


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