Geordie, I know you are trying to be helpfull, but that stretch of coast is already being absolutely hammered by pro bait diggers from all over the south east and is already being pumped out patch by patch. Even the pros are starting to moan that they are getting completely cleared from huge patches (just ask Tony at Seagull Tackle).
Taking huge quantities for winter bait means removing even more worms during the time when they breed.
The beaches around Dungeness are one of the last areas of the Kent and Sussex coast that have even a shadow of their former worm concentrations and are under massive pressure already, please dont take more than you are going to use in the summer months.
Sorry mate but you're talking rubbish, the majority of worms have already bred (80% of anyway). In digging on the big tides away from the easy smaller worms inshore it is in fact the most conservation friendly way as you are not damaging the nursery areas.
Recreational anglers like me do very little damage to the lug beds, where I pump it is unusual to see another digger I don't already know and rarely more that 2 or 3 other diggers. Last night there were 3 of us who went together and 2 other diggers. I couldn't see anyone else within a mile and the whole area is full of worm. One or two commercial guys who live close by usually dig elsewhere at their "secret" places. I very rarely see the commercial diggers at any of the spots I pump.
There are worms all the way between Hythe and Rye, a huge expanse of sand and millions of worms and if I can save myself £4.50 a score and guarantee quality frozen bait which is better than anything I will ever get from a shop who don't freeze lug until it's not been sold for a day or two, I'm going to do so. I will also be able to go fishing whenever I want and not have to rely on bait suppliers or tide times.
A little reading about the lifecycle of a lugworm.....
Lugworms begin to breed at an age of two years, when they also reach a large enough size to be considered suitable as bait. Each animal spawns on a single day, and the entire population of any beach completes spawning within a few days, although populations on different beaches spawn at different times. Most lugworms breed in winter (October to March), with the majority spawning in November and December. Some 20% of lugworms spawn in summer (July to September, Shahid 1982). Some lugworms die after spawning, and the remainder stops feeding and producing sandcasts for the period during which their larvae are living attached to sand grains in the adult burrows. Adult populations are at their lowest density, and individual worms at their smallest size in winter after breeding. Population density and worm size both increase quickly in spring as growth rates rise and maturing worms migrate into the adult lugworm beds.
Soon after fertilisation, the larvae migrate from the adult beds to a zone just below the low water mark, where they occur in dense populations for the next six months until they reach a length of about 10 mm. They then swim in a mucus tube to the upper part of the shore, where plenty of organic material occurs in a zone just below the strand line (in natural conditions; beach cleaning operations will remove much of the organic input usually provided during the holiday season). Very dense beds of juvenile lugworms occur in this area. The maturing worms eventually move down to the less densely populated adult beds at the bottom of the shore and in the sublittoral. Adult worms are capable of living for six years. They reach weights of 25 g in the south and west, or 10 g in the north-east, and may breed several times during their lifetime.
This complex life cycle makes lugworms very resilient to bait collection pressure, provided that bait diggers do not dig in the nursery beds high on the shore. Populations on the lowest part of the shore and in the shallow sublittoral are only rarely or never exploited. Adult worms will migrate into dug areas from these refuge populations, as well as from the nursery beds. However, the same complexity of life cycle and their relatively slow growth makes lugworms difficult candidates for bait farming, although progress is now being made with the culture of UK species (Olive pers. comm.).
As you have read, spawning worms don't cast so don't get pumped anyway. More harm is done by digging juvenile worms on the smaller tides so if anything, now is the best time to get bait. Bigger worms = less worms required.
In my experience the Dungie lug spawns by the end of May if the "milt" filled worms are anything to go by whichy is usefull as Feb - June is the time when demand for lug in kent is at it's lowest. These collectively I believe are the reasons Kent lug has survived the invention of the bait pump.
fftopic:
