As I recall, bread usually came bottom of the list and there were a few who opted for maggots (all matchmen), but the remainder all voiced a preference for worms.

I was reminded of this one day when I bumped into an old friend – a worm man through and through – who was having problems gathering sufficient worms for a day out because of the dry spell and he refused to pay shop prices.

But why, I asked, didn't he have a wormery? He obviously did not know much about these useful additions to an angler's armoury, and reckoned that probably the same applied to lots of other anglers.

Wouldn't it, he wanted to know, be a useful subject for a column some time? So, here goes.

It is nearly always possible, even in the driest weather, to go out with fork and bucket and find worms somewhere. Manure heaps on farms are a good bet but wherever you go it is important, of course, to get permission before you start heaving great lumps of you-know-what all over the place.

It is, however, much easier and a deal more convenient to have a ready supply of worms in your own back garden. Naturally, it is important to realise from the outset that there are several types of worms and the commonest used in angling are lobs, brandlings and red worms.

The lobs, those ordinary garden earthworms, are difficult to cultivate in numbers in one place. I have never seen a successful lob wormery, although they are to be found wild, as it were, in most compost heaps and in lawns in moist conditions at night.

This is not, however, a reliable way of ensuring a quantity of worms instantly available at all times and in all weathers. In any case, the neighbours can form some very unflattering opinions of that 'funny' man next door who gropes about the grass on his hands and knees in the dark.

No, it is better to settle for a proper wormery full of brandlings and red worms, where you can fill a bucket of the things in no time at all.

The difference between the two species of worms is that brandlings can grow to almost finger length and are reddish, often with yellow bands around their bodies that have earned them the nickname of 'tigers'.

On the other hand, red worms are much smaller, often a brighter red, and are considered to be superior to brandlings in many angling situations.

Right, now for the wormery itself. Obviously it must be enclosed on all sides – including the bottom – or you will lose your stock. It must also be in a cool, shady position.

Some anglers use dustbins but they have their limitations. Others dig a hole and line it with polythene sheeting or timber but, however it is constructed, it ought to have a lid or top to stop it drying out. It also prevents the birds from having a feast.

So many of the house gardens in this area have only about a foot of top soil and from there on down it is solid chalk which can be left as a base.

All that is needed is a rectangular hole about six feet by three feet – fortunately her indoors did not go away during the period I was making my wormery otherwise the neighbours would have been very suspicious – and a couple of feet deep. Wooden shuttering on the sides and a wooden lid completes the construction.

The next thing to do is to get a few sacks of not-too-fresh manure and tip it in with plenty of scraps of moist newspaper, tea bags and general kitchen/garden waste.

All you have to do then is 'seed' it with worms and then leave them to do their thing and thrive.

Soon you will have thousands of worms and you must remember to feed them regularly because they can shift a whole lot of grub.
And, that is all that there is to it. Happy worming.

BURY ST EDMUNDS ANGLING ASSOCIATION. The sun shone, the wind blew (it was Middle Reservoir after all), but few fish fed to entertain the veterans/disabled group at their match last week.

Keith Smith had a number of small fish for a winning 7lb 8oz. Next to him, Ron Hubbard had only one bite and one fish (a 4lb 6oz bream) for second place and that came as the final whistle was about to be blown!
Dick Meekings was in third place with 4lb 4oz.