The Pikers Pit

Due to the demise of my local(ish) tackle shop I'm now forced to buy online or drive an hour in the opposite direction to get lobs. Has anyone here ordered online before and what was the experience like?
I've seen 4 retailers so far but one stands out in that you get 100 lobs for your £15 as opposed to 50. Storage is a bit of an issue for me , living in a flat but I reckon |I'd just freeze the leftovers, I kill them before hooking anyway so that's fine with me. Also, when snatching bait tiddlers, can anyone recommend an alternative to maggots as they're not so available online, I'm thinking hemp and cloudbait to get a few fresh deads, any other suggestions?
All for the eels here now.
https://baitline.co.uk/product/lobworms-approx-100

I've bought lobs online from Worms Direct and Willy's Worms. Preferred Worms Direct. I keep the tub on the concrete garage floor and they've lasted well enough.

Always had good worms and service from Yorkshire worms. You could always use bread punch for bait snatching.

Nobby C wrote: ↑Sun May 20 2018 07:52 -

Due to the demise of my local(ish) tackle shop I'm now forced to buy online or drive an hour in the opposite direction to get lobs. Has anyone here ordered online before and what was the experience like?
I've seen 4 retailers so far but one stands out in that you get 100 lobs for your £15 as opposed to 50. Storage is a bit of an issue for me , living in a flat but I reckon |I'd just freeze the leftovers, I kill them before hooking anyway so that's fine with me. Also, when snatching bait tiddlers, can anyone recommend an alternative to maggots as they're not so available online, I'm thinking hemp and cloudbait to get a few fresh deads, any other suggestions?
All for the eels here now.
https://baitline.co.uk/product/lobworms-approx-100

As Dave mentions I've used worms direct, when they arrive I take the soil out and put shredded damp newspaper in the bucket and keep them in the fridge. I then check them every three days remove any manky ones and change the bedding.

A bit of a faff, that's while I prefer to lure fish now. Like you, my local shop Gerrys of Wimbledon sold up a few years back so I'm pretty much screwed for getting bait.

I've been using Willy's Worms for years.... always had excellent service/product/value!

https://willyworms.co.uk/

re storage: you can pick-up a small secondhand "bait" fridge for very little (if not free)

a fridge is too cold for worms, Dave has the right idea a concrete floor.
Plenty of ventilation in the tub, and keep them in a bigger container till you want them for bait, make a nice bed for them from shredded paper, soak brown paper and cardboard and put that in, add a bit of old horse muck, they love it. Chuck a bit of salad waste in every now and then (no onion) and they will last ages. Don't let the compost get too wet.

If you live in a flat stand the worm tub inside a sink or bath of cold water, I chill my maggots this way (in a pail of water on the garage floor) and they last forever.
If you want to feed them use banana skins, the tench will find them irresistible.

My regular supply comes from my own wormery.
Started with 1/2kg of small dendros in 2009 and Ive had them ever since.
Must be tens of 1000s in there eating their way through everything from cardboard, newspapers, veg and fuit peelings, grass clippings, old cotton and wool clothing, even the odd drilled rat.
The whole system is emptied each summer producing a cubic yard or more of compost or ground-bait when its dried and sieved.
Every so often I take a few out for a swim but they've become my pets rather than a bait scource (and yes I do talk to them).