Northwest Fishing Reports

Is there any place to purchase pile worms? And how do you fish them for bass? (off the bottom, under float ect..)

Pile worms are part of the unclassified marine invertebrates that are not allowed to be harvested in Washington State. I don't think you can buy them in the State.

As you are looking to use them for bass, I suspect you may be referring to earthworms/night crawlers. These can be bought at most any retailer that sells fishing equipment, including Fred Meyers. You can fish live worms just like the artificial ones, though you don't get many second chances if you miss the take. If I do use live worms for bass, its typically weightless and wacky rigged.

No, I know all about earth worms. Im talking pile for Sea Bass.

I hear ya on just plain night crawlers though for fresh water bass! I like to drop shot them. But Im heading to westport and heard pile are the way to go yet I know nothing about them. I know there was a ton of debate on here a while back regarding them, but there was no real conclusion.

Note why there was a debate, they are illegal to harvest and use as bait in Washington state. Same goes for shore crabs and snails. Check the shellfish section of the regs under unclassified marine invertebrates.

Before the ban, they were excellent as bait for flounder. Never tried them for rockbass.

Gulp makes soft plastic pile worms and those fish out there love them. Get the bigger ones...I think 3 inch. And I had the best luck on natural color. Had to get them on Amazon though. Haven't found them locally in that size and color.

2 inch

http://www.amazon.com/Berkley-Gulp-Salt ... 9024347219

Best luck I've had for those bass at Westport though...white 3 inch curly tail grub.

I am by no means an expert, but we used live sardines when I went out on a charter, they worked great. Just hook through the snout (keeping them alive) and they swim around. We used a 3 oz weight and mooched them, but you might be able to use a bobber if you set the stop to the right depth if you are fishing off the jetty. There was a little fly up higher on the line which led to double hook ups on the same line, nice reeling in two fish at once.

Mizm, how did you fish those?

I think taking a bucket of live sardines and water would be pretty tough! lol let alone keeping them alive!

Res, you can rig up carolina style and cast and slow retrieve at various depths. Or pop and twitch them at various depths, or you could do a dropper rig and let them flutter in the current a couple feet off the bottom, but in my experience, the sea bass tend to hold in the middle of the water column.

When I last fished on the Slammer, Rhett let me use my own lures for bass...I used the 6 inch Gulp curly tail grubs that you would normally use for Ling Cod...couldn't keep the bass off of it. Pink Shine and New Penny were knocking them dead.