Found this fishing the Hood Canal a week ago. we did not land any fish and got blown out. but after finding food sources including some sandlances and shrimps in the sand we found this. a 3ft+ polychete Worm. normally I find them at 6-12in for a normal average but this guy is massive. it was nice to find all those food items for giving the guy in the picture a lesson on SRC diet
it was very funny watching him find that thing. he grabbed it and pulled about 18in of it out and it kept going so we started digging. its the largest one that I have ever found.
The other day while rocklifting with my kids at Golden Gdns saw we the tail of one at ~1", we dug dug it out thinking it would be 3-4 " and it ended up ~12" but nothing like the one pictured. One thing that was bit odd was I was expecting a big pair of pincers to come out of it's mouth whne handling it, while a big polychaete worm it was fairly benign in terms of this. The white/silver and especially king ragworms as I knew them in my bait fishing days in the UK were a real challenge trying to feed/rope onto your hook. Unsurprisingly they didn't like it at all and would have these pretty big jaws that would shoot out of the mouth (an eversible proboscis) and try to pinch your fingers trying to stuff their head over the hook or down the shank; the king bites could hurt a bit.
The other day while rocklifting with my kids at Golden Gdns saw we the tail of one at ~1", we dug dug it out thinking it would be 3-4 " and it ended up ~12" but nothing like the one pictured. One thing that was bit odd was I was expecting a big pair of pincers to come out of it's mouth whne handling it, while a big polychaete worm it was fairly benign in terms of this. The white/silver and especially king ragworms as I knew them in my bait fishing days in the UK were a real challenge trying to feed/rope onto your hook. Unsurprisingly they didn't like it at all and would have these pretty big jaws that would shoot out of the mouth (an eversible proboscis) and try to pinch your fingers trying to stuff their head over the hook or down the shank; the king bites could hurt a bit.
Definitely a worm of some kind but is it a polychaete? The usual descripition of a polychaete worm includes a pair of parapodia (fleshy lateral projections at each segment) each parapodium equipped with several setae (bristles, hence the common name bristle worm). Here's a picture of an 18-inch polychaete from the beach at Indian Island.
Definitely a worm of some kind but is it a polychaete? The usual descripition of a polychaete worm includes a pair of parapodia (fleshy lateral projections at each segment) each parapodium equipped with several setae (bristles, hence the common name bristle worm). Here's a picture of an 18-inch polychaete from the beach at Indian Island.
View attachment 26582
As I recall there are literally several hundred (400 to 500) of the so-called "ribbon" worms found on marine beaches world wide. While most of those species are of the size that we typically associate with "sand worms" some species can achieve significant lengths. One such species produced an individual that was something like 175 feet long.
So we should rename the San Juan worm the Hood Canal worm and use a 3foot version?
We used to catch those on ones like Preston has on surf beaches. You'd take a fish carcasses and tie a rope to it and swing it in the receding surf, like a 1/2 to 1/4 inch of water in the mid-tide zone. You'd see the worm's head pop up for an instant and then sneak up to about where it would be. Upstream you'd wag a much smaller piece of bait and if you were lucky the worm would arch up out of the sand and grab the bait. You had to be super fast to grab it's head without it pulling back, and if you were lucky, you'd get one out. It's really tricky to do. They have beautiful iridescent sheens on them and very strong too...probably a great bait for Surf Perch
So we should rename the San Juan worm the Hood Canal worm and use a 3foot version?
We used to catch those on ones like Preston has on surf beaches. You'd take a fish carcasses and tie a rope to it and swing it in the receding surf, like a 1/2 to 1/4 inch of water in the mid-tide zone. You'd see the worm's head pop up for an instant and then sneak up to about where it would be. Upstream you'd wag a much smaller piece of bait and if you were lucky the worm would arch up out of the sand and grab the bait. You had to be super fast to grab it's head without it pulling back, and if you were lucky, you'd get one out. It's really tricky to do. They have beautiful iridescent sheens on them and very strong too...probably a great bait for Surf Perch
I made a few. I took a full rabbit strip and made 4. now I am going to video fishing them and see if I can catch a src. I bet you if I do the fly will be bigger lmao
I was talking about the one in the jar. but okay I see as min is a ribbon worm. was not sure. I see polychetes all the time and in different colors so I assumed that it was. thanks for the info.
Just watched that movie 'prometheus' this past weekend.....and yeah....that I would not touch after watching that movie. I do say that is amazing length.
That's crazy! I had no idea there were worms that big cruising around in the sand!
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