Bait Needles

[MuskieBait]

I don't think threading on an entire dew worm would stop the bait stealers. If you watch how these little fish attack a bait, they don't simply start from the ends. They will bit off chunks and bits of the side of the worm too. I've tried it before by threading a whole worm and passing the worm up the line and it didn't work.

As for sewing a cut bait above a circle hook, I'm somewhat tried that in Florida. I basically bridled the steak of baitfish onto the hook. It stays on quite well, but if the bait stealers are ravenous, it will still get chewed to bits. However, by bridling the bait onto the hook, it remains attached to the hook quite well despite putting pressure on the cast. I didn't have an instance where the bait was cast off the hook when I bridle it. The real benefit I seen in bridling the bait on a circle hook is so that the bait doesn't fold back around the hook point and obstruct it. This is especially important for circle hooks.