Score!

[Nebraska]

Its been wet lately, found a little pail at the office and took a walk around  the parking lot and pens. Lots of stranded crawlers and worms. Bet I got 4 dozen in about 15 minutes of looking. 

 

Going to have to find some worm bedding but that should keep me in bait  a while.  

[doc henderson]

if I were a fish,  I could eat that!  

[Chuck White]

We have used leaves for worm bedding with good success!

Very cheap and usually readily available!

Wet them down and the worms will be happy!

[Raider Bill]

Throw in some coffee grounds.

[doc henderson]

old shredded news paper we used when I was a kid.

[Jeff]

Throw in some coffee grounds.

That was what Tammy's step dad said I should do with the 30 dozen crawlers I picked up last spring. They were all dead inside a week and had been happy before that for 3 weeks. Unless it was the bedding, the only thing that changed that I know of. They had been in a big styrofoam box from omaha steaks on a cool cement floor.
 It wont be long and they will be out here. First warm spring rains are coming. I need to get some bedding 

[WV Sawmiller]

   I should have mentioned it earlier but some lightly composted sawdust and putting them in the fridge and they might last all summer. I bet the heat kills more bait than anything else. Next would be too much water for worms. I kept a box in the fridge in the barn for months last summer and they stayed alive just fine. I'd use 4-5 to go catch 50-60 little bream for bait on my catfish lines so never needed many.

[doc henderson]

we would sprinkle a little corn meal in as well.

[Old Greenhorn]

I always found the plastic containers would not give the worms much of a life, the styrofoam was a little better, but something that would breath or give seemed to work best to allow excess water to escape. I used carboard beer flats for the box, you know the short flat box for a 24 pack of the cheap local brew. I put soil in and tried different things for added nutrients like corn meal. On top I would lay flat newspaper, at least 6 layers and keep that wet, but not overly soaked, then put the assembly in a cool dark place, like the back of the garage or under the porch. The cardboard would give out over time so I would make a little wooden box frame that the flat would fit in. I could keep them going for a while, but never really got them past 5 or 6 weeks.
 Maybe it's time to try that again, but then I would have to start fishing again. ;D

[doc henderson]

it is amazing they live forever in the back yard.  I have thought about catching them and putting them in the back yard.  enclosed by retaining walls.  and when I need some, putting a rod with a battery or a post and shaking it.  but I really do not fish that often.  

[KEC]

I'd go with dead hardwood leaves and kept cold. I bet we can all agree that the nose can tell when the worms have expired.

[Magicman]

we would sprinkle a little corn meal in as well.

But only use "plain" cornmeal.  Our "Self Rising" corn meal has salt, baking powder, etc. and will kill the worms.  How do I know?  

[Nebraska]

Sad, I still haven't  had any drowning incidents  to report  yet.  Maybe tomorrow  morning....

[doc henderson]

during a hard rain we find them in the gutters (prob. drinking too much)  or you can wiggle a road sign and they come up.  I have heard of a prob. and electric current.  anyone know about a safe electric gadget to do this.  may mark some wood with the same one .   :D :D :D   @WV Sawmiller 

[doc henderson]

you tube nightcrawler probe vibration stick - - Video Search Results (yahoo.com)

[WV Sawmiller]

Doc,

   If you can get them to come up by wiggling a road sign I'd either wiggle a lot of traffic signs or I'd drive a stake in the ground and vibrate a rough board back and forth across the top and see if I could grunt them up that way. I have read about the electric probes but never tried them. I just catch a night after a rain and go out with a dim headlight and catch them as I have described before. The trick I have learned is not to try to grab them but pin then then pull them out. I have a much higher percentage of success pinning vs grabbing.

    Usually no more than I need I can find by just rolling a couple of stock logs over or flipping over old slabs or bark and I find enough that way or by digging in and around my old sawdust piles with a potato fork. Remember I usually only use 5-6 worms to catch my bait. I could likely get by with one then cut up a small bream for bait to catch more.

    I wish I could find grey crickets for bait up here. They are sold in all bait shops down south but not here. I should raise my own I guess. 

[K-Guy]

Whenever I go to the store for bait I look for "Red Wigglers the Cadillac of worms" but I can't find them anywhere?  :D

[Jeff]

We went out last night for the first time and got a few.

Crawler pickin and potty mouths - YouTube

[Texas Ranger]

We used to "grunt" night crawlers at night, notched stick in the ground and rubbed with anther stick.  One of the "experts" on such things said the worms felt the vibrations and felt like rain.  Never spoke with a worm, so I have no idea that may be true.

[jb616]

Good Times! 8) It is murder on your back. I think my son loved getting crawlers as much as he liked fishing. I might need to train the Grandkids, they are a little closer to the ground. 

[mike_belben]

Place 5 gallon buckets out in the sunny parts of your grass after it rains.  On the next hot sunny dry day theyll be conjugated under the bucket staying moist. 


Worms digest food scraps and will multiply if you create a habitat in a tote for them.  Tons of "vermicast" vids on youtube.  I prefer black soldier fly.