Get yourself some crawlers!

If you have a lawn, or some grass or access to a patch you have a nightcrawler farm. All through the fishing season night crawlers are an indispensable tool to the fisherman. Even though very few fish swim through the earth, they all recognize a worm and will happily gobble it up or at least give it a taste.
Fishermen here in Maine usually pay $2.30 to $2.50 for a dozen crawlers of average size. Why? because they catch fish. Most fishermen also don't take the time to pick them or keep them.

Most likely someone in your home drinks coffee. With this and a patch of lawn you are ready to start picking worms. If you have kids, give them a bucket and re-write your lemonade stand to read "Crawler stand" its surprising how many fishermen are probably living in your neighborhood.

Keep collecting your coffee grounds in a can. Every time you brew a pot, just dump the grinds in. Once every couple of days spread your grounds out in a 10 x 10' or so area on your lawn. This won't hurt anything and will feed the lawn and the little guys that get away. If you forget to rake a few leaves in this spot... well thats all the better. Early in the spring, after the thaw, night crawlers are hungry. If its possible, keep your target hunting ground in a place on your lawn that tends to hold more water than other areas.

On a warm spring night after a bit of rain during the day, grab your bucket and head out to your patch a couple of hours after dark. You have to walk quietly.. tip toe even. The slightest thump or heavy step will make the night crawlers pull back into their hole.

Shine your flash light on the grass and watch for a creepy crawly shiny crawler. You need to aim and grab quickly. Worms are full of instinct and darn fast when they think they might get caught. sometimes its hard to tell the front from the back. The more fleshy color is toward the rear, darker color toward the head. When in doubt, just grab the middle. Slowly keep pressure easily pulling the crawler out of his hole. If you pull too fast or too hard you will rip them in half. Down in that hole is a buch of cillia and a big paddle tail holding it in.

If all is quiet, occasionally you get this creepy realization that there are crawlers all around you. you can literally hear them. Like a slimy rustling of wet spaghetti. Occasionally they will move a leaf or a stick. If you wave the light around too much, many will pull back into their hole. It's a little unnerving to realize you are surrounded by big fat worms. Then you get excited imagining what kind of large mouth bass or catfish would swallow up a 12" crawler.

Before long you will have a pound or so of crawlers and be completely ready for fishing the next day, or setting up your crawler stand. I Picked up an old rubbermaid tub for a few bucks, tossed in a few spade fulls of rich loose topsoil and some more coffee grounds. Followed by my crawlers.

Worms and crawlers are very easy to keep. feed them your coffee left overs or corn meal. Worm food can be bought from many places that sell fishing supplies or sporting goods. Worms will also enjoy newspaper, leaves and other biodegradables. Too much salad or left over brussel sprouts though and it will mold or rot before the crawlers get through it all. Turning the soil on occasion will help as well. There should be a few little air holes in the top of your lid. (too little for them to crawl out!) Be careful though that too much moisture doesn't collect. Keeping the top off will go a long ways to keep things balanced.

Very little attention is required to keep crawlers happy and healthy. Life in a cool cellar will suit them just fine. with very little effort you can have crawlers for fishing or selling year-round. Even in ice fishing season you will find fish seeking these tastey fellows out.

It truly is amazing how big some night crawlers get. in excess of 12 inches in some cases. Even getting to 1/2 inch thick. I'm sure they get bigger when fed and kept fat and happy. I have just never really kept one that long.

So if you like to fish, or want to give your kids a new project. Set them in motion. When their done...take them fishing.
They say when a person is fishing... they aren't always trying to fish for fish. When you take your kids fishing...  you're doing something much better.

Lloyd Metcalf

MaineTackle.com