anyone catch their own nightcrawlers?

[JinxTL1000R]

ok. i'm thinking i'll just go out and catch my own nightcrawlers for fishing. anyone do this? any tips? i have been told to use a mix of hot mustard powder and water, soak the grass with it and the worms will come up like crazy... any other tips?

[wildnorthern]

I grew up catching my own night crawlers. We just went out after dark with flashlights in planted fields or town gardens. Key is to not put the light directly on them or they will go back down their holes. Was fun.

[FISHNBOWLJOE]

I don't, but I had a friend who used to. He had an old refrigerator in his garage that held 5 or 6 flats. He had a friend who had a small business where woodworking was involved. He had a small "saw mill". After a rain he would go there and dig through the sawdust pile. He got some really nice crawlers out of that place. Joe

[Fish For Fun]

Just go out in the evening after a good rain with a led headlamp that has the red led. the red light does not scare the crawlers as easy as white light. The best place is a corn field when the corn is still short or a golf course.

[North_alabama_unlogged]

Used to do it all the time growing up.

Best is after a rain, wait a couple hours past dark. Find areas where the grass is thin or nonexistent and there isn't much leaf litter (under trees, bushes in yards, gardens, along paths, etc.). Grab them near the hole and don't force them out too hard or you'll break them. After a really big rain thhey'll come all the way out of their holes, making it easier.

As someone said, put the light right on them. We didn't have red lights, so I can't speak to that.

We always got them from our own yard or a neighbors. Bad news for a kid to get caught on a golf course at night where I lived. Parks are a good idea.

[RANGER]

:exactly: - We used the red lenses and they did as advertised - not spooking the Crawlers. Man we had a lot of fun doing this and going fishing the next day or that night!!!

Great memories..................GREAT!!

[ETT]

Here's a link to an old thread about caring for night crawlers;
http://www.walleyecentral.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=3&topic_id=7522&mesg_id=7522&listing_type=search

Anything you use to bring them up out of the ground will damage them, and make it impossible to keep them, so wait for a good rain and pull them.

[Mark B]

We caught them after just about every rain and had a great time while growing up. Get a mag light and flood the light as much as possible. Use the edge of the light to look not the center beam, that will spook them. You can also shock them up with electric.
My granps had a old bathtub behind the cottage in sandusky and we keep them in there.
Have fun.
mark B.

[reelman1]

Just got done picking about 10 dozen in a little 3'X50' strip of ground I have dug up and planted with new grass seed in the back yard.

[Schnauzer]

If I could have counted the lifetime totals, and if Guiness published a record for night crawlers caught... I might be a contender.

My rules for nightcrawler catching...

1. Wait until dark after a good rain.
2. Try not to shine a light directly on the crawlers, indirect light is okay. If you don't have a red light it will still work, just don't shine the beam directly on your prey.
3. walk VERY softly. They respond mostly to the vibration
4. As you reach for one, don't use two fingers. Just take a stab at them with your whole hand. If you get some dirt or leaves along with the crawler, you can sort that out after the capture. You will have a higher capture percentage than you will trying to pick at them with two fingers.
5. Once you get a hold of one, they will fight you to get back down their hole. Do not pull against their fight (they will break). Just maintain the original pressure from when you grabbed them. They will give up after about 6-7 seconds EVERY time.
6. If you do break one, let it be. It will die and endanger the rest of your crawlers if you keep it.
7. They often use the rain opportunity to mate. You will often find them locked together. This is always a bonus because you can grab at the joined portion of the worms and get a two for one.
8. Gardens or flower beds are often the best places to hunt because the crawlers are harder to catch in patchy grass. Plus, it is easier to sneak up on them if you can remain on concrete or next to a landscaped garden then you can walking up to one on the ground.

I used to catch them and sell them when I was a kid. I can remember a time when I was a 4th grader, my teacher asked me to take him out to "teach" him. It finally sprinkled one night and I warned him it wasn't going to be a great night for crawlers. He brought a teaching buddy. I think I caught about 10 dozen that night while he caught about 8 individual crawlers and his buddy managed around 4 or 5. :)

[Schnauzer]

If I could have counted the lifetime totals, and if Guiness published a record for night crawlers caught... I might be a contender.

My rules for nightcrawler catching...

1. Wait until dark after a good rain.
2. Try not to shine a light directly on the crawlers, indirect light is okay. If you don't have a red light it will still work, just don't shine the beam directly on your prey.
3. walk VERY softly. They respond mostly to the vibration
4. As you reach for one, don't use two fingers. Just take a stab at them with your whole hand. If you get some dirt or leaves along with the crawler, you can sort that out after the capture. You will have a higher capture percentage than you will trying to pick at them with two fingers.
5. Once you get a hold of one, they will fight you to get back down their hole. Do not pull against their fight (they will break). Just maintain the original pressure from when you grabbed them. They will give up after about 6-7 seconds EVERY time.
6. If you do break one, let it be. It will die and endanger the rest of your crawlers if you keep it.
7. They often use the rain opportunity to mate. You will often find them locked together. This is always a bonus because you can grab at the joined portion of the worms and get a two for one.
8. Gardens or flower beds are often the best places to hunt because the crawlers are harder to catch in patchy grass. Plus, it is easier to sneak up on them if you can remain on concrete or next to a landscaped garden then you can walking up to one on the ground.

I used to catch them and sell them when I was a kid. I can remember a time when I was a 4th grader, my teacher asked me to take him out to "teach" him. It finally sprinkled one night and I warned him it wasn't going to be a great night for crawlers. He brought a teaching buddy. I think I caught about 10 dozen that night while he caught about 8 individual crawlers and his buddy managed around 4 or 5. :)

[ERIE REBEL]

I always catch my own.I store them in a Magic Worm ranch and feed them the same brand of food.Store them in a fridge at around forty-two degrees.Also place a layer of wet newspaper on top of the bedding as this will help maintain the moisture in the bedding.DON'T use chemicals to try and bring them out of the ground.I have found that the best worming is usually after a good late afternoon thunderstorm.I usually keep around three-hundred crawlers using these methods.crawlers that have been conditioned this way for at least two weeks will be some big tough butt-kickin crawlers.You won't normally find worms like these ay many baitshops.

[ivats4]

Here's a very good way that you can catch them at anytime of the day.
Take any large tarp and lay it out in the grass. Doing this makes the crawlers think it's night out. Then take the hose and turn it on under the tarp for about 20 minutes or so. You might not even need it to be on that long. Then lift up the tarp and start picking em. Easy and like i said before, You can do it anytime of the day so it's convenient.

[freespoolin]

Here in the 'Peg we have nightcrawlers in the low lying areas near the Red River. I pick on a warm night, best is over 15C, the wetter it is the easier the picking.
I keep them in wooden boxes filled with soil. The boxes are 12" wide x 24" long x 10" deep. I line the box with heavy poly so that I can flip the soil over to pick them out when they're called to duty for fishing.
I feed them puree'd lettuce, potato peels, carrot peelings, apple peels and they grow into Wayne's Wonder Worms. So big, they scare the little fish.

[R Brion]

I also grew up catching them. A lush lawn or garden after a rain (or under sprinkers). All we did was use flash lights. You have to be quick but anyone can do it. At the time we were only aroung 8-10 years old. If you have kids they would love to help.

Good luck.

[Dacotah Eye]

I lay my hose in my garden or lawn any time day or night and turn it on. In a few minutes they start coming to the surface and I grab them and throw them in my bedding. When I have enough they go in the fridge. :cheers:

[manitobawalleye]

jinx....i go after a rain
you are not describing your way very well
heres what some oldtimers i know use to do
mix hot mustard powder and water
pour it into a washed out plastic mustard sqeeze bottle
shoot the mix directly into the nightcrawlers hole
they will come squirming out
wash them off in fresh water
and use or store for future use.....
guys with seasonals at falcon lake use to do this all the time


manitoba .... a 100,000 lakes
how many walleyes ????
i will never have enough time....

[AllenW]

Schnauzer pretty much said what I do, only in our yard I just have start the hose going and a bit later we have then coming up. I'll usually run the lawn mower set at a low cut over the area first, easier to see them and do it in the later part of the day.

Al

[AllenW]

Schnauzer pretty much said what I do, only in our yard I just have start the hose going and a bit later we have then coming up. I'll usually run the lawn mower set at a low cut over the area first, easier to see them and do it in the later part of the day.

Al

[HANDLINE2]

Here in Iowa at the end of March and early April after a good rain we can go out on asphalt parking lots or just on our neiborhood streets and get crawlers by the dozen. If I hit it right I get all the crawlers I need for the whole season in one or two outings. These crawlers are undamaged and can be kept the whole season. But when you have to go to work early on those days you don't always have enough time.

[bpetersen]

Schnauzer and Handline pretty much said it all. I have found that if you get up early in the morning when it is still sprinkling or just when it quits raining. The crawlers will be on the sidewalks and streets. These crawlers seem to last longer. Sometime the crawlers collected at night get damaged pulling them out of their holes.

Somethings I would like to add is:

1. Put crawlers in the worm bedding made of pulverized paper not to wet.
2. Store in around 40-45 degree temp.
3. Depending on storage container. Don't over populate.
4. Check crawlers about every 10 days or so for bad ones and discard.
5. This is a biggy. I have been putting dryed leaves on top of the bedding for food. It is amazing how they eat everything but the veins.

I collect crawlers in April and keep them all summer and fall. I just used the last ones last week.

Pete