Nightcrawler cooler

[Pooch]

How large of a cooler do you need for a flat (500) of crawlers? Is a cooler 11x9x9" (inside demensions) large enough to keep them healthy until we use some of them? (They will be kept in the fridge) Your thoughts and experiences?

Thanks,
Pooch

[BD]

This is what we do when hauling crawlers to Canada and keeping them for over a week when camping in hot weather without problems: Divide the flat of crawlers into three 5 quart ice cream pails. Place the pails in a cooler that will hold all three pails. Pack some ice around the pails. As long as the cooler is kept out of the sun and you add ice when needed the crawlers will last for weeks.

When keeping the crawlers at home in a refrigerator don't crowd them. A buddy and I put together a box that just fit on the shelf of his garage refrigerator. It was about 24" X 18" X 8". We kept crawlers all season without problems. You must check the box on a regular basis and remove any "bad" crawlers, see to it that they are fed (there is commercial food available), and keep them moist not wet.

"An angler is a man who spends rainy days sitting around on the muddy banks of rivers doing nothing because his wife won't let him do it at home." --- Irish saying

Be sure to use commercial bedding ONLY. OR YOU WILL BE CRAWLERLESS IN CANADA. Just a reminder!!

[phishfearme]

pooch - i just measured the styrofoam crawler cooler that came with 500 crawlers and it's 8x8x15.5 inches inside dimensions. we usually put a frozen "blue ice" pack on top with about 5 inches of paper based bedding. this is alot lighter for fly-ins. keep changing the ice pack and try not to use regular ice in a plastic bag - at least a bag that leaks - soaked crawlers won't last long. - phish

[Backwater Eddy]

Try a 7-Day heavy wall Styrofoam cooler. Roomy and they keep baits like crawlers for months if kept in a cool place like a dark basement.

For bedding in the 7-day cooler take thick wall cardboard and lay it in the cooler between layers of torn-up UN-colored news print. Soak the paper and cardboard with UN-chlorinated water, allow to rest a bit, then drain excess water away. Damp is good, soaked is not good.

(The crawlers will like to sneak into the folds of the wet cardboard. So if you wonder where they all went, just peal the layers apart and there they will be.)

Layer the cardboard and paper mix in the 7-day cooler and add a 1 gallon ice cream pail of ice to the center of the bedding, with the lid on. This will keep then cool for a week out of direct sunlight.

They will travel very well and this Dirt Free system is Border Friendly.

You can use up the bait, rinse the 7-Day cooler out, and then pack frozen fish in the same 7-day cooler for the return trip, just add dry ice.

Cheap & effective.

Ed "Backwater Eddy" Carlson

"Piggy's are my business, and business is good"

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