The rainy day, driveway worms described in Your Backyard Bait Shop a few weeks ago are a great resource, but what do you do if it’s not raining? As the name implies, nightcrawlers leave their burrows at night for the surface. They mate and who knows what the hell else they may do under the cover of darkness. Whatever they are up to, they leave themselves vulnerable to motivated fishermen.
By walking softly and scanning with a flashlight you can spot individual nightcrawlers at the surface. They are somewhat sensitive to a direct beam from a flashlight, and very sensitive to vibrations. If you are quick, quiet, and patient enough, you can collect a day’s worth of bait in a short time.
Above are a couple of outstretched nightcrawlers. They will stretch out several inches, but always keep their tail in the hole.
Make a quick grab where the crawler enters its hole. Keep a steady pressure and only pull when you feel the nightcrawler’s muscles relax. When you do pull – pull gently. Pull too hard and you will break him in half.
The prize in hand.
NSFW pic above: two nightcrawlers mating. Fun fact: night crawlers are hermaphrodites.