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I think it would be safe to say that more fish are caught using worms than with any other bait. That even includes my favorite artificial baits such as Road Runners, Hot n’ Tots, and Shad Raps.
The reason could be because worms are easy to use and most fishing tackle stores keep a supply in their refrigerators. You can also catch your own.
Not all worms are the same. For the sack of simplicity I will group them as nightcrawlers, garden worms and manure worms. All have their place for successful fishing, but for this column I will concentrate on my experience with nightcrawlers.
Just last week I used nightcrawlers to catch both largemouth and smallmouth bass, channel catfish, perch, carp and a couple of sunfish. I even caught an Amur, which are supposed to eat grass and not worms. That is a wide variety of fish and certainly proves the usefulness of nightcrawlers.
In my youthful years when I could bend over and still straighten back up without help, I caught my own nightcrawlers. Every time it rained, I would be out on the lawn with my flashlight and coffee can testing my reflexes as I tried to grab one of the slippery critters before it could zip back down its hole. It was not easy and demanded some special techniques.
First of all a worm picker must move silently as crawlers seem to feel any vibration and quickly drop down their hole. They also seem to sense the flashlight’s beam and I soon learned to cover mine with red cellophane. When I was lucky enough to grab a nightcrawler I learned to just keep up tension on it until it relaxed and I could pull it from its hole. Broken worms can die and infect every nightcrawler in the worm bin.
Keeping a supply of nightcrawlers on hand demands a special bin. I always use the Magic Worm Ranch as my bin and it comes with bedding from the same company. The idea is to get the bedding damp, but not too wet. I leave the bin with its bedding sit overnight before I add the nightcrawlers.
My bin, with its resident worms, is kept in the refrigerator. Barb has been kind about letting me keep my bait in our basement refrigerator, but now I have my own fridge in my workshop. That permits me to keep worms without sharing space with non-essential items, such as milk, eggs and chocolate pudding. The separate fridge arrangement also keeps houseguests from freaking out when they discover worms next to their salad. Some people just are not meant to live with a fisherman.
When I fish with nightcrawlers I try to make the presentation as natural as possible. Sinkers are kept as light as possible and still get the bait where I want it and hold it there.
This often means that I use no weight at all as the worm itself is usually heavy enough to let me cast with a lightweight spinning rig, or even gently lobe it with my flyrod. If the wind is ruffling the water’s surface I often add a light bobber and let it jiggle the worm enticingly.
Scent seems to add to a nightcrawler’s effectiveness and I always keep an assortment on my boat. I guess it’s like adding some steak sauce to the menu and I really think it helps me catch fish. Most stores that handle fishing equipment will stock at least a couple brands of fishing scents. When I see a new one on the shelf I just cannot resist buying it. Some work better than others, but I’ve found that anything with garlic in it catches channel catfish.
By adding scent and trying different presentations you should be able to catch a wide variety of fish. But if you are targeting fish with smaller mouths, such as bluegills, you will find that nightcrawlers are a bit too large. That is when you switch to garden or manure worms and I’ll deal with them in another column.
In the meantime, catch or buy a couple dozen nightcrawlers and go catch fish. Just remember if you keep them in the family refrigerator it is a good idea to mark the container and let others know they are there.
Otherwise, you might hear some shrieking when someone opens what they thought was a salad container and the salad was moving.