Only 2 Crawlers in My Cup!!!

[JewellOutdoors]

Okay, so many of you that know me on here understand that I sell Crawlers and Leeches - so this is NOT an attempt to slander competition. Just an unfortunate story of a dissatisfied customer!

The other day, I wanted to head down to the Des Moines River and see if I could reel in a couple catfish. I like to use big crawlers and a treble hook on this particular section. It was getting late, and I didn't have time to swing back by the house - so I stopped in WalMart and picked up a cup of Canadian Crawlers for $3.16. I get to the river, park, walk down and start setting up. As I go to bait the hook - I pop open the cup - and much to my surprise, only 2 crawlers in the cup!!! I was ticked.

If that ever happens to you when using my bait - let me know right away.

[bobbymalone]

I have actually had the opposite happen... I picked up a cup of the same crawlers at the same retailer and had almost double what I was supposed too.

[JewellOutdoors]

Perhaps they need to work on their counting system!

[Sandmannd]

That's why I always check cups when I buy bait. That woulda ticked me off.

[LoonASea]

Could be that a customer loaded up his bait cup with crawlers from yours ,,,,I always look at the bait before buying

LAS

[JewellOutdoors]

LAS - good thought. If I ever force myself to buy bait from WalMart again - I'll see to it that I take from the back - and check the cup for quantity.

I guess I take it for granted - I usually get my bait shipped to me from our wholesale facility in Long Prairie, MN. That way, I know nobody else has touched it, and it is always more fresh than if it sat on a store shelf/cooler.

[leech~~]

Loon, that is a good point I have never thought about. I don't see something like that happing at the smaller bait shops as they may see someone rummaging around over at the frig, to long, but at a place like W/M who is watching the worms?? Most of the time you can't even find someone to help you!

[Phred52]

Doesn't matter who's selling the bait, I ALWAYS open the tub to see what I'm buying (checking condition) Locally, the baitshops we had, the waxies were brown to black, their crawlers were dead and reeking and their minnows were swimming in the tank but belly up in the minnow bucket. I now pick my own crawlers and trap/ seine my own minnows and have for the last several years. Canadian crawlers are okay in a pinch, but I'll take my own lawn crawlers anyday!! BTW, I've found that the best thing to keep your picked crawlers in is last falls' leaves. If you don't have any in your window wells etc, take a trip to the local woods with a plastic bag and stuff it full. It's food, habitat and it's FREE! Plus, they seem to thrive in them. Phred52

[igotworms]

How tough is it for Wally-world to count worms? It's as easy as "uno, dos, tres,..."

[Jethro80]

I bought a tub of waxies (250 count) so I thought. I get out to the shack and come to find out, there was only 25-50 waxies in there. Boy, I was slighty upset. The trip ended alot sooner

[mrklean]

i havent ran in to having 2 but certain places not walmart i go tiny crawlers when they said they were the big ones or a few big and most small. Always have to check what you get before you buy or else you might be suprised. I always check waxes to see if there are a lot of dead ones they arent good at that

[Tom7227]

I never deal with those folks from Arkansas so I can't say I've had any experience with short counts. But it would seem to me that the chances of anyone from there sitting around counting out worms, in English or Spanish, is nil. Iwould bet they get the stuff ready to go and just toss it in the fridge, and wouldn't know a worm from a piece of wire. My thought is that it is some cheap non-FMer stealing from them, and ultimately screwing someone's trip up who hasn't paid attention.

Thanks for giving me another good reason to not deal with any of the XMarts.

[JewellOutdoors]

Looks like we hit a hot topic! I just had my distribution office ship down some crawlers from MN (I'm in Central Iowa) and they came on SpeeDee in less than 1 day. Ice bottle still cold. Good lively crawlers - and yes, the cups were full!

[JewellOutdoors]

It is always better to deal with the small guys anyway. Screw Walmart...I'll never go back there again for fishing equipment of any kind.

[mrklean]

haha, jewell do you ever carry waxers during the winter?

[bobbymalone]

I am not a huge fan of WM and I am not trying to claim they are non-evil, but this issue is not really their fault. Unless it's a shoplifter issue, it's the crawler company's problem. The crawler quality is definitely the crawler company's problem and not WM's. WM just sells what the manufacturer gives them, if they get a bunch of complaints they will look for a different supplier.

If you have the money to not shop at WM, congratulations. I don't. When I need a toaster, I know where I can go and get a white one for 10 bucks and I know where I can "target" fashionable lime green colored toasters for 10 bucks more so they match my wife's kitchen motif . I can also pick up a rapala for a buck less than the local bait shop down the road.

No offense to the mom and pop stores out there, but I just go with what is most cost effective for me on my limited budget.

[JewellOutdoors]

We're thinking about carrying waxies this winter - the HSOforum just launched a month ago, so we didn't have the means to distribute them in the past. Actually, I am considering a lot of options right now. I need to carry more than just leeches and crawlers.