Crawler Farms?

[Anylakeanytime]

Being that I plan on spending every weekend at the lake this summer, I figured its about time this city boy starts farming. Where do I even begin when growing my own crawlers? Any information would be appreciated.

[Bobby Bass]

If your from MN the only real crawler is a Canadian night crawler that's those big juicy ones. They are not to be compared with those red wigglers that they advertise farms for. That's pan fish bait. Most of the big nighcrawlers are hand picked and are a seasonal item as the weather drys up in summer they are harder to come by. I do have a tad of experience in this as 20 years ago I sold bait and would go through a million crawlers a season. What I would do and I do is find yourself a source, local kid who will keep you in crawlers. Pick as many crawlers as you can when the Spring rains come. You can keep them in coolers with worm bedding. DO NOT OVER water your bedding. Always introduce your crawlers to your bedding by placing them on top and letting them dig in. If you are looking for long term storage an old compost pile works great as a home. Add crawlers as you pick them and just cover the top of the pile with plywood, you can remove plywood and will always find some close to the surface. They will multiple but very slowly. Better to just keep adding. If you can get permission golf course are a great place to go searching for them. ( good place to find frogs also )If you are starting a compost pile don't add crawlers now, they will die from the heat of the pile as it decomposes. Make two piles and use one for your worm farm. By late season you will have a good place to store crawlers into the fall. Another tip- the new led lights are the perfect work light for picking crawlers, when picking crawlers from their hole quickly plug the hole with a finger and let the crawler draw back and when it relaxes then gently grasp body and with even pressure pull the rest of the body from the hole. It takes a while to get it down but the key is to let the crawler relax before you start tugging. If you break the body don't keep it. It will die in your box. Which is another thing always go through your bait boxes and discard the dead bodies, keep it clean.