Are the crawlers people catch in their backyards really better than baitshop ?

[Ritz]

Are the crawlers people catch in their backyard or where ever really better than the crawlers you buy from the bait shop??

The reason I ask is because soo many people seems to be catching their own crawlers to use as bait these days... Does fishes really like the crawler you caught better than the ones from the bait shop?

[LoonASea]

I cant say the fish like them better....but my wallet sure does...with the price of fuel that extra trip to the bait shop can add up quick (just mt 2 pennies)

Randoid

[Mr. Pike1]

For me that used to be part of the plan when fishing with the old man. Water down the yard and catch some crawlers for fishing the next day. Personally that was many years ago as I now in my late 30's.

I have not tried in my yard. It is newer develment and unsure of what kind of crawler population may actually exist. I know at my parents place in SLP the back yard is a gold mine for night crawlers.

[delmuts]

most of the time the main reason is the cost. i have read claims that the canadian crawlers are more hardy than our local ones, but??? my $.02

[FRESHWATER PETIE]

It can be a lot of fun picking your own crawlers. We used to all the time when I was a kid. Late at night with flashlights in the backyard was great to a young angler!!

[gspman]

No, but they're cheaper. It also gives the kids a fun job to do and as weird as it sounds it can be a family activity.

[Northlander]

They are the same thing but as stated before its a lot sheaper to catch your own if you have the time.

[cold one sd]

The ones you buy are supposed to be conditioned crawlers. I catch them, put them in fresh bedding, put them in a refridgerator for a week and they are conditioned crawlers.

[riverrat56]

Conditioned? what do they do have them run a few laps? Lift Weights?

I pick my own to save money, fishing the river for carp and channel cats can require a dozen crawlers in an hour, at about 2.50 a pop, thats spendy for a day fishing, I can put a 25 dozen in the fridge for about 13 bucks in bedding.

[The Grebe]

A crawler is a crawler in my opinion, weither caught, or store bought. The fish south of the Canadian border sure don't turn their noses up at home growns, and sit around waiting for canuk crawler to come floating down the river!

I think some bait catchers pinch the crawlers they catch a little to hard, drown the dump out of them, or give them a little to much juice and some of them aren't 100% because of it and they get a bad rap for not being as lively?

That and the way they are kept, to many crawlers in to small of an area and not the right kind of bedding and temperature, they have to be kept cool, damp and covered.

When fished, they can only take so much! Hooked in the beak and Trolled behind the boat at anything other then the slowest speed possible, stretches the buggers out like a wet shoelace and even at that, the fish will still grab them.

Being threaded, or bunched up on a hook, does not promote longevity, or activity, but the fish still whack em.

A heavy sinker that drags em down and anchors them in one spot in just about any kind of current and in short order, the will stretch out like a streamer in the wind. Yup, the fish still eat em!

Lastly, they also get stretched out and limp noodleish, when a perch grabs one end and a sunnie grabs the other end and they head in opposite directions! Whatever they leave on the hook will get et by something else!

In any of the above senarios, doesn't matter what nationality the worm is, they are all suseptable to the same effects!

For some wiley fish, especially trout, a lively crawler hooked once under the collar and drifted with the current so they act naturally and go into places where the real deal would actually go, is the only way to get em.

At other times a chunk of the crawler works just as well, so it must have more to do with the smell of the bait then the nationality and since they all eat dirt, I would think they smell pretty much the same?

Last time I went looking for crawlers was where my kids and I used to get them, a guy came out of his house and asked what I was doing. I told him and he asked, "What For?" I told him it was a long story.

He said he thought I was a burglar! A burgler crawling around in the grassy freeway easement 40 yards from his house? Hummm? I excused myself for startling him, grabbed my meager can of worms and went home. If I need crawlers now, I buy them.

[cold one sd]

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Conditioned? what do they do have them run a few laps? Lift Weights?

I pick my own to save money, fishing the river for carp and channel cats can require a dozen crawlers in an hour, at about 2.50 a pop, thats spendy for a day fishing, I can put a 25 dozen in the fridge for about 13 bucks in bedding.

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I think they make em do pushups! I thought I heard em countin one sir two sir just the other night.

[zelek]

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He said he thought I was a burglar! A burgler crawling around in the grassy freeway easement 40 yards from his house? Hummm?

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Reminds me of when we lived in an apartment a few years ago and someone actually called the cops on me. I was out in a grassy area behind the garages and he walks up with his flashlight wondering what I was doing. I still can't believe I actually asked him if he wanted to help.

[Ritz]

Yeah, i was thinking it was because of the price of crawlers. However, I remember fishing a few times at a river in northern Mn and anglers whom seem to have dug some worms were nailing walleyes like crazy, as for me, I used some store bought crawlers, and so i didnt catch as much... THey dug worms in that area because they lived around that location. Weird huh?

Well, the soil up there is more red then the soil down in the metro area, perhaps this played a role in the worms?

[delmuts]

aaaah!! you just brought up another possibility. the difference in soil could alter the color.also, were they using crawlers or angle worms? i used to be able to dig angle worms that were about 3/4 the size of an average crawler. this could have been the difference too!

[hitthebricks]

To me it is a avalability thing so i don't have to stop at the bait store, wasting time that I could be fishing. Most the time I catch my summers suppy of crawlers the first time it rains after the frost comes out of the ground. Their everywhere, driveways, parking lots, golf courses,and easy to catch. HTB

[ASMOLEY]

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lively crawler hooked once under the collar and drifted with the current so they act naturally and go into places where the real deal would actually go

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Crawlers are not natural to any lake. Worms drown in water. It is all a reaction and sent thing when you catch fish with crawlers. Weather you buy them or pick them they do the same thing. Quality of crawlers will vary depending of soil type in your area. Some are excellent others are not. When you purchase crawlers your probably getting them from a crawler farm and they will be quailty. As mentioned before hand picking can be stressful on them but if you do it right the outcome is the same. If you want to save the money pick them yourself if you want to save time and some back pain buy them.

[The Grebe]

I'm really not getting to technical on this, it's a worm story. They occur if they are washed into the water by the rains, or a bank erodes and falls into the drink, carrying worms with it. They are if flooding occurs and they are washed away?

If they are being chased by a Robin and lose their footing and fall in the water, hey, they occured! Natural, or otherwise, they do turn up other then on a fishermens hooks.

On the drowning thing, I'm sure they will drown, but they won't drown as quickly as you or I would! They can live submerged in cold water for quite awhile and if by chance the current carries them to the river bank, they can then make a run for it!

[delmuts]

" make a run for it" ??? LOL

[croixeyes]

Yes thats nature,crawlers dont live in lakes and rivers but the rains that wash them into them help them to be a natural bait for the fish that live there.By the way Grebe,if you see a worm running for it,grab him,hes gonna attract some big boys .One trick ive learned to keeping a cleaner boat is to put crawlers in a cooler of ice and water,they will stay lively all day and you dont have bedding all over the boat.Dont let that water warm up though, it aint pretty.

[carverfshrmn]

Has anyone ever used a Crawler shocker to get em? And if so, how does effect them as to how long they last.

[Swimmer]

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Crawlers are not natural to any lake.

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What is really weird is that worms are not even "natural" to North America! They are European migrants and there is even some concern that they are stressing our forests due to...I can't remember exactly, perhaps something with the way they aerate the soil.

IMO though, crawlers are now established and getting washed into a river/lake are "natural" prey, just like grasshoppers would be.

[Ice9]

Score one for Swimmer. I had no idea.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/terrestrialanimals/earthworms/index.html

We should all pick them instead of buying them, I suppose, just to do our part to slow them down. Though at half a mile every hundred years, they couldn't be much slower.

ice

[Boedigheimer]

Ritz, I purchase all the crawlers I use.

If you can find a GOOD supplier, the crawlers have been sorted by size prior to packaging. I am picky about size and health, bigger (small snake) and sassier (hold with both hands) the better.

I don't think the fish care where it was from, as long as its healthy. After picking, sorting, preparing bedding, and packaging, I found it easier to just buy them.

[LoonASea]

I have used a crawler shocker ...and it works well as long as you have the polarity correct..I have heard they dont last long in a bed but from my experience they will stil last a month or so ...I try to pick what i plan to use like 3 dozen at a time ..that way i dont notice them contaminating my worm bedding by dying ...another way to get them is by pouring chlorinated water on the ground ..we have an above ground pool and when we get lots of rain we have to drain some off... and boy do they shoot out of the ground then ...Hope this helps

Randoid

[tdk]

I live in southern Mn but spend a lot of time in the Grand Rapids area. I got to know a older guy up there that was a hard core nightcrawler fisherman. He refused to fish with anything but nightcrawlers. And he caught a lot of big walleyes. He would catch his own crawlers and feed them for at least a year before using them. He would feed them sour milk. He had a refrig in his basement strictly for crawlers. If you would put one on the floor you would swear that they were a snake. They were huge. He would ask me to bring him up crawlers from the Rochester area because they were bigger and better than the ones in the Grand Rapids area.