Shocking Crawlers

[Vexipro]

Has anyone ever used the electrocution method to get crawlers? I tried it the other evening and only got 1. i dont know if the ground wasnt wet enough or if they were just poor areas or what.. maybe i wasnt doing it right?

[Moe Szyslak]

Hmmmmm...........never heard of it before. Wet and electrocution usually dont go together though

[Vexipro]

ya the way i saw on the internet was easy, take a coat hanger and jam it about 15" into the ground and plug it into the smaller side of the extension cord. Cant use a gfci outlet or it goes every time. The one crawler i did get came shooting out of the ground at a pretty good clip!

[fishorgolf]

Your kidding right?

[Vexipro]

nope.

my grandpa used to do it all the time. but hes not around anymore to tell me the right method. Not from being electrocuted either.

[Scott K]

There are alot of people who get crawlers this way, I have done it before, I just am not one of the more experienced at it, so I will let others tell you the best methods. You will get others on here that will give more then enough detail! Just be patient!

[JimBuck]

What?! I'm not criticizing but it seems that water and electricity don't sound very safe? I'm very curious about the methodology and how well it works?

[mainbutter]

I'm pretty sure I saw the guy at the beginning of the American "Godzilla" movie do this when he was doing research on worms.

[blueroof]

I graze sheep inside electric net fencing. When picking crawlers, I find that they are more numerous and sedate when picking around the fence.

Sprinkling coffee ground also helps too.

LB

[GRAND DAD]

It works I have seen people do it, but like some one else said I to am not an expert, but what I do is just flood the drit with a hose and leave the hose flowing and they come up out of the ground in about 10 minites or so. If they don't come up look for another spot and wait another 10 minutes, if they are there they will come up, just make sure your grass is cut short they can be pretty sneakey.

[fishhawk1750]

Woman dies while electrocuting worms

July 24, 2005 By: Kaboom! Category: Weird News

An Iowa woman who was attempting to gather worms by running electrical current through the ground died after accidentally electrocuting herself. The woman was using a homemade device to shock the ground with one end of the device plugged into household current. The ground was soaked at the time of the accident.

Might not be a great idea.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[maddiejeff]

My dad showed me how to do it many years ago.... He used a piece of 1/2" re-bar instead of a coat hanger and cut the female side off the extension cord and taped the leads to the re-bar. shove it into the ground and then plug in the other side. You can feel the ground and get a tiny shock the closer you get to the rod.

WHat works best for me is after a rainfall wait until half hour after dark and take a flashlight out and there will be plenty of them laying in the grass and gardens.... you have to be quick though because they will dart back into there holes. You should be able to get more than enough in a half hour of this though.... PS- I showed my 5 year old son how to do this and he loves it... he asks everynight if he can stay up and go nightcrawler hunting.

[Shack]

They also do make these units and sell them in stores and bait shops.

Some have luck shocking the crawlers and other have not.

We had a good thread going about this a couple months ago. Do a search and find that thread. I will see if I can find it.

I think rubber boots or rubber soles is a good idea. Just my opinion.

[Shack]

Here ya go, click below!

Click here for crawler shocking thread. Good luck!

[B_King]

sounds dangerous to me... modified extension cord + metal rod in ground + Water = what i would think to be not such a good idea!

[Sandmannd]

Hmmmmm, water & ground are conductors. Putting a rod with current into there = making your hair stand on end. I'll pay the 2 bucks a dozen for worms before I spark myslef and light up the neighborhood with my head.

[Bearfan1963]

My wifes grandparents do it all the time, I just find it easier to flood the yard and get out there with a flash light after dark. I too am a little apprehensive about water and electricity. I'm not going to test fate.

[Nate McVey]

Sounds interesting, but to me half the fun is catching them sneaky little SOB's

I too like to wait until dark, grab the flashlight and try to be quicker than they are..........

[PerchJerker]

I've been with people that have been shocking crawlers, they had a couple metal spikes with wood handles that you could push into the ground about 10 feet apart. It always brought up a few crawlers but you usually had faster picking the old fashioned way, unless the ground was really dry. They didn't soak the ground where they electrocuted it, they just pushed the spikes in and waited a few minutes, then moved off a ways to a new spot.

[huntnfish]

I made a set out of two metal rods and old extension cord. I put one wire on each rod and then I put wooden handles on it and it worked pretty good, but not near as good as waiting until dark.

[LoonASea]

Ive been doing it for years ,,,I do have wood handles on the rods which are about a foot long and 3 ft apart ,,,I havent ever felt the shock but my dogs have ,,,In my experience if you dont get any worms or crawlers to come up in 5 minutes ,,switch the polarity on the plug or move to a new spot ,,I do have polarity marked on the plug now!!!!

Damp ground and lo light are key ,,and wait till they are completly out of their hole and they are easy pickin

BTW mine was a store bought device that I have had for decades

Randoid

[eurolarva]

We only used one rod. It was a welding rod with a wooden handle. We had two prong extension cord the kind that had the polarized leads and clipped one of them off so only the load was attached to the welding rod. The circuit was completed by earth ground. You could actually feel the pole vibrating when putting it in and pulling it out of the ground. Also a red reflector on the flash light is a must. As soon as a crawler sees light it will go back down. This device scares me to death now. I never use night crawlers anyways. Give me a beetle spin to live bait any day.

[love2fish4ever]

I have done this for years & it works great. You do have to be on ground with good potential, but done right you will know shortly. I took two pieces of 1/4" steel rod about 30" long,sharpen the ends, take a healthy extention cord (like those orange ones) 25' take the "hot wire" strip it back a few inches & connect it to the rod wrap it around & electrical tape the heck out of it. you can use just one , but I spliced another piece of cord 6' & attached it to the other rod & attached it the same way. I then taped the other two "dead wires (ground & neutral), cut them short & tape well. No use for them. You're going to need to duct tape the conneted ends ALOT as a handle so you can push them into the ground a good 12" or more. Obviously this requires some caution: When plugged in, do not touch the rods or touch the rods together EVER. Moist ground is best, but not neccessary, WEAR SHOES! You should have all the worms you're going to get from a 6' radius in 5 - 10 min. move on. DO NOT DO THIS WITH SMALL CHILDREN PRESENT, just not a good idea. I do believe you can buy these set ups too I'm just not sure where. Good Luck! L2f

[Vexipro]

so are you guys leaving it plugged in while your out there? when i tried it i let it go for 1-2 minutes and then unplugged it and went out. maybe they had already gone back down? i saw on another site a guy tested it and only 2 feet from it with a voltmeter it was down to 50 volts.

[love2fish4ever]

I run another 50' cord on to the one I rigged so I can go all over, & yess it's plugged in until I'm done. Within a 1/2 hr. period I can have 3 doz. crawlers. The ground is not comfortable for them so they're not going back down while it's on.It's great getting crawlers in the daylight without having to play tug o' war like the night time. I still go out at night with a low light flashlight in light rain or moist night, just because they are there, but you just have to be quick & step lightly or you'll spook them back into the ground.

L2f