Crawler Picking

With all this rain, crawler picking will be epic tonight!

-J.

Man, just nice to hear someone talk about doing that again. Seems like an old pastime that has been lost to earlier generations. I saw a bunch in some puddles already earlier today.

Do you just head to the yard after dark with a red light? Might give it a go this evening.

Regular flashlight. Walk gently, they can feel your footsteps. If you grab one half in the ground just hold on and don’t pull. They will relax and come out.

-J.

Great idea, is the process easier at a golf course because of the short grass?

Just had the garden tilled! They should be easy to spot. From my experience, if you shine the light right on them, they gone! Keep it to the outside of them. Red light don’t spook em at all.

For all you nightcrawler pros, how do you keep them alive the longest? I was going to put them in a styrofoam cooler with dirt and maybe old leaves? Maybe newspaper? Or nothing and just keep them in a cool place?

eyeguy507 wrote:

For all you nightcrawler pros, how do you keep them alive the longest? I was going to put them in a styrofoam cooler with dirt and maybe old leaves? Maybe newspaper? Or nothing and just keep them in a cool place?

I have crawlers in one of those magic worm farm Styrofoam boxes in the garage fridge. I will fill it with dirt from a pocket gopher mound after a rain so it is a little wet. Every once in awhile I will dump the used coffee grounds on top. I have some in the fridge now from last spring so seems to work good.

Jon Jordan wrote:

With all this rain, crawler picking will be epic tonight!

-J.

I literally JUST said that to my kids 15 minutes before I read this. Great minds…, etc…

I use a red light not because of the crawlers, but because here in the burbs if we didn’t we’d be out there 15 minutes or less before some chin-wagging biddy with a cell phone called the cops reporting that she just “saw” 10 armed men robbing houses in the area.

Grouse

I much prefer the Buss Bedding you buy and mix up over any dirt/leave combo. One bag last me a few years. It works great for long term storage in styro in the garage fridge but the best part is your hands/boat don’t get the dirt filth when you go to use them.

I have 24 dozen in my garage fridge from 3 weeks ago, worm bedding, styrofoam cooler with holes poked in top. I feed them fruit rinds and pick dead ones off top. I check on them every few days. Seems like if one dies and u let it rot, rest will die

For 4+$ a dozen it takes no time to get a few dozen

You guys find them in sandy soil/yards? I never see them because our ground is so sandy..

Angler II wrote:

You guys find them in sandy soil/yards? I never see them because our ground is so sandy..

We used to have a really sandy yard. I rarely found them there.

They were thick on the blacktop back roads of rural buffalo county today. Around 4pm. No problem with a couple hundred in less than an hour.

They are all happy.

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I pick them up off the streets with a spatula with a long homemade handle. No bending over,just walk and scoop and dump in a bucket

Not on north end of mille lacs K Jordan. Just about to drive home and dry as a bone here.

I use a styrofoam cooler, worm bedding, news paper moist, potato peels. It fits in my garage fridge. I can keep a couple hundred through the summer.

Angler II wrote:

You guys find them in sandy soil/yards? I never see them because our ground is so sandy..

No, they don’t like sand. There isn’t single a nightcrawler in my yard. A few worms, but no crawlers.

At our old house when I was a kid we would flood the yard with a garden hose and get all the bait you could imagine.

I’ll be out tonight but they don’t like wind. Its a little windy tonight do we will see. As others said you can look in their direction with a white light but if you shine it right on them they are gone.

Cooler with some dirt and wet newspaper, keep them cool and good to go

When I was a kid I used to leave the garden hose running in the yard for 15-20 minutes. Worms on demand.

When I was younger I lived in Eden Valley, phenomenal dirt for crawlers. If it rained I was out all night picking them off the roads. I could fill atleast one 5 gallon bucket in a night. Local bait shops would pay me 1$ a dozen if they were road picked. No rain, I woul run our yard sprinkler. I made a lot of cash losing sleep!

Holy cow that was fun. Haven’t done that since I was a kid. I assume that in some dirt in my garage they’ll be ok tonite? Maybe move them inside when it warms?

Right on Matt! My kids love doing it , great way if u have kids to have help

Craig Sery wrote:

Right on Matt! My kids love doing it , great way if u have kids to have help

Oh yeah, gotta get the 5 year old out next time. She started getting the minnows out for the first time a couple weeks ago. She’ll love picking crawlers!

Picked about 2 dozen in 20 minutes. Could have kept picking all night but my back starts to hurt being bent over for that long. Should be good tomorrow too.

Took the kids out tonight and grabbed 36 in about 15 minutes. Kids love it, nothing better than getting the flashlights out and going crawler picking. In some areas on the lawn there were 5 crawlers per square foot.

Easy pickings tonight!

Grouse

Pailofperch wrote:

When I was younger I lived in Eden Valley, phenomenal dirt for crawlers. If it rained I was out all night picking them off the roads. I could fill atleast one 5 gallon bucket in a night. Local bait shops would pay me 1$ a dozen if they were road picked. No rain, I woul run our yard sprinkler. I made a lot of cash losing sleep!

I grew up in Richmond. Live in cold spring now!👍

Was out and about alot today but didn’t see much for worms

Tom Albrecht wrote:

When I was a kid I used to leave the garden hose running in the yard for 15-20 minutes. Worms on demand.

I had a girlfriend whose son who was 8 showed me this in his yard. He’d get the nozzle down a couple inches and let the water run about 10 minutes. We’d picks dozen or more of the top, move the hose and repeat. This was during the day.