CRAWLERS ARE OUT!!!!

Just picked about 500 of them just walking along the edgeof the yard..GO OUT AND GET THEM.They will be out tomorow too with rain in the forecast all day!!good luck!

millelacseye51

What’s the best way to grab the little buggers. I just checked my garden and there was a bunch but they are fast little suckers. I’m guessing if you pull them out of the ground you might tear them? What’s the best way to catch them?

If they aren’t all the way out, try to figure out which end is in the ground. You’ll need to try and grab them close to where they are going to go back into the ground. Once you get a hold of it, pull it real slow and it will gradually come out. If they are all the way out of the ground its pretty easy.

Just keep pressure on them but not too much to the point where you will break them. They come right out. You’re going to break a few but once you get the hang of it you can catch them pretty effortlessly. No rain here yet or I would be out picking.

What i do is i will use a headlamp for starters.both hands are free when you see 2 laying next to eachother. first i will start off by walking around the property line and sometimes venturing into the neighbors yard.after that i will work the inside of the peremiter like i would be cutting the grass. go up a path go about 3 ft over go up again and so forth until you hit the other end. once you get the hang of it they are easy to catch every time it rains in the spring i find myself picking around 200-300 a night. now to the picking part. i personaly wont pick them up off the road(personal preference)who know whats been on that road. once you see them in the grass you will have to decide which end is which on the crawler.then just fire your hand at them and hope to get them before they go back home.if you get the ones that dont seem to want to come out just slowly pull them and look at where they are going into the hole and see which way it goes. you want them to come out of that hole as straight as possible. you will still end up ripping a few in half but not near as many..hope some of these tips help you guys get em

millelacseye51

The tendency is to grab and pull….but if you just grab and hold on…they will eventually release from the hole… in their effort to get away they shrink in diameter and do themselves in!

All of the above and if you have a red lense on your light you have a lot longer to grab them, they dont spook with red light. chippman

A tilled garden and a cornfield can give up lots of easy pickin crawlers. If you catch them mating you will get babies.

Yep…light, but steady pressure and they’ll release. However, I’ve found that keeping pressure with one hand and “massaging” them from the bottom up with the other, will get them out a little bit quicker.

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I’ve found that keeping pressure with one hand and “massaging” them from the bottom up with the other, will get them out a little bit quicker.

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Ain’t that the truth!

Lars

You guys are sick!

Doesn’t anyone attach tin cans to their ankles anymore?

So how do you guy’s keep your Crawlers for the long hall?

Old school worm bedding like paper or some of the newer less messy worm bedding options? Refrigerate or just in the basement?

I use the new Frabill bedding. I’ve been keeping them on the garage floor since it is still pretty cool at night. When it warms up a little more, they will go in the fridge. As long as you don’t get dead ones in their, they will last until you use them.

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You guys are sick!

Doesn’t anyone attach tin cans to their ankles anymore?

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OK, I’ll bite…what’s the story behind the tin cans?

Also, after reading my previous post, I can see how that was going to send the conversation southbound Seriously though, it does work. Massaging them from the bottom up does help and I think help keep them from getting stretched/stressed, making for healthier bait. Think of what happens when a rubber band gets stretched too far, but doesn’t break.

As far as bedding, I’ve been happy with the Buss brand.

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Nothing really to bite on…

Just taping (duct tape works well) empty washed vetgtable cans to your legs while walking stooped over. Place the worms in the cans attached to your legs. Saves on the back…some.

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Nothing really to bite on…

Just taping (duct tape works well) empty washed vetgtable cans to your legs while walking stooped over. Place the worms in the cans attached to your legs. Saves on the back…some.

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If that’s an issue…JUST BUY “EM!! I want pictures of BK in his crawler picking outfit! Maybe hang one at the Bungalow…

I use the basement fridge set on low…..yes, its cold enough for the beer too.
I go with the basic frabill combo and I have know problems. I use rain water to moisten the bedding. Just leave a bucket out in the rain for that. Feed them once a month, Change the bedding every three months. The crawlers always have their heads out the furthest, Look back towards their smaller lighter colored ends, You can usually see the hole they are coming out of. Grab them there. Like said earlier, Grab and hold. In it’s effort to get away, it will backfire on him and come right out. If you break one, toss it, it will only help kill your good ones. Dont stretch them. I use a headlamp on floodlamp, red is just not enough light for me. I scan for them and when targeting one, I will get him just on the edge of my light. I can usually grab them with ease. I’ve heard stay away from ones from the roads. My buddy kind of confirmed this when he told me all of his “road picked” crawlers died right away. But then I read other posts that it sounds like that may not be the case. Don’t know, what I do know is from a garden or a cornfield you will get healthy crawlers that stay alive.

Thank you Get Hooked and Limpfish!

Interesting that you feed them!

Guess I’ll go with the Frabil system!

Brian, bean cans or 2 lb.coffee cans?, with a headlamp, thats a serious crawler picker.

Loosing the ones that are out on the pavement is probably because they are already half drowned from the rain. We picked alot of them off the roads and sidewalks and put them right in bedding and lost very few. Im not sure but I’ve seen crawlers that were half drowned and limp when you held them in your hand, I think those are the ones that don’t make it. We used to get ours after it had been raining about an hour then go out and get them, they all seem to make it and lost very few. You can’t leave them in a bucket for long, maybe an hour, two hours at most befor you have to put them in bedding or they will drown that way too, too many crawlers in a bucket for too long and that kills alot of them.

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My spring picked crawlers are all still doing great. Not one died!, Even the ones I take out in a smaller container fishing stay alive for me, As long as I put them in the fridge when I’m done for the day. I do not put those back into the main box, dont want any weakened ones with the bulk. I changed the bedding for the first time since I picked, All was well, but I felt it was time for new bedding. The container I keep them in seems to be a perfect size for about 250 crawlers. The frabill bedding bag seems to be a good amount for 250 too. I still have plenty left for another bedding change. So that would be 3 beddings worth per bag. I fed them again…..also the first time doing that since spring. I only had babies right after picking them, I think they dont mate when they are in a fridge and cool all the time… Anyways, just an update if anyone was wondering about doing this.