The hunt for real crawlers

Hi Guys,

My normal source for crawlers ( aka Holiday in Hudson ) only had Canadian crawlers, which evidently means short / runts …. very disappointed. Anybody got a good place on this side of town to find the crawlers in the blue containers ? I have checked a few places with little success. Thank you for your time.

Paulski

Have you checked with Blue Ribbon Bait?

(651) 777-2421

https://blueribbonbait.com/

-J.

Paulski wrote:

Hi Guys,

My normal source for crawlers ( aka Holiday in Hudson ) only had Canadian crawlers, which evidently means short / runts …. very disappointed. Anybody got a good place on this side of town to find the crawlers in the blue containers ? I have checked a few places with little success. Thank you for your time.

Paulski

Can’t find real crawlers? How about your back yard at about 10:00 tonight?
Big, fat crawlers are just laying there by the dozen to pick up after every decent rain. Walk softly and carry an ice cream pail. The invention of the head light makes it even easier.

If it didn’t rain enough last night to bring them out, then there’s going to be plenty of rain tomorrow so Monday night will be good.

I’ve collected crawlers since I was a kid and we did it with my dad. Nowdays with all the curtain twitching Facebook busybodies out there that call the police everytime they see thier own shadow, I’ve taken to using a red headlamp. Other than that, it takes about 15 minutes to pick up 2-3 dozen really good ones.

Grouse

Grouse

I wish it was that easy. Not ever yard has night crawlers in it. I would guess that as a % very few do. Glowing up in a small central minnesota town I did my share of picking/catching crawler. There was only a few yards in town that held good night crawler. A few were rather communal spots and a few closely guarded secrete spots. I know my current yard and my surrounding neighbors yards don’t have any or very few. I’ve went out several different times looking for them after some good daytime rains and storms. I would be curious to know why some yards have them and some do not. If anyone knows what it is let me know as I’d love to turn my yard into one.

The ones I have bought at Blue Ribbon almost seemed too big at times so definitely try there.

Yea, as much as looking for crawlers in my backyard brings back some great memories of doing the same with my Grandpa while shocking the yard, my yard is pretty much clay crap … I was going to give Blue Ribbon a shot, but it is kind of painful to get to with all the road construction, so good to know it will be worth the journey ahead of time

Thanks everyone.

fishthumper wrote:

Grouse

I wish it was that easy. Not ever yard has night crawlers in it. I would guess that as a % very few do. Glowing up in a small central minnesota town I did my share of picking/catching crawler. There was only a few yards in town that held good night crawler. A few were rather communal spots and a few closely guarded secrete spots. I know my current yard and my surrounding neighbors yards don’t have any or very few. I’ve went out several different times looking for them after some good daytime rains and storms. I would be curious to know why some yards have them and some do not. If anyone knows what it is let me know as I’d love to turn my yard into one.

Its a good question. Certain parts of my yard in stp have them and some have none. my good spots seem to have less clay in the soil so that is my guess.

Great memories picking them with my Grandpa. He had a force multiplier – he took a extension cord, split it about 30’ back, attached the cut ends to 2 wood handled steel rods and we’d jam those into the ground about 20-30 feet apart. You could watch them come right up.

BoatsHateMe wrote:

Great memories picking them with my Grandpa. He had a force multiplier – he took a extension cord, split it about 30’ back, attached the cut ends to 2 wood handled steel rods and we’d jam those into the ground about 20-30 feet apart. You could watch them come right up.

LOL, I did that with my grandpa too. It was pretty wild.

To the OP, Blue Ribbon is the place to go in that part of the world.

Paulski mentioned “Canadian crawlers” in his post.

A friend on mine told me on one of their trips to Canada they had with them several containers of crawlers, all with bedding, no real soil, etc. At the border, the border patrol asked them about bait, etc. and they indicated they had crawlers. The border patrol wanted to see them so they showed him the containers of crawlers. He indicated he would not let them take “non-Canadian” crawlers into Canada. Two or three of the containers they had were labeled as “Canadian” crawlers so those they could keep, but the other containers the border patrol confiscated.

Have any of you had this happen to you when crossing the border into Canada?

Buffalo Fishhead

Kwik trip on woodbury drive north of 94 usually has good sized crawlers and can be a little closer than blue ribbon.

I bought 4 boxes from Blue Ribbon Tuesday afternoon. There were some good size ones in the 2 boxes we fished with last night. I will also say the box I was using had about 2 or 3 dead crappy ones in the dozen. It is expensive to buy them by the dozen. 4.25 per dozen there. 7.99 per dozen for jumbo leeches. Ouch.

I picked up a few blue containers yesterday, no dead ones when I transferred them to some worm bedding. Definitely better than the ones the week before. Not sure why Holiday does not have the same blue container ones, hopefully they get them back, as they were 4.50 each compared to 3.99 in Hudson.

Paulski

I try to pick crawlers when ever the conditions are right. I find the crawlers I gather keep longer/better, than the store bought. Maybe it’s just a preconceived notion, to justify crawling around on my hands and knees for an hour.