10-13-2003, 03:54 PM
[cool]I have always found it strange that nightcrawlers are such good bait almost everywhere...even where the fish have likely never seen one before. I can't think of many species that will not accept good old "garden hackle".
I spent the first few years of my fishing life in Idaho. I learned early that a planned fishing trip meant spending some time in the wet grass a night or two before the trip...with a flashlight in one hand and a can in the other...looking for those slinky and slippery critters. I also learned that no fishing trip should be made without them.
I have used crawlers all over the US and even in salt and brackish water. I use them whole or cut into different sized pieces. For sturgeon, large cats and even big largemouth bass, I have used several wadded or strung on the same hook...for a big mouthful.
To fish a whole crawler, it is sometimes best to use a small wire hook and just hook the worm once through the "collar"...allowing it to wiggle naturally and seductively. You can add a split shot ahead of the crawler to get it down in current or sink it more rapidly in still waters. This method is deadly on most larger species, which suck in the whole worm, but can result in a lot of lost bait if there are sunfish or other small guys around that just nibble the bait off the hook.
To catch more of the smaller species...or even finicky fish of larger size...you can fish a smaller piece of crawler on a standard bait hook, with baitholder barbs to help hold the worm on against nibbling attacks. Using a one inch piece of crawler below a bobber is good trout medicine. It also works well when bounced down stream beds, with just enough weight to keep it moving but not to snag up.
I use small bits of crawler to tip jigs, spinners and even flies (where legal). The extra attraction of natural bait and scent can help seal the deal for fish that might be attracted to the lure but need more incentive to munch. I make and use a whole line of jigs that I call "bait bugs". These are specially tied with short tails to aid the addition of a piece of worm or fish meat. A small piece of crawler is almost always all that is necessary to get some hits where you would not get bit with an unflavored jig.
I have heard that the scent of nightcrawler is close to that of crawdads. I often add a couple of drops of crawdad scent to the crawler decorated jigs and seem to get more hits right after re-dosing. I suspect that a big part of the attraction of nightcrawlers in waters where they are not naturally found is the scent...which fools the fish into thinking "crawdad".
The other possible reason for the universal appeal of nightcrawlers is that there is almost always some kind of worm or other "slither-goody" in almost every waterway. Sometimes the fish are used to seeing regular earthworms washing by...or redworms...or even leeches or other aquatic critters that are long and thin.
It may be that some fish are just instinctively attracted to long thin shapes. There is no other explanation, for me, when experiencing the almost universal effectiveness of plastic worms and other such baits. You know that a bass does not smack a "june bug" colored plastic worm...or Senko...or whatever...because they see and eat lots of them naturally. There is just something about an elongated shape that seems to trigger a feeding response.
Well, that is my input. Of course you already know all that stuff, so I'm sorry if I have repeated what you already have written. So, go pay $3 a dozen for what we used to harvest by the hundreds...for FREE...and go fishing.
[signature]
I spent the first few years of my fishing life in Idaho. I learned early that a planned fishing trip meant spending some time in the wet grass a night or two before the trip...with a flashlight in one hand and a can in the other...looking for those slinky and slippery critters. I also learned that no fishing trip should be made without them.
I have used crawlers all over the US and even in salt and brackish water. I use them whole or cut into different sized pieces. For sturgeon, large cats and even big largemouth bass, I have used several wadded or strung on the same hook...for a big mouthful.
To fish a whole crawler, it is sometimes best to use a small wire hook and just hook the worm once through the "collar"...allowing it to wiggle naturally and seductively. You can add a split shot ahead of the crawler to get it down in current or sink it more rapidly in still waters. This method is deadly on most larger species, which suck in the whole worm, but can result in a lot of lost bait if there are sunfish or other small guys around that just nibble the bait off the hook.
To catch more of the smaller species...or even finicky fish of larger size...you can fish a smaller piece of crawler on a standard bait hook, with baitholder barbs to help hold the worm on against nibbling attacks. Using a one inch piece of crawler below a bobber is good trout medicine. It also works well when bounced down stream beds, with just enough weight to keep it moving but not to snag up.
I use small bits of crawler to tip jigs, spinners and even flies (where legal). The extra attraction of natural bait and scent can help seal the deal for fish that might be attracted to the lure but need more incentive to munch. I make and use a whole line of jigs that I call "bait bugs". These are specially tied with short tails to aid the addition of a piece of worm or fish meat. A small piece of crawler is almost always all that is necessary to get some hits where you would not get bit with an unflavored jig.
I have heard that the scent of nightcrawler is close to that of crawdads. I often add a couple of drops of crawdad scent to the crawler decorated jigs and seem to get more hits right after re-dosing. I suspect that a big part of the attraction of nightcrawlers in waters where they are not naturally found is the scent...which fools the fish into thinking "crawdad".
The other possible reason for the universal appeal of nightcrawlers is that there is almost always some kind of worm or other "slither-goody" in almost every waterway. Sometimes the fish are used to seeing regular earthworms washing by...or redworms...or even leeches or other aquatic critters that are long and thin.
It may be that some fish are just instinctively attracted to long thin shapes. There is no other explanation, for me, when experiencing the almost universal effectiveness of plastic worms and other such baits. You know that a bass does not smack a "june bug" colored plastic worm...or Senko...or whatever...because they see and eat lots of them naturally. There is just something about an elongated shape that seems to trigger a feeding response.
Well, that is my input. Of course you already know all that stuff, so I'm sorry if I have repeated what you already have written. So, go pay $3 a dozen for what we used to harvest by the hundreds...for FREE...and go fishing.
[signature]