Fishing With Night Crawlers

[aFISHionado1]

Hello,

This is my first post on FNN so please be nice to me. Lol. I have a couple of questions on how to fish with Night Crawlers when catching Trout. I'm usually a PowerBait/Lure type fisherman.

1. Do you use a whole worm or half a worm?
2. When you inject the worm with air for it to float, doesn't the air just escape after a few minutes? Especially if you're fishing with a weight off the bottom. Wouldn't the water pressure alone squeeze the air out of the worm?
3. If the air does escape, how do you keep the air in the worm? Especially if you're using half a worm, how does the air stay in the worm if there is a huge hole?
4. Do you use a worm threader or do you just hook the worm multiple times and make the worm into a ball?

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[Troutman65]

Hello,

This is my first post on FNN so please be nice to me. Lol. I have a couple of questions on how to fish with Night Crawlers when catching Trout. I'm usually a PowerBait/Lure type fisherman.

1. Do you use a whole worm or half a worm?
2. When you inject the worm with air for it to float, doesn't the air just escape after a few minutes? Especially if you're fishing with a weight off the bottom. Wouldn't the water pressure alone squeeze the air out of the worm?
3. If the air does escape, how do you keep the air in the worm? Especially if you're using half a worm, how does the air stay in the worm if there is a huge hole?
4. Do you use a worm threader or do you just hook the worm multiple times and make the worm into a ball?

Any info would be greatly appreciated.


I like to use half a worm.
I use a diabetic seringe ( small needle ) to inflate the worm.
I thread the half worm down the middle of it just like I was using a plastic worm.

[tailchaser001]

Couple rigs to consider:

-Carolina rig
Full worm and injected to float

-Drop shot
half worm hooked wacky rig style so that both ends are dangling

Tight lines!

[Hometown]

X2.............
i like to use half a worm.
I use a diabetic seringe ( small needle ) to inflate the worm.
I thread the half worm down the middle of it just like i was using a plastic worm.

[TroutOnly]

to float a crawler ,one half or whole put youre hook thru the colar ,then inject one side or the other, i like half a crawler using the short end with the hook thru the colar,,,,,,all the different breeds of trout love it ,speically brown trout,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,T/O,,,,,,,,,,

[Marley]

Fishing with nightcrawlers is deadly and should be taken seriously…

All kiddng aside, you have to use the right hook:
http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/1000400249151-med.jpg
I keep my bait on the bottom using no more weight than I need to get to where I’m going to fish. In this case, it’s a 1/8 oz. egg sinker held at 16” by a size BB splitshot. Note that the only knot in the line connects the hook to the line. No fluoro, no swivel, no extra knots to tie or come untied.
http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/1000400239152-med.jpg

Pinch the worm in half just behind the collar (it’s actually called a clitellum) and thread the worm onto the hook rather than balling it up or clumping it.
http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/1000400169150-med.jpg
By threading I mean to insert the point of the hook into the wound and push the worm onto the hook, turning the shank to push the point through the worm once the entire shank is covered and hidden. The worm must hang straight. The flash burst makes the 2-lb. look like rope, but the line truly is 2-lb. Ande.
http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/1000400199149-med.jpg
Once the worm is on the hook, use the insulin syringe to push a bubble of air into the worm (the worm in the picture is already blown up). The worm’s gut is pretty much a long tube running from end to end. Of course there’s much more to it than that, but that’s a basic description and if you put the air into the gut, it will eventually escape. But if you insert the needle at an angle and put the air between the skin and the gut, the air will stay there until absorbed by the worm, which never happens because it gets eaten long before it has the chance to.
All you really need to catch trout. This shot is called “Trout Junkie”

http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/100040DSCN19156396-med.jpg
(The same can be done with a mealworm and a size 14 mosquito hook, but that’s a secret so don’t tell anyone!)

http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/100040DSCN37739376-med.jpg

The results of a recent morning spent soaking blown half-crawlers in the skinny end of a local urban lake:
http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/100040DSCN19206397-med.jpg

I remember the day I learned these "tricks" at SARL. They have helped me catch a lot of fish, and I hope they help you catch more fish, too.

[Hometown]

Much better explanation than mine put that is what i do and those hands have a few wrinckles called experence
fishing with nightcrawlers is deadly and should be taken seriously…

all kiddng aside, you have to use the right hook:
http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/1000400249151-med.jpg
i keep my bait on the bottom using no more weight than i need to get to where i’m going to fish. In this case, it’s a 1/8 oz. Egg sinker held at 16” by a size bb splitshot. Note that the only knot in the line connects the hook to the line. No fluoro, no swivel, no extra knots to tie or come untied.
http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/1000400239152-med.jpg

pinch the worm in half just behind the collar (it’s actually called a clitellum) and thread the worm onto the hook rather than balling it up or clumping it.
http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/1000400169150-med.jpg
by threading i mean to insert the point of the hook into the wound and push the worm onto the hook, turning the shank to push the point through the worm once the entire shank is covered and hidden. The worm must hang straight. The flash burst makes the 2-lb. Look like rope, but the line truly is 2-lb. Ande.
http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/1000400199149-med.jpg
once the worm is on the hook, use the insulin syringe to push a bubble of air into the worm (the worm in the picture is already blown up). The worm’s gut is pretty much a long tube running from end to end. Of course there’s much more to it than that, but that’s a basic description and if you put the air into the gut, it will eventually escape. But if you insert the needle at an angle and put the air between the skin and the gut, the air will stay there until absorbed by the worm, which never happens because it gets eaten long before it has the chance to.
all you really need to catch trout. This shot is called “trout junkie”

http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/100040dscn19156396-med.jpg
(the same can be done with a mealworm and a size 14 mosquito hook, but that’s a secret so don’t tell anyone!)

http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/504/100040dscn37739376-med.jpg

[Thisfool]

1. Do you use a whole worm or half a worm?

- i prefer to use half a worm hooked wacky style on a Carolina rig.

2. When you inject the worm with air for it to float, doesn't the air just escape after a few minutes? Especially if you're fishing with a weight off the bottom. Wouldn't the water pressure alone squeeze the air out of the worm?

the air dose not come out it says in really good.

3. If the air does escape, how do you keep the air in the worm? Especially if you're using half a worm, how does the air stay in the worm if there is a huge hole?

- even cut in half the air stays in some how. every time i inflate a night crawler i wonder how it stays in.

4. Do you use a worm threader or do you just hook the worm multiple times and make the worm into a ball?

- just hooked once dead center of the diameter of the worm if you ball it up then it no longer looks much like a worm.


X2 for using diabetic seringe

[fishmounter]

Look bro- This is my secret trout technique.... Just keep it simple, and it does catch a lot of trout, and bigger ones too. Use a long limber spinning rod, quality 2 lb test line tied to a #8 Mosquito hook (trout have large mouths), NO sinkers, and hook a large nightcrawler just once in the middle with one small marshmallow. As the 'crawler wiggles and moves around the bottom, that bright white marshmallow is seen by cruising trout, like the worm is waving a flag around. Trout just cannot leave this alone. We have watched them in clear water and they will circle around like a shark, and come right in and suck it up. The trick is, to use fresh, lively, large nightcrawlers because they have to crawl around on the lake bottom for the trout to see.

[BigBass777]

Your local tackle supplier has a nightcrawler inflator for $2-$3.

A #8 Eagle Claw baitholder hook works very well with medium size nightcrawlers if you want to make long casts from shore. They won't fall off. Use 1/2 of an inflated nightcrawler.

A #6 Eagle Claw baitholder hook works on the bigger/fatter nightcrawlers.

I tried #6 Owner mosquito hooks with nighcrawlers but they fall off on a hard cast. The mosquito hooks don't have the barbs like a baitholder hook has. A #10 and #8 will work great on the shorter casts.

If you're gonna fish Santa Ana River Lakes or Corona, a whole or 3/4 inflated nightcrawler entices the "Tailwalkers". I've had them eat a whole inflated nightcrawler and just take off with it. Leave the drag loose so they can run with it.

[fishmounter]

By the way, for most of SoCal lakes, you don't have to make long casts. A lot of the stocked trout with be swimming along the shorelines, way closer than people realize.

[Hometown]

good advice
By the way, for most of SoCal lakes, you don't have to make long casts. A lot of the stocked trout with be swimming along the shorelines, way closer than people realize.

[smokehound]

Illegal! You must wait until SB 41 is in effect!

Last year, legislation was passed and allowed people without a prescription in most counties to possess up to 10 syringes without a prescription. The sunset on this bill was on the last day of 2010.

Now, it's illegal to own syringes without a prescription again. be VERY careful.

[Marley]

I'm showing you what works (very well) for me. You do not have to use a syringe, sounds like you should not. There are commercial worm blowers available that work just fine for worms large enough for the needle on the blower. If that's the course you take, simply substitute the word "blower" for "syringe."
As for the hooks you choose, use whatever works for you. I keep reading comments about not catching fish and when the author describes what he is using we find that the hooks and line are huge, often to match the sinker being thrown. Regularly catching fish in the high-pressured local lakes takes some refinement.
Again, my post shows what works for me and is offered only as that.

[Jake'sDad]

Do not be afraid to just experiment with methods - there are no rules you have to follow. Often I am lazy and if I have a small treble hook rigged up I will use that with a crawler instead of re-rigging a baitholder hook. I stick two of the tines thru one end of the crawler, letting the long end hang loose. On the third tine you can attach a power egg, marshmallow, or smash some powerbait on if you want.

[Marley]

Do not be afraid to just experiment with methods - there are no rules you have to follow. Often I am lazy and if I have a small treble hook rigged up I will use that with a crawler instead of re-rigging a baitholder hook. I stick two of the tines thru one end of the crawler, letting the long end hang loose. On the third tine you can attach a power egg, marshmallow, or smash some powerbait on if you want.

Exactly! A lot of the fun of fishing is experimenting and finding new ways that work (and that don't work.) You will never know what works for you if you don't try. Me? I always seem to buy broken mini jigs because I can't catch a fish on one to save my life!

[BigBass777]

Exactly! A lot of the fun of fishing is experimenting and finding new ways that work (and that don't work.) You will never know what works for you if you don't try. Me? I always seem to buy broken mini jigs because I can't catch a fish on one to save my life!

X2. Mini jig fishing takes so much patience. Once ya learn it, it becomes a new learned skill. I know quite a few people who throw them and catch fish. I'd rather toss a nighcrawler out than keep on casting those things.