The facts about nightcrawlers

Last week a friend asked me, "Do you know how to keep nightcrawlers?"

Well ya. As a kid, selling nightcrawlers was one of my first jobs. I also netted minnows and crayfish from the creeks of northern Iowa and sold them to area fishermen. Plus a few chubs for catching northern.

With the price of ‘crawlers reaching all-time highs, if you're a nightcrawler dunker, gathering and storing nightcrawlers makes sense both economic- and convenience-wise.

And, while I've never raised nightcrawlers from cocoons, nor grown them commercially, what worked 50 years ago will still work today.

Many, many were the nights when I wanted to go to bed, but my dad made me pick up nightcrawlers first. Gathering nightcrawlers at night is easy. Look for ‘crawlers in well-watered mown grass.

Since nightcrawlers are light-sensitive, wrap a white handkerchief over the bulb end of a flashlight and sweep the light over the grass. Aim your pinching fingers for the section of worm near the hole. If the worm retreats rapidly, you've still got a chance of catching it. Grab the worm firmly but don't injure it.

Never, I repeat, never, try to store those worms you picked up on your driveway after a rain storm. Most likely they're sick, certainly weakened. Don't take the chance they might infect your healthy worms.

I could keep the worms healthy for several weeks in dirt in wooden nail kegs. But the worms were hard to dig out, and there was always the possibility of a few unseen dead ones spoiling the entire keg.

Sprinkling an occasional layer of coffee grounds on the dirt seemed to help. I learned damp Buss-Bedding worked better than soil. I could store about three dozen crawlers in one of those fiber bait boxes that opens on top and bottom. The worms congregate on the bottom, so turning the box over puts worms within easy reach.

To escape Iowa's mid-summer heat and humidity, the bait boxes were stacked in an old working refrigerator.

If you want to hold crawlers only for a week or so, dampened, shredded newspaper will keep the worms moist. Just find a cool spot to store the container.