catfish bait in trees

[MadMike]

every time it rains for a while my yard fills w/ water and these giant night crawlers come out. sometimes there will be dozens climbing the trees. these worms are full of slime when you hook them. they are also deadly to catfish. way better than any store bought worms.
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65/madmike1976/100_0879.jpg
http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn65/madmike1976/100_0878.jpg

[PUTZLINER]

that is 2cool

[Cartman]

They're also good for your garden.

[chronotrigger]

Up around Williamson/Milam counties we would find hundreds of them. We would locate where they had surfaced and pour a sulfur/water mixture on the hole. They would surface and you could gently pluck them from the ground. They are a much better bait than nightcrawlers.

[robalo]

HOW DO YOU KNOW WHERE THEY SURFACE? MAY BE A DUMB QUESTION...

[Guyj]

I saw a news story where these guys would drive a 2 inch diameter wooden stick in the ground. Then they would rub the top of the wooden rod with a metal plate and get it to resonate. It sounded like a croaker when they got it to resonate properly. This drove the worms on top of the ground where they were harvested for bait. They claimed the resonance sounded like a mole that was on the hunt which in turn results in the worms surfacing to make a quick getaway. Never tried it myself but I filed it away in the memory banks as something to try someday. Probably works best in a moist sandy soil.

[Red3Fish]

Robalo,

They make a small mounds of worm "poop" on the surface. It looks like little dirt pellets about the size of a pin head. When you see a wet spot in the middle of it, he/she (I know, they are both) is close to the top. Look for a little piramid or pile of these pellets, about the diameter of a quarter.

When I was 7 or 8, my pop would take me farm pond fishing, and we would dig our worms. He had me amazed for about 4 or 5 worm digging trips, by saying "I can SMELL the worms, can't you?" Everywhere he told me to dig, I found a big ole earthworm, and was amazed!! The garden or barnyard was the easiest place to see them. He was actually watching the ground for these small piramids of worm poop, and declaring he "smelt em"!! LOL

The bigger the pellets, the bigger the worm!!

And now you know!!

Later
R3F