Fishing With Night Crawlers

There is little doubt that the most abundant, readily available, and popular form of live fishing bait is night crawlers, yet many people don’t understand how to employ this common form of bait in the most effective manner that they could. If taken seriously, fishing with night crawlers can be much more productive than the average fisherman might have been aware of. I have been fishing with this extremely popular form of fishing bait for more than twenty years, for species of fish from walleye, to small and large mouth bass, and even trout and have learned some simple tips that enable me to be successful virtually every time that I head out onto the water.

In this article I will outline a few of these tips so that you can experience more success as well the next time that you head out in search of your favorite species of fish. Fishing with night crawlers can be much more productive than you previously imagined, especially if you take this act seriously, much like “fly fishermen” or “bass fishermen” do when it comes to their favorite styles of fishing. To me fishing with our wriggly friends can be every bit the art form that any other style of fishing has proclaimed itself to be.

With that being said, let’s get down to business and the tips to take your success when fishing with night crawlers to the next level, what do you say?

1. Keep Em’ Lively – First and foremost you always want your worms to be as lively as possible when fishing. This means keeping your worms in a cool, dark, damp environment when you are out on the water. By doing this your night crawlers will remain “lively”, which means that they will be much more effective.

1. Rig Em’ Naturally – Many people who use night crawlers as bait attempt to “thread” the worm onto their hook or just hook the worm over and over again, creating what I like to call a “worm ball”. While this might catch a fish or two, it is not the way to go about fishing with night crawlers. Instead you want to rig your night crawlers in an outstretched and natural manner, the way that they appear in nature. This makes them much more effective when being used as bait for any species of fish.

1. Don’t Be Afraid To Pinch Em’ – Many people who use worms as bait try to use the entire worm at one time, and this can be a mistake. Don’t be afraid to downsize, use smaller hooks, and pinch your night crawlers in half. The worm is still just as effective in many cases and you effectively double the amount of bait that you have available to you.

There is no doubt that night crawlers are an extremely effective bait to use when you are fishing and if you take the act of fishing with night crawlers seriously, you can catch a ton of fish. Keep these simple tips in mind and start catching more fish today.

Trevor Kugler is co-founder of JRWfishing.com a website focused on river and stream fishing with a focus on fishing for trout. He has more than 25 years experience fishing for all types of fish, and has spent much of that time fishing for the beautiful fish called trout.