Night crawlers

Night crawlers come out at night after a rain. Growing up as a kid my brother and I supplied the local grocery stores and fishing resorts with enough worms to make a grown woman groan "ewwwwwwww.......".  We would each catch a gallon Bleach bottle of worms and go back for more. Ah the good ole days..........

Ok how to catch night crawlers. First you need wet ground (sprinkler or a good rain shower). Next you need a flashlight. Choose a flashlight with a diffused light or the worm will slide back into ground. Grab the worm near the the hole it is coming out of close to tail. Grasp firmly but do not squeeze, or you will damage possibly killing the worm. Firmly pull with a slight twist  upwards to remove it from the earth.

Night crawlers need to be kept cool. If you plan on keeping them for awhile remember to feed them. They will eat there weight each day.

Ok how do you use a night crawler? It is best to place night crawlers on a single hook. Pierce the head of the worm right on the tip and run the hook point inside body until point exits past ring below head. Pull night crawler up hook shank until ring is above hook eye. You can pierce the worm or fish as rigged. I prefer piercing only once and allowing the rest to dangle and dance below. The fish suck the worm in whole so its not necessary to use two hooks. I generally use a size #1 hook for this rig. 

A bait stringer can be used to run the line down the  length of the night crawler so the hook will be near the tail. 

Sand shrimp

Sand shrimp must be refrigerated at all times during  transit and  fishing trip. They deteriorate rapidly with out a ice cooler.

When fishing sand shrimp use a double hook set up that allows one hook on the head and another in the tail area. They must be cast gently or it will rip off during cast. You can also clip the tail off and place in a egg loop after putting hook down middle of shrimp exiting though the tail. Place the egg loop around a shell section for strength. 

Hook size on this set up is 2/0 or 3/0 to expose the hook point for the bite.

To keep sand shrimp on your hook use magic thread or a fine copper wire wrapped around hook like a harness. (This was a standard set up before the bait loop)

To catch sand shrimp go to the beach at low tide and dig holes like digging for clams. The sand shrimp swim into the holes left by the clam gun suction. Scoop them out when they swim into hole.

Cocktail shrimp

There are two types of shrimp at the fresh fish counter....ask for the ones grown in saltwater

These are some of the fish baits click the link to the left to get to some more bait.