Thread: Live bait preferences...

I like a redworm.

Night crawlers under a bobber

I raise my own....

Originally Posted by Psmith

Has anybody ever tried those canned preserved live baits Roland Martin advertises on his show. I've never seen them for sale anywhere yet

I ordered some by mail, wanted to try crickets with the grand kids thought they would get lots of bites---wrong--- Red worms were #1 bites, Wax worms were #2, minnows ah a few gills & crappie, those canned crickets nothing.. I dumped over 1/2 the can in water & watched as they slowly sank-nothing came up for them-zip no more

Here is a pic of my buckets that I raise my meal worms in. I bed them in wheat bran and give them a lettuce leaf once a week for moisture.

The Bulletin: pest management and crop development information for Illinois

Specifically ... the critter in the first picture - the stalk borer (larvae stage).

My Grandpa used to call them "Horseweed worms" :p We used to find them in the Giant Ragweed plants that grew up along country road fences. Finding them and cutting the plant stalk (that had a hole bored in it), then splitting open the stalk (to check for a worm's presence), then putting them in a burlap bag for transport to the lake .... was an adventure in and of itself :D
Insect repellant sprayed over us, long sleeved shirts/pants (in the heat of late Summer), was employed to lessen the possibility of getting chiggers, or getting bit or stung, and to keep the Ragweed leaves & stalks from giving us a case of the "itchy/scratchy" syndrome

I haven't used them in decades ... but, back when I did, I could always count on catching some nice Bluegill, Readear, Longear, the occasional Crappie, & Channel Catfish with them. Deep, rocky points were the usual places where we would fish them, but they worked in deep brush & along cliff walls, too.

It's probably too late in the year, now, to find these critters ... at least, around here, anyway. They've probably already turned into a moth. But, if/when they can be found ... they're really good bait. (not to mention, they're free ... and since they're pests, I doubt anyone would mind having them removed from their area - just be mindful of private property, and don't venture onto private farms/lands without permission !! )

... cp

crappiepappy....those are mealworms and they do not turn into moths... they turn into black beetles. The beetles then lay eggs and they hatch into more meal worms. The worms that you speak of must be similar in appearance but the meal worm is different.

Originally Posted by G-3 Fisherman

crappiepappy....those are mealworms and they do not turn into moths... they turn into black beetles. The beetles then lay eggs and they hatch into more meal worms. The worms that you speak of must be similar in appearance but the meal worm is different.

I was just adding another critter to the list.

I've had much better luck using wax worms, than I have using meal worms. And I've caught larger sunfish, using the stalk borer larvae, than I ever have using wax worms. The problem is ... stalk borer larvae are very seasonal, occurring only for a short period of time as a "worm". They're found in the wild, and not commercially grown.

... cp