Better bream bait...earthworms or mealworms?

I live in the Southern US and grew up using earthworms and crickets for catching bream. I'm not that familiar with mealworms, but just looking at the images, they seem to be a cleaner(easier) bait for handing and hooking. Anyone have experience with both and how do they compare in the warm Southern climate for catching bream?

Thanks!

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Originally Posted by clay slayer

I'm not that familiar with mealworms ... they seem to be a cleaner(easier) bait for handing and hooking.

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They are. I use earthworms only as a last resort and haven't used crickets in twenty years.

Grub baits (maggots/wax worms/mealworms) are the best, IMO.

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Originally Posted by clay slayer

I live in the Southern US and grew up using earthworms and crickets for catching bream. I'm not that familiar with mealworms, but just looking at the images, they seem to be a cleaner(easier) bait for handing and hooking. Anyone have experience with both and how do they compare in the warm Southern climate for catching bream?

Thanks!

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The best thing about Mealworms is the fact that they are super easy to raise (oats and carrots) go to youtube and find out.

Thanks for the info. I was thinking about starting an earthworm bed, but now I think I will give mealworms a try.

We always use nightcrawlers cause they are easy to find here every summer under leaves. We always catch plenty but they are nasty putting on the hook!

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Originally Posted by NIMROD

We always use nightcrawlers cause they are easy to find here every summer under leaves. We always catch plenty but they are nasty putting on the hook!

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HA !! you wuss :biggrin

You want "nasty" .... try digging up some green worms on a river bank, then putting THEM on a hook :yikes

They'll not only slime you, but the slime is thicker and more of it than on a nightcrawler or earthworm ... and it STINKS to high heaven, too. Best have some Lava soap or lye soap handy, and a bristle brush or 100 grit sandpaper, to clean your hands after handling them :Rofl

... cp :kewl

My first choice will always be a wax worm because I can keep them in the garage refrigerator for up to six weeks. My second choice will be the red wiggler because they breed easily when fed shredded newspaper, yellow corn meal or coffee grounds and are always ready whenever I want to go fishing. Yes, I keep them in the cool garage too.

Meal worms work great and are very easy to raise yourself

Well I'm heading to a spot after work that looks like it should hold crappie and gills. I've got a container of wax worms (rather than my preferred red worms for gills) so we'll see how I do.

Well, one hit on a jig tipped with a wax worm (smallmouth, not bream or crappie), followed by a bunch of snags and lost tackle. Rather frustrating day overall, and not much to show for it :dono

oh well, maybe next spring.

Wax worms and maggots my go too live bait

I've always had better luck with regular worms or nightcrawlers.

I just built a 3 stage bed and added 1000 mealworms. I'm very interested to see how they work on beam and other species of fish and to watch them go through the different stages of their life cycle.

Any pictures???.......... :popcorn

I started raising mealworms 4 years ago,I have bait year round,and they are cheap as nothing to raise.I pretty much fish with them ,but only because I raise them.Worms to me we're more problematic to raise,mealworms have not caused a reduction in my fish in the freezer numbers :fish

I will have to agree. I still use my night crawlers on some of my lines when doing catfishing, but when after gills (which sometimes is for catfish bait) it is almost always wax worms and occasionally mill worms. The later seems to hold up a bit better, so not sure why I don't just switch over completely. Habit...

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Originally Posted by STUMP HUNTER

I just built a 3 stage bed and added 1000 mealworms. I'm very interested to see how they work on beam and other species of fish and to watch them go through the different stages of their life cycle.

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I was thinking about doing something of that nature this spring. Why the three stage? You go a plan for it?

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Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

HA !! you wuss :biggrin

You want "nasty" .... try digging up some green worms on a river bank, then putting THEM on a hook :yikes

They'll not only slime you, but the slime is thicker and more of it than on a nightcrawler or earthworm ... and it STINKS to high heaven, too. Best have some Lava soap or lye soap handy, and a bristle brush or 100 grit sandpaper, to clean your hands after handling them :Rofl

... cp :kewl

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But those green worms are the best catfish bait ever when you can find them down on the river bank. But the stink is NOT coming off... it wears off with a half life...

Almost always have a container of night crawlers as a stand by.

Red wasp larvae!

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Originally Posted by rcornish

I was thinking about doing something of that nature this spring. Why the three stage? You go a plan for it?

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Meal worms morf in stages,I started with three,but now pretty much use one bin for all.I take a hundred or so out every couple months,and put them in the fridge,this slows down the cycle.After two or three weeks in the fridge,back to the bin they go with the others,this insures fresh mealworms all year.

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Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

Red wasp larvae!

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Attachment 191739
Red wasp larvae

Attachment 191740
Mealworm Larvae

Bluegill LOVE Mealworm Larvae too!!!