Fishing is all about the details, especially if you have any hopes of landing the big ones. Freshwater worms are probably the most common bait used for fresh water species. Selecting the right worm for bait fishing is a very important component to your success. Fishing is fun, but catching is a lot more fun, which is why you need to be meticulous in your bait preparation. While there is no single worm that takes the cake for all fishing applications, there are a few that serve as staples in the bass, catfish, pan fish and trout fishing communities. Here is a breakdown of what worms are good for what kind of fish and how to use them for best results.
Common Night Crawlers
These are definitely a staple worm in the fishing community. If you secure a night crawler to a hook with excess worm dangling off the hook, you are certain to draw all sorts of attention to your bait. These things are big, appealing and they wiggle like crazy. Bass fishermen know that largemouth and smallmouth bass will rarely pass up a chance to pounce on a wiggling nightcrawler. Earthworms or night crawlers are also a favorite meal for Walleye. Catfish who roam around the water’s bottom looking for an easy meal are sure to chomp at your night crawler before long. Night crawlers also work well for trout, although many fishermen cut the night crawlers in half to make the meal a little more manageable for their smaller mouths.
Meal Worms & Red Worms
Trout are sometimes unpredictable and they scare easily. Since smaller worms like Meal Worms and red worms wiggle less and present a smaller meal, they are much more likely of getting serious attention from trout. Meal worms work especially well for ice fishing for trout or perch. Red worms are known to work particularly well for smaller fish like bluegills, crappie and perch because these fish have smaller mouths and are either afraid or unable to eat big night crawlers consistently.
Finally a last tip from Uncle Jim, worms must be fresh and cared for if they are to work well. What attracts fish to the worms in the first place is the wiggling movement worms exhibit when they’re on the floor of the lake or river. Make sure that your worms are lively and wiggling when you take them fishing. The last thing you want is to open up a dead can of worms when you arrive to your favorite fishing spot. This renders the worms pretty much useless and you’ll be hard pressed to catch a fish with them.
12 comments on “Best Worms For Bait Fishing”
Can I take worms from my composter and use them for fishing or is that a bad idea for the reproduction within the composter?
Emily,
if you do not take too many, or you have a pretty healthy population of composting worms they will be fine and you will not hurt the population in any significant way, especially if they are Red Wigglers because they reproduce so fast.
Kyle and Jen
midwestworms.com
i fish
Nightcrawlers work good for carp and croppie too
I breed mealworms and I was wondering if I could use them when I go fishing to save money on going out and buying night crawlers
Is green night crawlers the best to use for catching cat fish?
Good day everyone I am currently living in Jeffreys bay. What are the best ways to get into breeding successful earth worms. For selling purposes and in the long run wanting to sell my earth worms to fishing shops and farms hopefully
I didn’t realize that night crawlers could be used to catch such a wide range of fish. My husband is wanting to catch some walleye, but hasn’t been successful with it yet. I will have to mention using night crawlers to him, and see what he thinks.
I bought a bunch of red wigglers for my dad. He loves to fish! He says the worms are too small to get on the hook! Hes had them in a worm bed for a couple of months now.
Will the worms get big enough eventually for him to fish with?
Hello Brenda;
Thank you for your comment. Which worms did your Dad order? The Red Composting worms or the European Night Crawlers? The Composting worms are small, 1-3 inches and the thickness of a spaghetti noodle at full maturity and most do not like them for fishing, though the are great for pan fishing once they reach full maturity. The European Night Crawlers are what we recommend for fishing. If he did not receive the worms that he ordered, please let us know.
Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm
Can you continue to grow worms in the same bin while maintaining it and refreshing it? Also, why do you have The European Night Crawlers on Amazon in various weights and quantities that aren’t shown here. I would rather buy here to save you the Amazon fees and possibly get a better price.
Thank you
Hello Richard!
Can you please clarify your first question as I am not sure I understand. You can have the worms in a bin and you can add to that bin without harming the worms, if that is what you mean? As far as the European Night Crawlers being sold by the pound on Amazon and not on our site. We try to keep the site listings consistent and we have always sold by the count on our site. Amazon, came later and we decided to add something new out there when that came along and it stuck. If we sold the Euro’s on our site by the pound, we would have to change everything to pounds and that would be a lot of work, why fix what isn’t broken. Just so you know, there is about 500 – 650 Euro’s per pound depending on their size when we pack them. That may be helpful when going on out site.
Thank you and have a great day.
Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm