Do any of you sell night crawlers?

This time of year, I have tens of thousands of decent sized night crawlers all over my farm. I catch lots of night crawlers to use as bait for myself and have thought about catching them to sell.

I pull them one by one out of the ground. What are the best ways to catch night crawlers in bigger numbers?

Is it better to sell them by the dozen or weight?

How much would you sell night crawlers for?

What is the best way to store them until they sell?

Keith

We caught and sold them to a local fishing store...for .02 cent each....back in 1969.... it was nice to catch 2 with one grab...when they were having sex ...lol

Back when I lived in Prineville, OR a few of the locals around town had signs in their yards advertising a dozen for $2.50.

Used to sell them to dealers back in the early 70's. Price was around $23/1000 We generally tried to pick a 1000 per night.

My back aches...just thinking about it....lol

Yep, even then the back ached. But working hard for little pay undoubtably helped prepare me to become a successful beaver trapper!

Grab a flashlight and head to a golf course; that's 1 good way to find them.

Used to pick them in the mid/late eighties when I was in high school. I remember getting up to as much as $45 a 1000. There would be a junkie bus setting at a major intersection with someone buying crawlers. I remember filling a 5 gallon bucket.

I used to have to go catch them for my dad. He never paid me diddly. I can still see the big ball of slime in the bottom of the bucket and smell the worms on my fingers.

How many crawlers per quart or gallon, anyone know? thanks.

Jim

i catch em for myself,just takes a lot longer to stand straight up than it used to.

When I used live bait I would get them early in the morning after a rain. I could walk around the block a pick enough for all summer.

That's the method I find best . Saves on the back and with a popsicle stick and ice cream bucket you can chock up some big numbers in a hurry..... And no broken ones!

Way back a a kid in HS we picked them for beer money.sell them to the bait shops by the lake.cant remember the actual pay,but it wasn't too bad in the 70's

In Pa. they are a taxable,so you have to get
a tax number and turn it in,they don't drive around
looking for people to bust,but if a bait store owner
complains,they will shut you down,unless you're Amish.

X2! LOL

Electric prods...run off 110v extension cord or 12v battery/converter....never saw them until I lived in Idaho.

The neighbor and I would make $100 in a few hrs.

Didn't need prods on golf courses......headed to the greens first.

When the 4 kids lived at home We picked them at night with Red lense flashlights. They don't spook with red. Catching 2 at once was always nice. Ruined their date night - but hey!

traprjohn >>> we had a electric probe and it really worked great. I have mentioned it to others and they have never heard of such a thing.

Good rain and pick them off parking lots.

They sell for $3.50-$4.00 a dozen in bait stores around here. A flat which is around 500 crawlers is 50 to 60 bucks. Cheaper from private sellers or places like Fleet Farm which usually has a box of 18 for $2.75. I'm sure the people selling privately don't collect sales tax but they are supposed to.

When I was a kid, late 60's, used to sell them to bait shops for $3.00 a pound. 10-12 pounds a night was average. My back would ache even then!
Dennis

Here in Pa they seem to come all the way out at 44 or 45 degrees. And at that temperature they are nice and slow. Every degree warmer they speed up. Yes we I was a kid in the '50s my goal was 1000 worm and we used to get one penny each in store merchandise only (traps for me back then, 1 1/2 long spring stoploss B & L were $.65 I caught everything in them) now 100 is fine with me. Sometimes I just have to duck walk the whole time as my benderupper is not so good. But look for 44 degrees on a wet nite like tonite maybe......jk

They were out last night here.Got a few before my back reminded me I'm another year older.lol
Why do they keep moving the ground lower each year?

i just thought my legs got longer or my arms got shorter,can't tell which.filled one bed last night and will fill another tonight and in the shop fridge with them.

My 9 year old daughter loves to catch redworms and crawlers. Tonight is looking like a perfect night for it as well.

I used a 5 gallon bucket as a third leg last night, while catching night crawlers. Getting older is not much fun.

Keith

Prods if you want to catch them fast.

Day or night they boil out of the dirt.

WS

Around here it’s about $4 for 2 dozen

My boy sells them out of a cooler in the front yard. He is seven this year made about $450 last year at $2 per doz. All on the honor system had a few doz go missing but we figured that was ok since some poor soul got to go fishing. Had one person put 48 cents in the cooler and take a doz but to our surprise about a week later $1.52 was left with no worms missing so he was happy with that. We pick them on side roads during rain storms easier than just picking in the grass.

Cool story, thanks for sharing

Use a headlamp with a RED lens, won't spook the crawlers and leaves both hands free.

We were just talking about this the other day.Back in our day{70's}you saw lots of signs advertising crawlers.Now,very,very few.

Growing up in Lewiston, Idaho we sold them for 50 cents a doz.(it was actually 13 worms , a bakers dozen...seemed to be the standard at the time ) That was In the 90s...my dad made some prods, that worked great. I remember seeing a commercial prod setup in a pasture and thought that operation was the big time. Remember getting zapped a few times as well. We had rabbits and found the bigger and best worms, under the rabbit cages. Anytime after the lawn was watered produced good worm picks. We made our own bedding using shredded newspaper and a pinch of soil. Bought the Styrofoam containers from a local corner store. I bet you couldn't go a mile without seeing a sign advertising nightcrawlwrs for sale. Man, those were the days...can almost smell the worm slime.

How do you prod for them?

Didn't have any out tonight. Air temp was about 46 degrees. Maybe next week.

You can make an electric prod by taking a common electric cord separate the two wires tape one and fold it back solder the other wire to a two foot long piece of 3/8" cold roll rod that is sharpened on the other end. Fasten a wooden or rubber handle over the soldered wire end. Water the ground where you think worms will be
Stick the rod in the ground an go plug in the cord. Go back where you stuck the rod in and put your hand on the dirt about a foot from the rod. If you feel an electric tingling the worms will start to surface in a few minutes. If you don't feel the tingle, go to where you plugged it in and unplug it and rotate the plug 180° and plug it back in. My dad built one for me when we lived in the north east I think about fifty five years ago. Works good especially in compost piles.

I would guess around a 500 - 1000 per gallon. We used to get the metal gallon vegetable cans from the school cafeteria. To the top ring was 500 or a 1000. Now thinking I believe it was a 1000 for a 5gal bucket was near 5000. Used to hang around a guy that dealt night crawlers. He made good money. He had the walk in cooler and all. I remember him complaining back in the early 90s about how Canadian crawlers hurt or flooded the market causing lower prices down here, something to that effect. I always like picking in sheep fields. They kept the grass lower than cows so you didn't fight the grass. And don't forget your bag of saw dust either.

A local seller would pay the kids to pick them. He picked them as well. I don't know of any faster way to do it.

But he used to be real cautious of dead ones. He said one dead one will kill the whole crate....so be careful of that.