First Nighcrawler Bass

[hoosierbass07]

Ever since I picked up fishing as a hobby I've resisted using live bait to fish for bass.  I've taken real worms before so other family members could use them and catch fish, but I've resisted.  Anyway, I've been wanting to try fishing real worms for the last couple of years.  Today I finally tried using them.  It's real windy here in Indiana and we are going to get record lows Saturday night/Sunday morning.  I figured this was as good a time as any to try them out since it was cool and very windy out.  

 As soon as I cast them into the water I was getting bites.  Fish were biting the worms off the hook.  After thirty minutes of casting around I hooked up a small bass.  A few minutes later a crappie.  Then another bass and one more before I ran out of worms.  Oh, those worms were from my back yard - free!    I was using small Gopher jig heads and all fish were hooked in the upper lip and the hook came out easy.  

 Anyway, I had fun using the worms.  Only thing I did not like was digging them out of the container I had them in with dirt.  Besides that, it was fun using them.  

 Hopefully this summer I can use them to catch the big bass in the very clear water strip pits I fish at. 

[riverbasser]

Nothin wrong with live bait. Don't let anybody tell you different. I don't fish competitively which is the only time it matters. Glad you had fun 

[Darren.]

Haven't fished live worms in a while, but I will do it
on occasion. I like to throw out a split shot rig with
a juicy crawler tied on.

@Fish Chris caught quite a few of his massive bass
on live crawlers -- and on light spinning gear.

[bowhunter63]

I use em too,The good old book Lunkers Love Nightcrawlers has really good tips

[Bluebasser86]

I use to fish live crawlers all the time for bass. I'd use 4lb test and a light rod with a #6 Octopus hook. Hook them once through the collar/band and fish them weightless. Caught some really nice bass along with a multitude of other species of fish doing that. 

[Jtrout]

Went to a pond last weekend and wasnt catching anything my brother and i were standing on a wooden dock and he started flicking catapillars of the edge and huge bluegills were coming out from under the dock and sucking them in so he started using them as bait and caught a few good gills. So i was like not gonna use a rod for that i tied a 6ft peice of line to my wrist and started  hand lining them! Wacky rigged em lol. Even handlined that bass in ! The most action we seen all weekend.

[buzzed bait]

i used to catfish quite a bit with nightcrawlers and would catch some bass as a by product from time to time.  nothing wrong with that!

[fishwizzard]

I am so glad that I am not the only one who gets a kick out of hand-lining for small fish.  I hike a lot and when there isn't always a pole with me, there is always a few small circle hooks and some line in an old altoids tin.

Nothing more satisfying then catching a tiny fish with a tick you just pulled off your arm. 

 

 

[Airman4754]

I use Canadian night crawlers on a Carolina Rig in summer. I rig them with a small tail treble hook with a long sewing needle and inflate them with a syringe so they float. For the most part I just dead stick it. This is a very common trout rig, but it catches bass. 

[hoosierbass07]

I haven't been able to go fishing since I caught those fish last weekend.  So this weekend I wanted to try using the night crawlers again.  I decided to go fishing behind a small dam.  I ended up caught two trout and both were very pretty!  I'm starting to really enjoy fishing with night crawlers!