Anyone use nightcrawlers recently for bass?

[throttleplate]

I am going out this weekend back to the river dam, I will be bringing the wifes favorite fat head minnows and i am going to buy some nitecrawlers. We have been catching all species in the river on minnows but the brown bass are few and far between. We usually catch a couple each but just hand size lately. I am just curious to put a crawler on the ballhead jig with a bobber and see what bites compared to the minnows.

 

 

[bowhunter63]

A little while ago  nose hooked them on a split shot rig . Worked pretty good 

[Bird]

Everytime I take the wife fishing there will be nightcrawlers on the boat.

She likes to catch bluegill but always manages to catch a few bass as well.

[Team9nine]

One of the best books ever written on the subject. An encyclopedia of both nightcrawler fishing as well as structure fishing.

 

[WRB]

A friend of mine fishes lake Wolford in San Diego county from shore and only uses fly line Canadian* night crawlers with a size 1 drop shot circle hook. He lost count of the DD bass caught over the years.

Tom

* the big crawlers are either raised by the angler of purchased and must be kept cool.

[bp_fowler]

44 minutes ago, Bird said:

Everytime I take the wife fishing there will be nightcrawlers on the boat.

She likes to catch bluegill but always manages to catch a few bass as well. 

 

Same here with my wife.  Every once in a while she’ll catch a catfish too.

[Fallser]

I will be using them in less than a month when I head up to NE Ontario.  The lodge supplies them and we usually pick up a couple of containers of leeches at a bait shop on the way up to the lodge.  Mostly, we fish lures, soft plastics and in my case, a fly rod.  When fishing with a ball jig, we use half a night crawler.  If we use a whole one, the smallies will just pull the tail off.  The nightcrawlers are insurance that we will have some fish to bring home.

[Bigassbass]

Thread up a night crawler on a circle hook or medium size plastic worm hook, add a float about 3-4 feet up the line, throw out from shore in 6 feet of water, usually catches some nice bass.  I've caught some 5 pound bass on nightcrawler, especially in the fall.

 

[gim]

I’ve never specifically used live night crawlers to bass fish, but when I used to walleye fish we used spinners and crawlers frequently. Sometimes the perch or bluegills would peck them endlessly though, so we switched over to gulp crawlers. They were effective and kept the panfish at bay too. Obviously a lot more durable without the mess.

[throttleplate]

I have some gamagatsu baitholder hooks that came in a pack allready snelled which i have been looking at for 3 years so now is time to put a worm on them and try a minnow also instead of always using a jig head for the minnow. Thanks for the info.

[throttleplate]

24 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I’ve never specifically used live night crawlers to bass fish, but when I used to walleye fish we used spinners and crawlers frequently. Sometimes the perch or bluegills would peck them endlessly though, so we switched over to gulp crawlers. They were effective and kept the panfish at bay too. Obviously a lot more durable without the mess.

 

I always bring a couple packs of Gu;p Live minnows for backup in case the minners run out or to conserve if the small catfish are eating heavilly but the last time we fished i couldnt get a sniff on a gulp day or night from any species. There are no panfish in around this dam as i have never seen anyone catch one.

[MGF]

I haven't used any sort of live bait in a very long time other than for panfish with the grandkids but I used to.

 

When I was a kid my father had the book "Lunkers Love Nightcrawlers". We used to go out and catch them and kept them in foam chests. I still have a worm blower somewhere around here...little plastic bottle with a needle used to blow some air into the worm to give it some "float".

 

We rigged it like a carolina rig or "Lindy rig". Back then we sometimes used the walking type weights. Sometimes just a split shot and weightless in some places.

 

Yep just nose hook the crawler a few ridges back. We caught everything on them. I used to fish one lake where we'd get mixed bags of largemouth, walleyes and catfish. I even caught a few northern pike.

 

The big drawback is the little fish eating your crawler. 

[Fishingmickey]

I fished night crawlers very successfully as a kid. I'd use a Eagle Claw snelled hook, size four or six. I'd thread the hook into the night crawler and then bury the point back in at the collar.  Sometimes no weight or just a small split shot.  Cast, let it sink and very slow retrieve.  Keep a very close eye on your line!

FM

[MAN]

Used nightcrawlers yesterday with the kiddo and caught some small largemouth bass. 

The only issue I have with using them for bass is that if you are in a perch filled area....the perch will pick your hook clean before the bass can get to it.  (and won't get hooked).  

[Will Ketchum]

Ahhh! The good old worm and bobber combo. It never gets old and is effective.

[Bluebasser86]

On 7/29/2023 at 12:28 PM, Team9nine said:

One of the best books ever written on the subject. An encyclopedia of both nightcrawler fishing as well as structure fishing.

 

I remember reading this as a kid and raising nightcrawlers that I caught as a result to use for bait. I used them on 6lb test mono and a small hook with no weight. Caught countless big bluegills and sunfish, catfish, crappie, small bass, and a handful of big bass. It was extremely effective, pitching them around docks and cover just like a plastic worm. 

[Skunkmaster-k]

Night crawlers work great In the summer or when the lake gets an influx of water. I had to google the word influx. I heard it on TV one time, but wanted to make sure I useded it right. 

[TnRiver46]

21” smallmouth seem to enjoy them in February. Tear them in half and you’ve got a ned rig at 1/20th the price of a TRD 

[Pat Brown]

Weird story surrounding worm fishing: one of my best friends of all time isn't much of a bass fisherman.  We Catfish and fish for drum and have a blast but for some reason when we fish artificials together, I smoke him and he can't get bit.

 

Well back years ago before I was a bass fisherman proper, we went to a golf course pond one summer night near our mutual friends house to enjoy a cold beverage and feed some giant snapping turtles.

 

My friend brought his spinning rig and decided he wanted to make a few casts at the burgeoning lily pads and perhaps catch a sunfish or two.

 

He dug up some nightcrawlers out of the dirt near the bank and put one on a bobber and cast to the edge of the lily pads.

 

There was a huge boil and down the bobber went.

 

He caught a 6 lber.  Biggest bass any of us had ever seen at that point. Worms work.  

[Bankbeater]

I’ve had better luck with nightcrawlers in the winter. They just draw more bites than artificial baits around here. This time of year I never use them. I can’t keep them alive in the summer heat.