Does any have any ideas about how to keep worms fresh? I purchase 12 worms and use 4 of them. Then then I just chuck the rest in the water because I know I can't save them. How long will they stay good in the in the Refer?
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a long time!but keep them in a cooler with ice all day.
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on hot days I put ice in a sandwich baggy
and put that in the worm box. when I'm done fishing I put them in the fridge. they will keep for a few months. later chuck
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My grandad used to keep them in damp burlap while fishing, then the refer, until grandma said get them out.
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[laugh]Me what I do is simple. When at Willard Bay I just take my old nightcrawlers and then toss them off my boat. Then I let the catfish eat them. They gulp the worms down, then I take my newer fresh nightcrawlers and then catch the same catfish that eat the old nightcrawlers, then I gut the catfish and take the nightcrawler that they just ate and then reuse it. Otherwise the nightcrawler just gets old and smelly. But while in the catfishes stomach it somehow stays fresh. Don't ask me why, but it works for me.[laugh]
OK OK I know your laughing so loud your neighbors can hear you.
I have actually learned the hard way. I have caught lots of crawlers around my apartment complex. And man they get stinky when I take them to Willard. Trout fishing is no problem for me though cause there is always shade along the rivers.
But at Willard I'm now taking an ice cooler; a foam one of course that I can take on my inflatable boat.
I've had it with loosing all of my worms. And the smell.[pirate]
Also if I had any common sense you can go to Sportsmans Warehouse and get worm bedding. Its better than the "top soil" stuff you get at Wallmart or Kmart.
But really just a good-sized foam cooler with enough ice. I would say like 3 bags in a foam cooler would do.
Its always a good idea to put a cap or a lid on your crawlers too!
Like I said I have learned the hard way, always putting my worms under shade on my boat just to learn that th 'ol sun gets the worms all smelly. Worm bedding should help, try not to use mud—like I have on my last few trips.[crazy]
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I have found that the best way to keep worms fresh is to enjoy them right away with a twist of lime... and hell of alot of Tequila. [crazy] Keeping them on ice with cooler lid shut is some great advice though, and if you don't put the dead worm chunkies back in the container the rest of them will live alot longer.
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When I was a young lad I would go out with my grandpa and catch night crawlers from his lawn. We would then put them in a large wooden box with a lid, filled with damp peat moss. We would also mix in some corn meal and old coffee grounds. The crawlers would just eat and eat and eat. The result was large, plump and juicy worms to fish with. When we were done we would bring back the unused worms and put them back in the box to feed and grow a little more.
It was worth the work because wherever we fished it seemed that the fish knew we were the ones using the blue ribbon worms.
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I use one of these bait coolers while I am fishing. The nightcrawlers stay lively and plump up a little more if you keep them in water in the cooler.
[url "http://www.hagensmarine.com/bait_cooler.htm"]http://www.hagensmarine.com/bait_cooler.htm[/url]
And then when I get home I put the worms back in the containers I bought them in and keep them in the frig.
I learned this after taking a couple of trips out with Crankem.
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You don't need to put the the worms in the refrigerator or throw them away after fishing. Bring them home and put them in a buried bucket.
I used a 5 gallon plastic bucket. Cut a hole in the lid and bottom and cover the holes with a screen. Glue it in or the critters will escape. Bury the bucket and leave about 2 inches above ground. Fill the bucket with ground up newspapers.
Shred the paper in a shredder, add water, (hot works best) then grind it up with a paint mixer on your drill. The worms really eat up the news.
If you bury this next to your house you can keep worms year around.
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