Some basic information about common earthworm:

• Latin name: Lumbricus terrestris
• Also the name used as night crawler (feeding above ground at night).
• Diet: Herbivore (leaves, decaying roots, living organisms – protozoans, rotifers, bacteria, fungi in soil)
• Size: Up to 38 cm / 15 inches
• Weight: Up to 11gr / 0.40 ounces
• Earthworms don’t have lungs; they breathe through their skin. 
• Earthworms have five “hearts” that pump blood through their bodies.
• Worms are hermaphrodite – both male and female.
• They lay eggs every 7-10 days.
• Worm eggs are called cocoons.
• Worms can produce 1000 babies in 6 months.
• Baby worms hatch out after 7 days.
• Worms die quickly when they get dry.
• Earthworms provide a principal food source for various wildlife including birds, reptiles, insects, fish and more.
  

First step: preparation

in these times when there are restrictions on movement outside municipalities (depending on the country) and thus more or less impossible to buy live baits in fishing shops (usually live baits are not sent by mail) it is necessary to use good old techniques to find earthworms and other baits. This technique is of course very difficult to use if you live in a city or do not have access to meadows, fields and the like. But if you have this option as I have, I highly recommend it because you can collect enough earthworms in a bad hour (especially if it was raining the day before) for a few hours or even the whole day of fishing.

You just need it:

• bucket
• shovel or spade or garden perennial fork

First you gather a few leaves to cover the bottom of the bucket. However, you can put straw or something similar at the bottom of the bucket instead of leaves (ue to the absorption of excess moisture and liquid from the soil). It is true that earthworms like moist soil but too wet does not suit them either.

A shovel is required for this worm-catching technique.

Put soil on the leaves (the best soil is molehill because it is loosened).

I found the first earthworm and haven’t started looking for them yet. They obviously adore loosened earth, even though they are food for moles.

Another fresh bunch of mole hill.

The bucket is ready for new residents.

Second step: catch earthworms

Now follows a very simple process to get the worms out of the ground: you push the shovel into the ground and then push it back and forth at least 20x times. You repeat this to cause vibrations in the soil around the shovel, which you can of course feel yourself.

Earthworms usually come out of the ground very quickly. when the earthworms no longer come out of the ground just move a few meters forward or go to another meadow and repeat the process.

If earthworms are in the area they come to the surface soon. Longer and thicker earthworms take a little longer to get out of the soil (if they are in the area, of course).

Patience is needed here if we want to catch larger earthworms, otherwise smaller earthworms are caught faster. For fishing smaller fish such as roach, perch, common bleak, rudd, dace, gudgeon, … smaller and thinner earthworms are most suitable for bait.

They usually crawl out of the ground very quickly and also quickly hide back in it.

Earthworms need to be picked up as soon as they come to the surface because otherwise they will hide back into the ground.

Photo / video equipment I use in my work: 👇

Some of the earthworms were really huge. Suitable for fishing larger species of fish such as carp, bass, barbel, catfish, eel, chub, ….

A delicious protein bite that fish can’t give up not to eat.

Earthworms hide underground very quickly.

In the end it is necessary to cover the soil with grass to prevent the soil from drying out.

When you have finished collecting earthworms, store the bucket in a dark and cool place. I recommend that you do not keep earthworms in the bucket for more than 7 days (in the meantime it is also necessary to take care of soil moisture – light spraying with water at least once a day).

Earthworms do not escape from the bucket but it is better to cover the bucket with a net or something similar (it is important that air circulation is enabled at all times, otherwise the earthworms will die).

If you want to have earthworms available for a longer period of time or to cultivate them, it is necessary to provide them with a much larger living space and, of course, food. This type of earthworm cultivation (also different types of earthworms) is called vermiculture.

Baits are ready for fishing

If you are limited only to movement in your municipality and fishing is of course allowed in it (subject to all safety rules of course) there is almost always some small pond or stream to be found. Sometimes even very small ponds and extremely narrow and shallow streams hide fish that you don’t even see at first glance. It is true that in most fish these are smaller species (roach, rudd, chub, perch, …), but what could be nicer than an hour or more to enjoy nature and at the same time breathe fresh air and catch a fish or two maybe more, try it you won’t be sorry.

Till next time …

Tight lines and wet nets!

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