I've been thinking about doing a lot more fishing this coming summer. As big as my family has gotten I'm having a hard time making my frozen fish last through the winter months. In fact I'm already out and gettin fish hungry. Usually I do a lot of fishing in the early spring when the sand bass are spawning and then I slack off until around August and start limblinning for flatheads. Well I'm wanting to do a lot more fishing in between the sandbass and the flatheads. In the month of June I can find native nightcrawlers by the hundreds. In fact I can walk a mile down or up the creek from my house and just about half fill a 5 gallon bucket with worms. What do you think would be the best way to fish with so many worms? Trotline? Jugs? Throwlines? Combo of all? I figure rod and reel would not be as productive since on some lakes and stream you are limited on how many you can use at once.
r.h. I fish with nightcrawlers for bullheads and channel cats. I use rod and reel, but only because trotlines, etc. are illegal in PA. If I were you, I would try trotlines, especially if you have access to all of that free bait. BTW, an advantage to living in a cold climate, is the fishing is pretting good through the ice.....
For trot lines I like to use something that the smaller bait stealers cannot get off the hook as easy as crawlers. In some states jug fishing is legal. A baited hook connected to a jug floating with the wind and current. Works good for cat fish. Where I go they allow 50 per person. Bring a friend and you can fish 100. Prefer the jugs to trot lines. I do use a lot of night crawlers going for walleye in Lake Erie and sunfish or cat fish anywhere. I would try to fish as much as possible in the spring when catching fish is the easiest. In some states it pays to get fishing license for children so you can keep their limit rather then it going against your limit.
Oh I plan on doing some perch jerkin with my kids but since the oldest one is only 9 and the other two are 5 and 2 you can bet I will be doing more baiting and untangling then we will be fishing. But I need to utilize the worms fast cause once you take them from their home they do not survive well. The month of June is the only time I can find the worms in great quantities and that is also the time when it starts getting real hot here so it is hard to keep them cool enough and it is too cold for them in the refrigerator. These worms are not like the crawlers that you can buy in a bait shop, if you stick them in the frig they will freeze to death. I can't keep them outside in the shade cause it is not cool enough. This is why I need to use them up as fast as I can.
Yes, I live in SD and folks up in these parts don't tend to do much catfishing. Why? They think it's a junk fish. Ok, that leaves more for me Just can't beat a catfish for how much meat you get off them per fish. I use earthworms that I get out of my garden and out from under my rabbit pens...
If you have that many worms, it sounds like a trotline might be an option for you. I know Texas has some limits on the number of hooks and length that the line has to be, as well as have a permanent I.D. for the user attached to it. If you have access to a small car top type of watercraft, this might be a method to take advantage of those worms. My boss, when he was a young boy, lived on the shore of the Nueces River and did tons of fishing for bass. His fathers passion was catfish, and trotlining was a way they fed their families through the 'Dirty Thirties'. My boss remembered all of those early morning trips to the river, how cold the water was, and getting back to bed for a couple of hours after the catch had been cleaned. Hope you find your answer on this thread - have a great day r.h.
