How Do I Keep Earthworms Alive For Fishing?
by James on Jul.21, 2009, under Activities in Tremblant
I have about 2 dozen earthworms that i bought for fishing and did not get the chance to use them all. How can I keep them alive so that I can use them in the next week or two? What, if anything, can I feed them? Do I water them? Do I keep them in the little container that they came in?
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11 Comments for this entry
July 21st, 2009 on 12:14 pm
My grandfather used to store them in a wooden box full of wet leaves.
July 21st, 2009 on 1:35 pm
keep them in a container of mulch.
July 21st, 2009 on 8:30 pm
keep them in the dirt they came in and keep the container in a cool place, like a refrigerator
July 21st, 2009 on 10:28 pm
Well, it’s okay. Earthworms don’t have to be alive to fish with because fish still eat them. Even if they’re alive, all you have to do is plug them on the fishing pole, and swing the fishing pole in the water.
July 22nd, 2009 on 1:42 am
u could put ur worms in the fridge. I go fishin all the time. ur best bet is to buy them b4 u go fishin, tho.
July 22nd, 2009 on 6:45 am
put them in an empty flower pot with some moist (NOT SOGGY) soil. maybe thrown some dead plants in there too.
July 22nd, 2009 on 10:23 am
You are supposed to get your earthworms right before you go fishing, so they are prime bait, if you wait to long, they will die. Good luck fishing!
July 22nd, 2009 on 1:58 pm
This is a problem that a lot of fishermen (and fisherwomen) run into. They’ve outlayed a lot of cash for worms, and don’t want them to go to waste before they’ve had a chance to use them.
You have a couple of alternatives. The easiest and cheapest is to create a “worm farm”, which basically mimics the environment that worms are used to inhabiting, i.e., the earth. The best way to do this is to fill your bathtub with as much soil from your back garden as possible… about 7 or 8 cubic yards of dirt should do it.
If you don’t have a garden to take soil from, you can use 4 or 5 bags of potting soil from your local garden center. Make sure you use organic potting soil, or the worms could get sick. There’s nothing worse than having a whole mess of sick worms on your hands! Believe me, I speak from experience!
In any case, make sure you keep the soil consistently moist. This should be relatively easy, since the worms are in the tub. Just turn the spigot on 10-15 times a day. Be careful not to let the soil dry out, though!
If you can’t build the worm farm, a more expensive alternative is to allow the worms to dwell in a bucket of tepid (not hot!) water until you are ready to go fishing. Just dump them all in a pail and fill it up. Here’s the catch: worms can’t breathe underwater. They respirate through their skin, so they will suffocate if just left to swim around on their own. Again, I found this out the hard way!
Here’s where the expense comes in: you have to buy each worm his/her own scuba gear (tank, mask, fins, goggles). That way they’ll be able to swim to their hearts’ content. You can get the gear at any bait store or pet supply company; but with two dozen worms, you’re gonna be laying out some cash.
In any event, happy fishing!
July 22nd, 2009 on 5:17 pm
put them in a container with earth and a cover and poke holes in the cover so they can breathe and change the earth everyday…
July 22nd, 2009 on 9:18 pm
add a little water to soil in the container and keep in a cool dry place (i used a small area in the back of the frig).
October 29th, 2010 on 10:47 am
First off it depends on the type of worm you have likley they are the Canadian nightcrawler in thier case keep them at a constant 65 degrees F about 19 degrees cel I think in any case get your self a plastic tobacco can or something that you can stick in your fridge that can have enough dirt to allow them to bury themselves now depending how long your going to keep them would depend on weather you actually feed them or not if you can get some soil form your garden and put it in a shoe box size container I heard you can get plastic shoe boxes from walmart they can hold around 50 adult worms and tons of babies any way they can go for weeks on just soil but you can feed them some chopped up cereal only put enough in that they would eat in 3 days and open the container every day to allow air in and keep the moisture up other then that you can just keep them in the container you got for about 2 weeks with no problems their are many ways to care for worms but it really depends on the type of worm you have and how long you need them I am trying to raise some in the fridge in a tobacco can and so far so good. I also have some composting worms in another worm bed but they are a different type they are red wigglers great for fishing and composting and don’t need a fridge good luck.