Originally posted by Norm Kopecky:
Great post catmandoo. When you say about half the size of night crawlers, it makes me think that you have european night crawlers as I think red worms are much smaller. Does anyone know the distinction better than I?
Norm,
You certainly could be right. I looked at the cartons that the latest batch came in -- they only say "30 Fishing Worms."
The "commercial" worms I've had for the last couple of years seem to be bigger than the redworms of yesteryear. I just thought it was the better food and mountain relaxation of being in West Virginia vs. Virginia.
For many years I just used manure worms from around the chicken coop, or out of the puddles after a spring rain. They just weren't as prolific, and they would die out in the summer heat.
Last year's batch of worms would start to turn a reddish-yellow color as they got really fat. I'd guess the biggest ones were 4-5 inches long, and 3/16-inch at the fattest. The smaller ones had a rather hard skin. As they got bigger and fatter, they oozed a somewhat disgusting fluid when I put them on a hook -- think of what a 3-inch mealy worm might be like.
Right now, I don't have any of the really fat ones. Looking at photos on the Internet, I can't tell a difference between the European night crawlers and red wigglers. In the photos they all look identical!
Once they start really growing, I'll get post some photos.
I still always keep a crate full of regular night crawlers in my beer refrigerator. They are still the best bait -- they just don't eat my garbage.
Good fishn'
Ken
