nightcrawlers....................why not?

[glfnnut]

has anybody ever tried using nightcrawlers on tip-ups?  if so...........any luck?    just curious

[NHice]

We use them for trout  in NH, just to mix it up a bit. They will work!

[leadhead2]

at times they excel for perch. also small segments for tipping jigs can be productive.

[Cope23]

1" sections tiped on jig worked well for gills, little trout worms give great action also

[Rebelfisher]

on tip ups, all I recall catching is perch....one year I even saved leeches from the previous summer season and figured I would slam the walleye among other things....boy was I wrong...my fatheads outproduced bigtime. 

[daltonweaver3]

Nightcrawlers and leeches are not around when it is cold.  I guess there are a few dumb fish that will take them in cold water.

[Rebelfisher]

Nightcrawlers and leeches are not around when it is cold.  I guess there are a few dumb fish that will take them in cold water.

then again...how many wax worms and maggots do you see now?

[ICE REBEL]

Never much luck with them. Fatheads or mediums all the way.

[JiggerMan]

Nightcrawlers and leeches are not around when it is cold.  I guess there are a few dumb fish that will take them in cold water.

last year and the year before i found leeches in the bellies of most of my perch and walleyes out of one lake. 

[TeacherPreacher]

Watched a guy on backwaters of Mississippi in Wisconsin use a whole crawler on a #10 gold short shanked hook, no weight, catch a limit of 8"-9" gills in about 1 1/2 hours while the rest of us sat there with our mouths open and no fish!!!!!!!!!

[draketrutta]

Nightcrawlers and leeches are not around when it is cold.  I guess there are a few dumb fish that will take them in cold water.

I always thought the same thing - until I started catching steelhead in upstate NY rivers on Berkley Pink Power Worms - in mid january.

Worms will work 12 months a year.

[kstoneice]

then again...how many wax worms and maggots do you see now?

I agree bait is bait!!!!

[fishermantim4]

there is a time and place for all baits, and for me the only time when its cold out that night crawlers work is when i'm winter steelhead fishing after a high water period, think about what your trying to imitate, never though of finding a hook small enough to hook a scud or blood worm on

[RAU]

Ive caught a few real nice big brown trout out of Harveys lake hanging big gobs of crawlers under tip-ups. The guy that showed me this assured me it worked real good or I'd never have belived it. I dont like icefishing that lake anymore, ice never seems to get real thick

[ICE REBEL]

Ive caught a few real nice big brown trout out of Harveys lake hanging big gobs of crawlers under tip-ups. The guy that showed me this assured me it worked real good or I'd never have belived it. I dont like icefishing that lake anymore, ice never seems to get real thick

Your right cause it never does get good ice.

[Rebelfisher]

Your right cause it never does get good ice.

you guys can stay at home..I'll fish it...its good enough for me!

[TIME2FISH]

Al Linder told me "when the temperature gets down to 50 degrees, switch from crawlers to minnows".

[daltonweaver3]

then again...how many wax worms and maggots do you see now?

Fish eat them because they look like other things they eat.

[Drill4gills]

a buddy caught a white bass on a buckshot rattler with a nightcrawler seemed to work reel good if you know what i mean

[EssoxHunter]

then again...how many wax worms and maggots do you see now?

   grubs of different sizes are every where on the muddy bottoms of lakes during winter,they are a main forage for pan fish and even walleyes and smallies. find a muddy bottom with a camera, and notice the tiny holes in the mud, those are from grubs, blood worms, etc. these are what perch especially hunt through out the day light hours under the ice. pan fish 101.

[EssoxHunter]

a lot of blood worms "hatch" from wood, decaying leaves and branches...

[Rebelfisher]

I guess houseflies and moths deposit their eggs under water now? I know there is all kind of larvae on the lake bottom, but what im saying... NOT waxies and maggots!

[salmonrebel]

Al Linder told me "when the temperature gets down to 50 degrees, switch from crawlers to minnows".

I personally like to eat.....perch, gills, walleye, and calico when it gets colder than 50 degrees!.....OHHHHH?!.....Yas are talkin about bait!

[EssoxHunter]

google it man... larvae of all kinds, segmented and pale in color, of different sizes, are commonly found by foraging fishing during the winter months.burrowing aquatic insects are found in our fresh water lakes and dams, their off spring are larvae. is there wood under water? i.e. brush piles and dead falls.where are wax worms found naturaly? in decaying logs, stumps, and trees. are there decaying logs, stumps, and trees in your waters? a lot of insects deposit there eggs in fruit and nuts, how many acorns fall into a given lake during fall? the reasons for grubs to be in a lake are to numerous. they are so common that fish like perch depend on them as a substantial part of their diet.