Fishing with Catalpa Worms as Bait

If you live in the eastern portion of the United States then you undoubtedly know that the catalpa worm is wonderful fish bait. You also know that gardeners consider this worm to be a pure pest. Catfish love these worms and so do bream.

Bream are small fish that are often called bluegills, or sunperch, and they are frequently caught for the express purpose of using them for bait for larger fish. The bream are fun to fish for and put up quite a fight for such a small fish. You will also find that fried or grilled bream is very good eating. There are a lot of small bones to watch out for so do not give these fish to small children to eat without removing the bones for them.

The best thing to know about catalpa worms is that when you harvest them off of the leaves of the tree you can place them in a freezer container filled with cornmeal and the place them in your freezer until you are ready to use them as bait. When they thaw out they will still be living worms. This allows you to have fresh living bait anytime you want it.

A lot of people plant the catalpa trees for the express purpose of harvesting the worms each year. The worms are regular visitors to the trees and if anyone that does not fish has them on their trees they will gladly allow you to harvest them before they strip the trees of their leaves.

If you plant a catalpa tree for the purpose of harvesting your own fishing bait then make certain you do not treat your trees with any forms of pesticides. Pesticides for other blights and bug related problems can also kill the worms that you are attempting to encourage.

One of the easiest ways to harvest the crop of worms from the trees is to spread a tarp beneath the tree. When you have the tarp in place all you need to do is shake the tree and the worms will fall from the tree onto the tarp. This is much easier than climbing on step ladders and attempting to pick the worms from the individual leaves of the trees. You also stand less of a chance that you will damage the ornamental tree when you shake it rather than place a ladder against its branches.