Gruntin' Worms

[Casey]

Michael, Les and I got into a discussion about this at the Frio recently when my goofy boy picked up a couple of sticks and tried to "grunt worms" to fish with. Back in the spring of 2009, we were visiting my folks in Naples and the subject of grunting worms came up. I'd heard my Mom and brother talk about it before but had never seen it done.

My Mom walked out back, grabbed a couple sticks, stuck one in the flower bed and started rubbing on it with the other stick. Worms came from everywhere. Not just tiny little earthworms, but gigantic, meaty trophy earthworms. These things were over 6" long and as thick as a number 2 pencil. We scooped up a ton of them.

Since we had talked about it at the river, I decided to dig up the pics to share with Michael and Les. While I had them out, I figured I'd post them here.

Anyone else ever grunted worms?

[Johnny]

Wow! Never tried it. So you just get 2 sticks and rub them together? Do they have to be touching the ground?

Edit: Just saw where you said you stick one in the flower bed.

[Fishndude]

Can you use them for Snipe hunting?

[DeadeyeDeb]

I believe you stick one in the ground and rub it with the other. Will need to give this a try. Growing up in Ohio, we would go out at night when there was dew on the grass and shine a light and pick up nightcrawlers by the pounds. Then go to our lake and fish for blue gills til we couldn't fish any more..............or it was time to milk the cows.

[Draco]

We would do it when we were kids to get the big milk worms for trot line bait. It only worked for us if the ground was damp. We would cut a row of notchs in the stick in the ground with our pocket knives so it would make for more vibration.

[Peacock]

I have never heard of this. I learned something new today. Thank you for sharing!

[The Insurance Guy]

We do something similar when we hunt in Arkansas. We look for piled up leaves that have been there for years. Works great

[Matt_C]

I'm gonna have to try that.

[Ouch]

Damp ground works best.

Try it with two pieces of 3/8" rebar... miraculous.

[rubydog]

Now I have done a whole lot of things to catch bait but I have never heard of this Grunting Worms you speak of.

That is the coolest thing I have ever seen or heard.

Thanks for sharing Casey

[myway]

Can you use them for Snipe hunting?

Instantly my first thought! What's the saying.. fool me once ..well I have never been very smart I would need to see it to believe it.

[Ted]

We used to do that by cutting off a sapling and using a dull saw across the top to vibrate the ground. We called them "Fiddle Worms" - they sure were sticky to handle!

[Browning2008]

A 2x2 drove in the ground, and go across it with a big file works great.

[unclefish]

Yep we called it fiddling. Works great....if you have worms!

[akey]

Damp ground works best.

Try it with two pieces of 3/8" rebar... miraculous.

Rebar is what we use also. My mother told me the vibration causes the worms to think it is raining but who knows. If you find a good spot it is wild watching them come flying up out of the ground.