I was watching a fishing show yesterday and the guides there (in Canada) put their crawlers in ice water inside an insulated cooler. They said the main reason was no mess with bedding, dirt, etc. and also to keep them cool. Has anyone out there tried this???????? Just wandered how they would hold up. I hate the mess I get when using crawlers.

Back in the early 80's a friend and me went to Canada on a week long fishing trip, and we took several several crawlers with us but we used newspapers. We used a styrofoam(sp) cooler put a few sheets of the newpaper down on the bottom then a layer of crawlers then another several sheets of the newspaper and so on until we had what we thought would be enough crawlers for the trip, each layer of paper would be wet enough to maintain enough moisture to keep the crawlers alive and lively, this process worked very well for us on that trip.

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To Whom Much Is Given, Much Is Required

Used to do the same thing limbhook. Actually remember getting the idea from a Fishing Facts magazine on how to fatten up your crawlers. Back on the ice deal with the crawlers, one of the popular way of fishing crawlers for eyes here is to tip a jig with half a crawler. The serious walleye chasers cut all their crawlers in half before the trip and then place them on ice. This makes the crawler toughen up from the cold and stay on the hook better/longer.

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I actually heard of the water with worms thing from a guide on lake Erie and it was to keep his boat clean but I thought it to be a good Idea. The whole packing your worms in paper Idea was (I thought) because Canada does not let you bring in any organic material just has America, you can not bring back plants or fruits or veggies, I know this because we had a fellow in a group several years ago, got asked at the border, what your worms were packed in and he didn't know and said "Dirt", well 35 minutes later after they dug out the worms to find them in paper he knew better..... Thats what I remember when I crossed the border 7 plus years ago...

great tip hadn't heard about this will give it a try

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Speck

Real men troll for crappie (Fish On!)