Floating a nightcrawler .

I remember years ago being shown how to insert a smelled hook partially through a night crawler with a homemade tool( wire with a notch filed in one end.) If I remember correctly,the small hook would be hidden inside the crawler with the only the tag end of the mono sticking out one end of the worm.
The crawler would then be inflated in order to float it off the bottom.Im not sure but it seems the hook should be inserted into the front/ head,and pushed partially through,leaving the loop of the mono sticking out the head in order to tie to.
I am also a bit stumped on whether I can still inflate if I halve a crawler in order to offer a smaller portion.I know this might be confusing,any info will be appreciated.

Wow !!! almost a year of silence -- Never heard of floating a worm.. I fish straight down from my Boat on channel edges or where sudden Contour drops happen. Drop it to the bottom with a small split shot a couple of inches above.. Give Two to three cranks on the reel and the bait is about 10 inches off the bottom and you can tell when the line hits structure in 15 to 25 foot of water. Another thing I found out is when you catch a Boat Load of Tiny cats move.. someone else cleaned out the bigger fish and the 3 and 4 inch fish take over untill they get ran off, You almost cant catch them -- Bait stealers

Floating a crawler is apparently an outdated fishing style.No thanks to all the modern thinking folks on this forum,I eventually figured it out :biggrin A floating night crawler is used when fishing from the bank,basically the same set up trout hunters use with power bait.the tools required is a small syringe and a thin wire with a notch filed in one end to accommodate the hook.The tied hook is inserted into the crawler with the wire just behind the belt,pushing it to the tail end,but not out.
The syringe is then inserted into the crawler in two or three spots and air is pushed into the worm just enough to puff it up a bit.Using the Carolina rig set up,the crawler will float and wiggle for a surprisingly long time at whatever distance off the bottom you desire.The pros of this set up is the crawler is constantly moving .......The con is,the set up time takes a minute longer to set up than fishing artificial. I’m not suggesting this is a crappie set up,but many species find it pretty appetizing.

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Originally Posted by Yaker

Floating a crawler is apparently an outdated fishing style.

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I first heard of this in the mid-1970's. The Fishing Facts guys used it a lot. They even sold a little hypodermic needle to inflate the crawlers.

I never tried it myself, but it makes sense.

They still make an injector for worms. It,s a little squeeze bottle with a needle in the end. To by pass this why don't you just try floating jig heads they do the same thing and aren't that expensive. Instead of injecting most walleye Guys use the floating jig head. If your going to use a lot of worms on the hook get yourself some small styrofoam bobbers that you can peg on the line just above the hook. This will keep your bait up off the bottom.

I actually do use floating jigs,but they only float small sized worms( meal worm,spikes,maggots,and pieces of night crawlers ) with air I can float a nice plump crawler,I will study the use of floats.