I am near the Houston area. The soil here can get pretty dry for the summer months. And with temps reaching past 105, worms dont seem easy to find.

I see plenty of youtube videos showing how to collect earthworms for fishing by shocking and throwing walnut juice etc, but I notice that in the videos, the environment is already pretty damp. Seems like a much different environment than southeast TX.

I'm looking for some region-specific advice. Anybody have any experience gathering earthworms for fishing in the TX? For the life of me, i just cant find any, even in flowerbeds. Maybe my living in a suburban residence has to do with it? Getting tired of having to pay 3.50 for 18 worms every fishing trip.

Shocking them always worked for me.

Try your local golf course. Most water the greens daily and that is a good place to start looking at night. It can be a fun adventure with kids involved.

Building a worm bed works great.
- 4 used cross ties. A old bath tub works great also.
- Heavy plastic for the bottom.
- Go to the net for the soil combinations and feeding.
- 5 boxes of crawlers will give you all the worms you will ever use.
- You will still find that you will get caught in a pinch and purchase a box of worms; now you have a place to put the left-overs.

I use to raise them to make my Night Crawler Scent when I was doing the whole process. Now I have a Biotech make the scent for soft plastics.

I have found that when I follow an organic lawn and garden program it really increases the numbers of nightcrawlers in my flower beds.

x2
Can also make for a romatic evening with your wife (at least that's what the cops said to us the first time I took her, when somebody called them about lights dancing around the greens).

If you have spread insecticides then you killed them

I've been using worms for bait since they evolved, and sometimes you just can't find the darned things. Let us know what your fishing for and where. I'm betting someone on the forum can give you some tips on alternative baits.

Cops? LMAO, too, too funny!

I'm fishing a small man-creek that runs around my subdivision. In it are multiple sunfish species, LM bass, shortnose gar, and channel cats.

The river is probably less than 10 ft across and not more than 4 ft deep. It runs for a good 5 miles though.

I'd prefer not using any live fish as alternative bait.

No bait works on everything, except maybe worms. But it sounds like some light spinners on light tackle would work for a fair amount on the fish you have. I have caught many types of pan fish on them, and a fair amount of LM bass

There's a world of insects that make good bait. Grasshoppers, crickets, and wasp larva are just a few. Canned yellow corn is a good panfish bait.

noobpc, if you decide to make your own worm beds, or even start your own small use worm farm. there is a place near you to get a 200 worms for about $22. It's Decker Worm Sales . its in Conroe.

Start a compost heep. We scraped a about a 3'x4' area in the back yard and started dumping leaves, and peelings from veggies and old leftovers in it (not much leftover. Once in a while we'll bury the fish guts in but not everytime. Wrap the guts in newspaper and bury them about 10" deep don't wrap them very tight though. Keep the area covered with leaves and soak it with the water hose once in a while.

Here's a tip on compost heaps: put all the fish carcasses in there that you want to, and cover them thoroughly with coffee grounds. The grounds will absorb all the odor & the combination makes killer compost!

(you can get buckets of used coffee grounds from your local Starbucks)