General Fishing Discussion
Lunkers Love Nightcrawlers Anyone?
I still have the original book by George ( Cold Front ) Pazik and occasionally re-read it. It’s like my fishing bible lol. I have it almost memorized. I might even offer it up in the classified section because I now know everything about fishing! LOL. And yes I still condition my crawlers. Carpio
Just saw this thread years later guys. Yes , absolutely use this system on a heavily pressured lake west of Chicago. I dont go through the entire conditioning process with my crawlers. I take the short cut mentioned in the book. I'll put about 2 dozen crawlers( which I order online from a couple places in Minnesota) and place em in a container with unchlorinated bottled spring water. No bedding. I put em in the fridge for a couple days. These things absorb the water and I can hardly hold em to put a hook in em when I'm in the boat. I've caught tons of bass and walleyes on them.
Revisited this ancient post. Unfortunately Fishing Facts no longer exists and Lunkers Love Nightcrawlers is out of print. Back in its heyday Fishing Facts was the best fishing magazine on the market.
I still fish nightcrawlers this way. I hope Midwest Outdoors will decide to republish the book at some point (if they still own the rights). Years ago I purchased the 1988 version to give as gifts to all of my brothers and sisters and a few friends. I still have a 1972 version and a 1988 version that I read periodically. I pass the knowledge on to new fishermen but I do not let the books out of my possession. I would love to give more as gifts.
In my mind it remains the single best book for learning how to fish.
We have used it by putting crawlers in it when we got started in the AM and it puffs them up in a matter of an hour or two. I actually like it better as a same day method. The water has to stay ice cold, and if it warms up over nite, you get worm soup.
The water in the bucket should be non-tap, but the cubes can be from almost anywhere and you'll have no problem. Just remeber this is a quick treatment for crawlers that are to be used.
Think Spring!
Conditioning crawlers these days is not as important as 30 years ago, as the crawlers at most sport shops are pretty good - where 30 years ago they were usually picked or dug by the shop owners kids, and were not always "choice". But back then the worm containers didn't have bar codes on them either - kinda miss those days!
Keep warm and think spring!
Marc
The book was an easy read. By today's standards, it read like a "fishing for dummies" book. Some of the stuff I read in Walleye Insider is so technical it's difficult to finish the article. Still, the chapters on structure were by far the best I've read. It expanded what I consider to be structure and gave me some ideas on how to go about fishing structure I know about.
I thought it was interesting that in my own trials and errors this past summer, I had begun to migrate to what is presented as the "nightcrawler secrets" method. I had already given up the #4 baitholder hook in favor of a #6 Aberdeen hook as well as switching to 6lb line instead of 8 or 10 lb line and had begun tying directly to the hook instead of using a snap swivel. So, the method presented in the book was very close to the way I had been discovering on my own. Except, the book filled in a lot of gaps I was missing due to lack of time on the water and lack of experience, so I feel it was worth the read and maybe saved me a few seasons of fishing trying stuff out.
If you are a finesse fisherman, I recommend this book if you have an open mind to trying new things. But some of it was like being at an Amway meeting! I kind of glossed over those chapters.
The chapter about using solunar tables was interesting. I noticed the Fishing Reports section has a graph of "best fishing times" which are partly based on those tables. It seemed hokey-pokey to me, but who knows? It would be interesting to note whether the times I've caught fish corresponded to any of the predicted times.
Now, I'd like to check out Buck Perry's "Spoonplugging" book, except it's out of stock everywhere. 
-- BF
That's what I loved so much about fishing as a kid. We'd go out and end up all kinds of fish flopping in the basket. Not that I keep fish like we used to 25 years ago, but it's still fun to just go fishin'.
Plain, simple, relaxing fun - that's what it's really all about.
Keep warm all!
Another good read from the past and what I would consider a text book on fishing 101, is "Catching Fish" by Al Lindner and Chet Myers. Many public libraries still have copies of this one or watch e-bay.
I think one reason this nightcrawler technique clicks with me is because it was the very first "real" fishing technique I ever learned. Honest to God, the first time my girlfriend (now my wife) and I went up North to fish, I rowed out into the middle of the lake with my Zebco 404 and a clip-on bobber set to about 2 feet and cast it out with a worm on the hook. We both got bored - didn't catch a thing (surprised?). The next year, my brother in law and his wife came along and he showed me how to drag a crawler on the bottom with a split shot about 18" up the line from the hook. Caught my first walleye that way. Since then, I've bought way too much crap that I didn't need and will probably never use or work if I did use them. Now, I find myself going back to how it started, although more finely tuned and with better equipment and some basic knowledge of structure. Jig fishing, crankbaits, spoons, slip bobbers, etc will still have their place, but I think I'm ready to give this another try.
*looks at calendar and sighs*
- BF
There is an art to picking them too. He had a belt with containers for gathering and then one with saw dust to keep your hands dry. If your hands are dry, you don't have to grip them too hard to get them out of the ground. He had a head lamp with red celophane over the lense. He was very selective on the ones he caught.
If you want the right rod for this technique, have someone make you a spinning rod out of an 8 foot, 7 weight fly rod blank. When I first started making rods this technique was just getting popular and I must have made 50 of them for people. The old Fenglass blanks were outstanding for these Nightcrawler secrets rods.
The "supercrawler" stuff is kind of funny. I plan to do an experiment next summer. I want to take a dozen "regular" crawlers and a dozen "supercrawlers" and see what happens.
So far, I'm liking the book. The author(s) aren't making the claim of a magic bullet, but come right out and say that in order to consistently catch bigger fish, you need to do your homework and you need to put in the time to locate the fish.
So, thanks for the original post. I never knew this book existed and probably wouldn't have bought a fishing book with "Lunker" in the title, otherwise. 
I've learned a lot from this book so far. Can't wait to put some of my new knowledge to the test.
- BF
