butterworms
 

any of you guys use butterworms for pan fishing? I need to have stuff on hand for random days when my son and nephew want to go out. driving to buy worms is a hassle and theyre too young to go out and dig their own. I never have good luck keeping earthworms or nightcrawlers in the fridge, but it sounds like the elliotts butterworms are idiot proof and easy to keep around. any ideas appreciated.

Re: butterworms
 

i have had good luck with the gulp red worms & nightcrawlers when in a pinch & obviously they are easy to keep

Re: butterworms
 

sunnies/bluegills love them

Re: butterworms
 

Berkeley maggots and honey worms in the jar more than suffice in a pinch for panfish. I use trout magnets and the small powerbaits when I take my 6 yr old out. It's been pretty successful

Re: butterworms
 

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I've never heard of butterworms until now so I just googled them. They appear to be a bigger version of the waxworms I buy at the petstore feed my pet fish.

Sunnies are pretty stupid and will hit anything small object that wiggles in or on the water. All the plastic manufacturers make panfish and trout sized scented plastics that work fine for sunfish. I think using live bait on sunfish is working too hard.

The secret is to make it move in such a way that fish attack it.

http://www.yourbobbersdown.com/images/mainplastics.png


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Re: butterworms
 

Earthworms or nightcrawlers are much more cost effective than butterworms. But yes, butterworms will work very well for panfish.

Re: butterworms
 

last time i took my nephew out we had to raid my mother in law's kitchen and got stuck using ritz crackers, pepperidge farms goldfish and old wheat bread. we got skunked bad and he still wants to fish with me. dont tell me sunnies are stupid AND easy to catch! i hate those sonsabitches

Re: butterworms
 

get a little jar of red gulp alive worm and pinch little pieces off, stick it on a little 1/32oz jig under a little weighted bobber and that's all you need, throw that anywhere near sunnies and it's game on!

Re: butterworms
 

Been using Elliots Jumbo Butterworms for a while now and i'll tell ya one thing, The sunnies love the buttery ooze that flows out after you hook 'em. Took my 11 yr old son last weekend to a local lake and he caught 8 sunnies on butterworms in about 35 minutes. Needless to say he was a happy young man.
Just stick em in the fridge and theyre good for 3-4 months in a semi-hibernated state.

Re: butterworms
 

Worms last for a month in my fridge.

Re: butterworms
 

I personally know Elliot from Elliotsbutterworms.com. He is the most honest businessman you can deal with. He better be because his real job is being a pastor to a five hundred member church. He just sent me 150 of the biggest tebo fly larvae, (AKA Butter worm) I have fished. They are hand picked in Chile. They mature into a moth.
I use butter worms through the ice for pan fish. Perch, large bluegills and crappies love them. They should work in open water too.
I've kept them in my fridge for six months without a problem. I keep them high in the covered butter shelf on the door. If the stuffing mix gets old just change it with wheat germ.

Re: butterworms
 

My go to has always been 1" tubes on small jig heads. Everything will to a swipe at them.

Re: butterworms
 

regular worms or crawlers are easy to keep, i have the same situation where i take kids out on a last minute basis. I bought a small plastic tote, filled it with peat moss and i keep crawlers and garden worms in there, i water it about once a week and feed them now and again, and they have lasted for months. I keep the tub in the basement covered. There is a ton of info an the web about how to do it. and really does save time and money, everytime i have bait leftover, it goes in the tub

http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/easywormbin.htm

Re: butterworms
 

I have a seven-year old and have used just about everything when fishing with him. Butterworms have had the highest success rate for panfish (and often trout as well). If they're biting at all, they'll bite butterworms. Worms/crawlers are second.

In terms of convenience, the little jars of "crappie nibbles" are pretty darn handy to have on hand when you can't/don't want to deal with live bait. You just roll up a few of them into a little ball about the size of a pea, put it on a tiny hook and off you go...

There are times when butterworms will catch you fish but artificial baits won't but those times are pretty rare, so if you're aiming for the closest to a sure thing, get butterworms. Throw a jar or two of crappie nibbles in the tackle box for the times when you just want a no-hassle-get-up-and-go solution.

Re: butterworms
 

thanks a bunch guys!

Re: butterworms
 

try trout magnets. they come with little hooks that barely have any barbs and its quick and easy to unhook.