The nightcrawlers come out en masse

Gobs of the universal fish bait emerged from their burrows Wednesday night under ideal conditions to demonstrate how they earned their name.

Having long switched almost exclusively to artificial lures, I've had little occasion to catch nightcrawlers in recent years. But when heavy rains knocked out my satellite TV signal just before 10 Wednesday night, I stepped out into the warm, muggy darkness for a look.

Glistening pink, purple and maroon in the glow of a hat-mounted flashlight, they were everywhere: some with tails still hooked in their burrows; some stretched out fully in the greening grass and leaf litter; some about to drown in the puddles; some seeking higher ground on rocks and sidewalks, some leaving linear tracks in the mud; and some suggesting the possible derivation of the expression 'hooking up.”

It may have been the best night of the year to catch nightcrawlers - a night my brother and I would not have missed back when we eagerly awaited optimal conditions to catch them for our own personal use and to sell for a quarter a dozen.

Scientists classify nightcrawlers as anecic worms, which reside in burrows of their own making and come to the surface to feed on organic matter. Since they prefer soil of a specific temperature and moisture content, they have adapted to come out when they are least likely to dry out - wet nights with a temperature between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Without suspecting any of that, my brother and I knew through both trial and error and the wisdom passed from one muddy-kneed boy to another when best to look for them.

And without suspecting that nightcrawlers are hermaphrodites - each containing both male and female reproductive organs - we knew we could double our catch rate whenever we could pluck a pair fused loosely in their own slime.

Nor did we know their seemingly smooth and slimy skin bristled with setae that helps them gain traction for rapid movement and anchor themselves in their burrows. We did, however, know that singles with their tails still in their holes are a low percentage catch - that most of them bolt for cover when the light strikes them and that those that linger have to be coaxed all the way out with just enough pressure to get them to loosen their grip but not so much that it breaks them in two.

The temptation Wednesday night to catch some of our favorite targets - 'doubles” and the singles that appeared to be completely out of their burrows - was barely outweighed by the realization that I had no use for them.

I was, however, delighted to know they were there in such abundance, which I took as further justification for my long-standing policy of growing without chemical assistance a spring-and-summer-long succession of dandelions, white clover, plantain and creeping Charlie.

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