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Sometime this summer I’m going to get myself a kid and teach worm picking. I want to give something back. Pass on some learning I acquired. Make sure this noble tradition is not forever lost. Just to keep things on the up and up, I’ll pay  a fair wage, Say, a buck a dozen and I’ll throw in a days fishing to keep it all on an even keel.

I might Borrow a neighbors sunlit manure pile or nonchalantly flipping those old barnyard boards over just to warm the kid up. Start off with some easy red worms before the tonight show.   For the matinee session I will start by Digging on the cool side of my out buildings or weeding a garden, but I won’t forget to water the lawn just before sunset. 
 
My tools will consist of getting out one flashlight, one empty ice cream pail, and the kid. About an hour after it’s good and dark, I’ll hold the light and offer the pail, that’s good for the youngster to hold the pail, teaches them to have a firm grip. Brookies understand a stout five weight properly grasped.  This is where I’ll do the beam casting.

There’s a trick to holding the flashlight at night so you don’t scare the night crawlers back into the ground, or the kid back into the house.  The beam needs to just creep over the wiggly worm, but not spotlight the crawler and make him go subsurface. A kid after dark stays pretty close to the beam. They learn to walk towards the light.

Roosevelt was a fishing president, he said” to walk softly but carry a big stick”, so  I will teach the kid to walk  like your sneaking up on a brookie creek. No heavy footfalls. Careful with that worm rod now.  If you’re spooking worms, your gonna spook trout.

Then when we spot the first slippery slimed up crawler I’ll just put my hand on the wee shoulder and show how the cat pounces on the mouse. My Fingers will trap that worm in the wet grass with out crushing the crawler out of him. With one in the pail, I’ll give the “first ones free, now you try it kid”.  Probably think were hunting whitetail bucks until that little back gets sore.

On the first night of picking, the kid will miss probably four dozen and get maybe a dozen and a half. At a dollar a dozen if the worm whisperer becomes good, then fast, at my expense, well  I will throw in for free another valued lesson, teach young bait machine to pace thyself. Can’t fish the entire stream at once. You don’t need to pick all the worms in one night. Balance in a trout crick is a good thing to get onto as a youngin. 

So here’s my ad……wanted young kid….not to squeamish, cant be afraid of the dark,  sore backs, or payments made in coins. Applications accepted during afternoon fish cleaning hours. Check hammock out back, I may be napping. Preference given to those with experience in lawn mowing, wood hauling, or leaf raking.

For an equal opportunity employer see the trout whisperer.

Karl "Trout Whisperer" Seckinger is a respected JustNorth author and outdoor adventurer. His guide service, DuNord Guide Service, and the trout waters that he fishes in the Superior National Forest, are some of the most tightly guarded secrets among Trout enthusiasts in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Contact Karl at 218 - 525 - 0442 or write to him at:

DuNord Guide Service - 6999 Culbertson Road, Two Harbors, Minnesota 55616

Learn more about DuNord Guide Service in the JustNorth MarketPlace.