How to Get Worms From Mud

Digging for your own worms is a traditional way of getting bait for fishing trips or to add to your own garden or compost. Knowing how to dig for your own worms requires a little patience and know-how, but in the end you may find a veritable worm goldmine for any use. Catching worms gets you dirty, but it's more rewarding than purchasing a pound of them in a container with wet dirt.

Things You'll Need

• Portable ice chest
• Soil
• Pitchfork or shovel

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Instructions

• 1

  Locate an area in your region that is cool and damp during the midspring season. Earthworms thrive naturally in humus-rich soils in naturally damp areas around ponds, creeks and similar regions.

• 2

  Fill a portable ice chest half-full with organic potting soil. Use a formula of soil that is high in natural humus. This will serve as your caught worms' new home. Put the chest nearby where you decide to dig.

• 3

  Force the head of a shovel or pitchfork into the moist, soft ground you've selected. Dig down about 2 feet. Earthworms can be found in shallower soil, but many will be discovered wriggling quite a few feet from the ground's surface.

• 4

  Rake through the broken soil and hole you've dug with your hands, sifting the soil with your fingertips. If worms are present in the soil, throw them into the portable chest you've prepared with soil.