CATALPA WORMS

[bwillaub]

anyone know where i might find a tree with catalpa worms on it?? i would love to have a few hundred to put on trot lines. will purchase or pay for shipping if anyone has some.

thanks,

bob

[Wolfman]

There's usualy a few bait companies that will sell em to you. Think they run pretty high.
If you get down arkansas way you can usualy find a catalpa tree or two and get all you want for nothing.
They work fine for eatting size cats up to around 5 lbs or so but the big ones(10+) don't generaly seem to get to interested in them. Your better off baiting with nightcrawlers, bluegills or chubs on your trotlines.

Ill see if i can find an address for one of the bait companies but i can tell you your going to pay through the nose for them, they aint cheap.

[coyotewhacker]

Wolfie...along those same lines, do you know if the catalpa trees will survive up here or not. I found a couple of nurseries that sell the trees and the old lady is making noise about some more landscaping trees in the yard. Might as well put in something that will look nice and also provide those big black and gold worms! They were pretty common where I grew up in north Louisiana, but I don't recall seeing any catalpa trees this far north. We would find a tree with the caterpillars on it, pick off the critters and keep them in a paper sack with cornmeal in the refrigerator. It would retard the metamorphosis into a butterfly for a long time. The smaller worms were highly prized as "bream" bait.

[fish]

cw - Actually catalpa trees are a fairly common tree here in central MO. Some years the trees are loaded with worms other years not a one on them. Don't know where you are located but if you are in this area I can direct you to some.

[coyotewhacker]

I live north of Hwy 32 between Bolivar and Buffalo, kinda northwest of "downtown" Half Way.....if I can find trees locally, that would be great. Our location is kinda south of "central" Missouri...roughly 30 miles straight north of Springfield.

[fish]

CW - A PM coming your way shortly.

[Uncle Bill]

We have a lot of catalpa trees around Columbia, but it's been a LONG time since I've seen a worm on one of them. I knew a guy in Independence who ordered worms through the mail and got them started on his trees, but that was more years ago than I want to admit to.

[Wolfman]

We've had a catalpa tree in dads front yard for probably 35 years, only seen worms on it once.
My aunt had an old one, huge thing maybe 2+ feet thick at the ground and around 50+ feet tall. That thing had worms on it about every year in the millions for some reason right in the middle of town. Sadly 'progress' has eliminated this grand old tree years ago.
Dads is still going but never has got more then about 10 inchs thick at the base and maybe 15 feet tall for some reason.
They(and the worms) seem to do well in more southern states such as arkansas, thier a popular bait down there.
Anyone looking for some PM me your e-mail addy and ill try to put you in contact with a couple of guys on another board that say they have millions of the green juice squirting things...lol

[bwillaub]

uhhhhhh, guys......i would love to know where i might find some of the yellow and black "cat slayers". best catfish bait i ever used. i agree w/wolfie....and eating sized is what i'm after. prefer them to the big cats. help me out here, uncle bill.

thanks

[bwillaub]

forgot to mention>>>>>>>i have found plenty of catalpa trees around this part of midmo but sadly enough
NO WORMS........help me out here guys.........
oh, by the way.....17" white crappie yesterday @windsor crossing. had my limit in less than 2 hours. all big females full of eggs. isn't the spawn supposed to be over???

[Uncle Bill]

You can order live worms from www.catawba.com. I've never tried it, so I don't know how long it takes to get a population of sphinx moths established in your trees. But I do know that you have to have catalpa trees to do it.

Lots of catalpa trees around Columbia. They are flowering now and are nice to look at.

Here's a link to an article about the life cycle of the moth and worm:

http://www.aces.edu/department/ipm/catalpa.htm

Looks like they might start producing caterpillars in Missouri sometime in June. That seems right to me--I remember that my neighbor had worms during the hottest part of the summer when I was a kid.

[safetybass]

bwill : whoever told you the crappie spawn was over was wrong. Just stretched out.

[Wolfman]

Bwill, pm me your e-mail addy knothead and ill try and put you in touch with a couple of guys.

[bwillaub]

wolfie, i haven't figured out how to pm yet. bwill is computer ignorant. my email addy is no secret tho. [email]bwillaub@yahoo.com.[/email] would appreciate some info.

thanks,

bob

[coyotewhacker]

Found a big catalpa tree right on the road next to a pasture where I deer hunt. I think the owner will let me take a few cuttings to try and get roots started. While in Louisiana a couple of weeks ago, I went and checked on several that have been at a farm for as far back as I can remember. They are still there, and the owner's son in law said I can have all the worms and cuttings I want. Gotta go back in late summer to get both. The second "crop" of worms was just starting to show up when I was there.