Canadian Nightcrawlers (Lumbricus terrestris) sometimes referred to as dew worms, are arguably the worlds most popular live bait for fresh water fishing. There is hardly a fisherman in North America who has not used these large lively worms as fishing bait. Andy's Bait International has been actively exporting Canadian Nightcrawlers since 1977 to the U.S.A, Europe, and to parts of the Pacific Rim.

Canadian nightcrawlers are collected in farms and fields during rainy, cool nights since they cannot be commercially grown. The best quality Canadian nightcrawlers are only available in a geographically small area in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is the combination of proper soil quality and favorable weather conditions that make this area uniquely ideal for the proper growth of the nightcrawlers. Although availability of Canadian nightcrawlers is directly dependent on weather conditions, at Andy's Bait Intl. we largely eliminate this uncertainty by stocking large quantities of the crawlers in our coolers. We routinely delivering nightcrawlers to our customers all year round.

The quality of commercial nightcrawlers is highly dependent on the type of weather and on the night of collection as well as the type of land from which they are collected. The best quality nightcrawlers are collected from properly cultivated legume or hay fields during the late spring period between May 15 and July 15 when the nights are cool and moist. The poorest quality nightcrawlers are picked during the hot nights of late July and August. One should make every effort to avoid buying nightcrawlers picked on golf course during the hot summer months since they are weak and highly problematic often leading to mortality. At Andy's Bait Intl. we consistently stock the late spring nightcrawlers in our coolers so as to provide them to our customers throughout the hot summer months. We religiously avoid nightcrawlers picked on golf courses. Good quality Canadian Nightcrawlers are also picked on cool rainy nights between late September and early November. These are the nightcrawlers that we store in our coolers for distribution in the winter months and in early spring when nightcrawlers cannot be collected because of the cold weather.

Natural quality commercial Canadian nightcrawlers should have a light brownish\red color and preferably beige. As a general rule of thumb, the lighter the color is the livelier the nightcrawlers will be and the better they will serve as bait. Make all efforts to avoid dark nightcrawlers, particularly during the hot summer months.

Nightcrawlers which are firm textured and responsive to the touch or when exposed to light make for a better fishing bait. Commercially available Canadian nightcrawlers at Andy's Bait come in two general sizes: REGULAR nightcrawlers which are about 2 to 5 inches long with a mass of about 2-4 grams and LARGE nightcrawlers which are about 5 to 8 inches long and have a mass of 4 to 8 grams.