This is the time of year to search out catalpa trees and check for the black and green worms that eat the leaves. Best catfish bait ever!! Problem is each year less trees host the worms. Years back they were eassier to find, but when you did you were in for some hard hitting catfish action.
Here I thought you were talking Catalpa RINGWORMS 
Quote:
Here I thought you were talking Catalpa RINGWORMS
Sorry I wasted your time fellas.
Hell, you didn’t waste anyone’s time. I haven’t looked for Catalpa worms in years. They are a fantastic live bait for cats. We use to find them on the Wapsi bottoms out by Allen’s Grove. 
I read that you can pack them in cornmeal, freeze them, then thaw them out at a later date, and they become active again.
Me too!!! 
I didn’t always think this way, but the best bait is the bait you placed in the best SPOT!
I do like catalpa worms, I remember as a teenager riding my bicycle accross down and asking some guy if I could climb the tree in his yard that was loaded with them. He watched, and when he realized I was taking all the worms that were eating the leaves urged me to clean off as many as I could get.
There’s a few trees around here I know of, and I check them occasionally for worms with no luck so far.
Shawn
we used catalpa worms all the time when i was a kid. had a big tree in the backyard thats still there.
talk about a multi-species bait. i would take my cane pole and a can of catalpas to one of the neighbors’ ponds and catch catfish, gills and even bass.
and they were deadly on small creeks and rivers for catfish.
When I was a kid growing up in southern Illinois my Uncle would make the rounds of all the nearby towns finding every tree with catalpa worms on them and the transplant as many as he could get to his trees. He was the master of knocking them off the leaves using a cane pole. They were truly a great bait for blue gills as well as catfish. I haven’t seen one of the worms in years. I remember they had some gross stuff inside them!
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