DAY 222: CATALPA WORMS: PART DEUX

Daddy and I took another trip together today. We had lots to talk about, but quite naturally the conversation soon turned to Catalpa Worms! haha

Honestly, I am still very interested in this new discovery in my life and he could tell I was still ALL ABOUT the Catalpa Worms - so on the way home, he decided we should make a small detour so he could show me the biggest Catalpa tree he knows of in our area.

It was a HUGE tree. I was impressed. I even wonder if it could be the state champion of its ilk.

Daddy told me that once he went by there when the worms were coming down and there was a big group of people from Louisville there...some were up in the trees, shaking the limbs so the worms would fall to the ground. Others were on ladders, picking the worms from the leaves. They had coolers there, and were filling them up with hundreds - thousands - of worms! They were taking them back to Louisville to sell to the bait shops.

I found on the internet yesterday that some places sell those worms for $6.00/dozen! That's amazing to me. But apparently, the worms are that much in demand to the serious fisherman. Some say they are like "catnip" to a cat fish! The best natural fish bait, ever.

Here is my dad under the HUGE Catalpa tree at the undisclosed location (though local people will easily know where this is!) <Excuse my fogged lense - humidity.>

 Of all things...we had only been there a few minutes when Betty Kelty came across the lawn with her little official Catalpa Worm holder, hoping to snag a few worms for her family's fishing trip tonight! Gotta admire a woman with her own worm holder. Some day, I will be like Betty!

But seeing her come across the lawn in search of Catalpa worms REALLY made me feel I have been out of the loop all my life! Here I am just learning about all things catalpa, and my dad and I get interrupted within minutes of our arrival in a dang off the beaten path country cemetery by someone else with catalpas on her mind! Below, Betty and my Dad engage in Catulpa Worm talk.

      

We helped Betty find a few worms, but there really weren't many on that tree. Betty is holding one out for the camera in the photo, below.

With slim pickings at that huge tree, she came back with us to check out Daddy's tree, but those were very sparse as well. About the only ones left were those that had been infected by the predator wasp and they had those cocoons on their backs. And they were very sluggish.

So daddy went in the house and brought her a box of his fat freshly frozen ones so that Betty could have plenty for her fishing trip. I thought that was mighty neighborly of him!

I am definitely a Catalpa fan now. And I am just getting started. Look out!