Has anyone caught worms with electricity and two metal posts?

Question

My great grandpa used to catch worms by hooking a wire from each prong of a wall plug to two metal posts. He would stick the posts in the fround, thouroughly wet the ground, then stand on a dry slab of concrete and plug the plug into the outlet on his house. He used to catch all of his worms for fishing like this. My grandpa had his old rod/plug setup, and he never used it after my great grandpa died. I asked my grandpa if I could try it and he said sure, so I went off, tried all the steps and even stood on a rubber mat on the concrete just in case, and I caught 2 dozen gigantic night crawlers in 5 minutes.

It really works, but i don't know if the worms will live very long or if the electricity will kill them. They seem like any other worm I've ever seen, but has anyone tried it and had the worms live?

Disclaimer: Don't try this. I am not liable in any way for any injuries, discomfort, and/or death that may result in doing any of the above details.

Answer 1

My father made one and we used it all the time in our lawn. I think it just irritates them forcing them to the surface. We always had live worms to go fishing with.

Answer 2

When I was a kid, the next door neighbors, the Sears, had two boys - Flash & Sparky - who had great luck with such a device.  

I was never allowed to give them a hand with this though.

Currently, these devices are quite rare.

Answer 3

The electricity ruins their nervous system and they die soon afterwards like a day or so. I don't advise doing that. Just water your lawn it's so much easier and you don't have to mess with electricity.

Answer 4

Wow lol.This is an interesting way of getting worms.Personally I'd bypass the hassle and danger and go to Walmart and spend the 2 bucks.Strange way to get worms though.

Answer 5

Yes , I have built 2 of them and they work great and the worms DO NOT DIE. I use one wire  ( hot wire ) only and use welding rod with the flux knocked off. Wrap the wire around the rod and solder it. Do this about 3 to 4 feet apart and make it as long as you like. A dozen rods is good. Put a plug in on one end making sure you have it on the hot side of the plug ( Gold s***w, not silver.)

Place the rods in the ground in a circle. Leave the area and go plug it in. I have never got shocked even standing next to the rods unless my hand bumped them or the grass was real wet. Best leave it plugged in for 10 minutes or so, unplug and go pick up your worms. I was 5 when my grandad show me this, now I am 67 and showing my grand kids. Have fun but use some common sense with the electricity.