Most people would say Darwin Willet timed his fishing activities exactly backwards of what would be considered as normal. In the heat of late August and early September, most people fished either in the cool of the morning or late in the day as the temperatures cooled. Darwin did the reverse.

In the cool of the morning and the cooler hours late in the afternoon, Darwin was spending his time squirrel hunting. He reserved his smallmouth bass fishing for the heat of the day!

Sure doesn’t sound like a formula for catching many fish, but Darwin’s tactics made it work!

Darwin was picky about his bait. He kept several huge beds of nightcrawlers in his yard in New Castle, Ind. Every warm, rainy night he would hunt nightcrawlers and he had hundreds or maybe even thousands in his worm beds.

Darwin had a scientific approach to his worms. Where most fishermen keeping nightcrawlers will spice up the bedding with coffee grounds to feed them and toughen them up, Darwin used tomato canning plant castings to create a “super nightcrawler.”

No, the super worms didn’t have little capes, but they were tough and lively, and had a special scent and apparently a special taste from living in and eating the tomato canning plant castings. Darwin swore by them, and after trying them… I did too!

Darwin didn’t skimp when he loaded the truck with bait. He would have one or sometimes two weathered, wooden ammo boxes loaded up with damp peat moss and nightcrawlers. He was always careful to keep the worms cool by putting the boxes in the shade and cooling the worms and soil with dampened newspaper.

Loading a large coffee can with a couple hundred nightcrawlers and grabbing his fishing tackle, Darwin would head for the old Moscow dam and fish from the cliffs above the head waters. Back then the dam held a huge pool of water and a sizable amount of fish. The headwaters were swift and flowed into a long pool of deep water.

Darwin’s tackle was simple — a 7 foot rod with a Mitchel 300 open face reel spooled with10 pound test. No bobber, no sinkers — just a plain #4 Cincinnati Bass hook tipping the line. On the hook, Darwin would put one of his super nightcrawlers hooked just once through the collar. 

Darwin would lean out and cast the nightcrawler to the top of the fast flowing shallow water and let it sweep into the deeper water. Time after time, Darwin would repeat the scenario; cast, drift and retrieve. Trash fish like chubs and shiners destroyed a lot of Darwin’s nightcrawlers and he went through a lot of worms, but the results were worth it.

Darwin knew big smallmouth would be holding just below the faster moving water leading into the larger pool. The fish were there because the fast, shallow moving water held more oxygen and might be a couple degrees cooler.

Sooner or later, one of Darwin’s drifting nightcrawlers would come too close to a waiting smallmouth to be ignored. When the fish picked up the worm and stopped the drift, Darwin would let the fish run with the bait. When the fish stopped its initial run, Darwin would slowly tighten the line until he could just feel the weight of the fish. Then, he would rear back on the rod and set the hook.

After a vigorous fight, Darwin would lower a rope with a landing net and carefully maneuver the fish into it. Once in the net, Darwin would hoist the fish up the cliff!

One thing you could be sure of, there would be fish to go with fried squirrel for supper!

Reserved Hunt Applications - Waterfowl, Deer & Gamebirds 

Hunters can apply for Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reserved hunts at GoOutdoorsIN.com. Reserved hunts included in this round include Fish & Wildlife Area (FWA) waterfowl, FWA and Nature Preserves deer, November Gamebird Areas, and Indiana Private Lands Access (IPLA) hunts. 

The online application method is the only way to apply for the hunts listed. No late entries will be accepted. Applicants must possess a hunting license that is valid for the hunt for which they apply. A $1 tech fee is charged for each hunt application purchased. 

Applications must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Sept. 17. For a complete list of hunts available, see on.IN.gov/reservedhunt.

An important note about applying for a hunt: In December 2024 a new license system, the Activity Hub, replaced the former system. Go to GoOutdoorsIN.com. From there, you will be taken to Access Indiana, where you will be required to log in or create an account. Once logged in through Access Indiana, you will automatically be directed back to the Activity Hub. From there, you can purchase a license and apply for reserved hunts. If it’s your first time using the Activity Hub, you will need to look yourself up in the system and verify or correct your personal information.

Hunters at each participating property will be selected through random computerized draws and will be able to view results at GoOutdoorsIN.com by Sept. 29. An email will be sent to all applicants when the drawings are complete.

Reserved hunts in this application period include:

* Waterfowl hunts on the following Fish & Wildlife areas (FWAs): LaSalle FWA,Goose Pond FWA, Hovey Lake FWA, Kankakee FWA and Providence Pond Wetland Conservation Area.

* Deer hunts on the following Fish & Wildlife areas and Nature Preserves: Deer Creek FWA, Fairbanks Landing FWA, Busseron Creek FWA, Baseline Barrens Nature Preserve, Bloomfield Barrens Nature Preserve, Bluffs of Beaver Bend Nature Preserve and Moraine Nature Preserve.

* November Gamebird Area (GBA) hunts in Benton, Jasper, Newton, Warren, and White counties. Hunters may choose from a variety of hunt dates in November. Youth hunts will be offered. These hunts are not put/take pheasant hunts.

* IPLA hunts for deer firearms, waterfowl, and gamebirds.

Indiana State Parks is working through regulatory approval for deer management hunts. We will continue to provide updates on whether reserved deer hunts at State Parks will be available for the 2025 hunting season.

Visit on.IN.gov/where2hunt for other public lands in Indiana open for hunting.

‘till next time, 

Jack

Readers can contact the author by writing to this publication or e-mail Jack at jackspaulding1971@outlook.com 

Spaulding’s books, “The Best Of Spaulding Outdoors” and “The Coon Hunter And The Kid” are available from Amazon.com as a paperback or Kindle download.