You have a couple of alternatives. The easiest and cheapest is to create a “worm farm”, which basically mimics the environment that worms are used to inhabiting, i.e., the earth. The best way to do this is to fill your bathtub with as much soil from your back garden as possible… about 7 or 8 cubic yards of dirt should do it.

If you don’t have a garden to take soil from, you can use 4 or 5 bags of potting soil from your local garden center. Make sure you use organic potting soil, or the worms could get sick. There’s nothing worse than having a whole mess of sick worms on your hands! Believe me, I speak from experience!

In any case, make sure you keep the soil consistently moist. This should be relatively easy, since the worms are in the tub. Just turn the spigot on 10-15 times a day. Be careful not to let the soil dry out, though!

If you can’t build the worm farm, a more expensive alternative is to allow the worms to dwell in a bucket of tepid (not hot!) water until you are ready to go fishing. Just dump them all in a pail and fill it up. Here’s the catch: worms can’t breathe underwater. They respirate through their skin, so they will suffocate if just left to swim around on their own. Again, I found this out the hard way!

Here’s where the expense comes in: you have to buy each worm his/her own scuba gear (tank, mask, fins, goggles). That way they’ll be able to swim to their hearts’ content. You can get the gear at any bait store or pet supply company; but with two dozen worms, you’re gonna be laying out some cash.

In any event, happy fishing!