worm Charming

Ok. did you know that worm charming is a national Sport

Please read this from Wikipedia

Worm charming, worm grunting, and worm fiddling are methods of attracting worms from the ground. The activity is usually performed to collect bait for fishing but can also take the form of a competitive sport. As a skill and profession worm charming is now very rare, with the art being passed through generations to ensure that it survives

Most worm charming methods involve vibrating the soil. These vibrations encourage the worms to the surface, but the exact reason for this is debated. While some believe that the vibration simulates rainfall others say that the worms are trying to reach the surface in order to escape from what they believe is a hungry mole. The same technique is used by many species of bird who devour the worms as they appear above ground.
The activity is known by several different names and the apparatus and techniques vary significantly. "Worm grunting" generally refers to the use of a "stob", a wooden stake that is driven into the ground, and an "iron" which is used to rub the stob. "Worm fiddling" also uses a wooden stake but utilises a dulled saw which is dragged along its top.
Many other methods exist, ranging from tap dancing to meditation
Competitive worm charming
In most competitions the fiddlers with the collector (or collectors) of the most worms in a set time being declared as the winners. They usually have a zone in which to perform their charming, measuring three yards square.
One of the first worm charming events took place in a school at Willaston County Primary School in Willaston, Cheshire. The "World Worm Charming Championship" started in 1980 and is now an annual event that celebrates the sport. It was organised by then-headmaster John Bailey, who wrote the original rules for the competition. The current world record, as listed by Guiness Book of Records, was established at that first event with teenager Tom Shufflebotham collecting 511 worms in 30 minutes.
In 2000 the "Worm Gruntin' Festival" began in, Florida, which claims to be the "Worm Gruntin' Capital of the World". The event includes a ball and the crowning of a "Worm Gruntin' Queen".
Fiddling For Worms
Need some worms for fishing? Grab a saw and a stake and fiddle up some bait
By Keith "Catfish" Sutton
Special to ESPN Outdoors.com — March 20, 2007
Updated: March 20, 2007, 12:01 PM ET

Keith Sutton
Hansel Hill of Alpine, Ark., demonstrates his technique for fiddling. A stake is driven or a sapling cut to make a post. When the teeth of a saw are rubbed on the end of the post, the vibrations coax worms from the ground.
The first time I saw someone "fiddle" up worms, it was a magical experience. My uncle and I were going fishing and needed some bait.
"No need buying what we can get for free," he said. "I'll show you an easy way to get all the worms we need."
In damp soil, my uncle drove a 3-foot dogwood stake into the ground. He then took a hand saw and began dragging it back and forth across the top of the stake. The stake began vibrating, and within seconds, dozens of worms started popping out of the soil all around us. I was astounded. A magician sawing a woman in half couldn't have fascinated me more.
"My father taught me how fiddle for worms," my uncle said. "And his father taught him. You can show your kids someday."
In those days, few folks bought bait at bait shops. Most anglers collected their own bait, instead.
Night crawlers, red wigglers and other types of worms were among the most popular baits because they catch everything from pan-sized bluegills to huge catfish.
They also are easy to obtain, especially when you try fiddling, an old-fashioned technique passed down from one generation of fishermen to another for more than a century.
Different tools are used in different regions to coax the worms from their burrows, and the practice is known by many names.
Keith Sutton
When the vibrations created by a worm fiddler begin, worms will pop up out of the soil if they are present.
In North Carolina, folks "call" worms by twanging the handle of a pitchfork after its prong end is driven into the soil.
In Florida and Alabama, "baiters" rub an ax or piece of steel across the top of a stake, creating a grunting or snoring sound. So there, the practice is known as grunting, snoring or rubbing. Names with unknown origins include doodling and rooping.
In most places, this unusual bait-collection method has become as obscure as making lye soap and plowing with a mule. But a few folks still know how to do it, including my father-in-law, 74-year-old Hansel Hill of Alpine, Ark
Fiddling Festivals
On April 14, the folks in Sopchoppy, Fla., the self-proclaimed "Worm Gruntin' Capital of the World, will celebrate the seventh annual Worm Gruntin' Festival.