Why we went
It started with a bait cooler. It ended in the woods before dawn.
We were buying worms at Walmart for an afternoon of fishing when one of us asked where bait worms actually come from. That question led us to Sopchoppy, where a few people still pull worms out of the ground with a wooden stake and a piece of iron. We decided to go learn it ourselves while there are still people who can teach it.
Nothing about the trip went to plan. But a few phone calls later we were standing in the national forest at first light with Charles McCranie and Mr. Robert, watching worms come up out of the dirt as fast as we could pick them up, and hearing from the men who do it why this way of life may not outlast them.
