Wiggle vroom

For Big Pine High School students, fundraising is a can of worms. Lots of worms. Taking advantage of the school’s prime location on Highway 395 between Lone Pine and Bishop -- -- about 10 to 15 commerce-minded kids with signs asking “Got worms?” will line up to hawk wigglers to trout-crazed drivers heading to the April 30 Sierra season opener. “Motorists on the way to Crowley or Convict lakes pull right up on the curb,” says history teacher Pete Schlieker, who last year served as advisor to the roadside worm sales force. “They don’t even need to get out of their cars.”

Students used to catch their own worms in the nearby woods, but now they purchase them from local worm farms such as As the Worm Turns in Bishop. In one or two days, they will sell hundreds of cups of worms at $5 a pop, reeling in a profit of $2,000 to $3,000. Each container holds about 20 red worms or 12 nightcrawlers. “The nightcrawlers are more popular,” Schlieker says. “They’re plumper and thicker and a little more active. Most anglers slice them in thirds, and they move on the hook. The fish see the movement, and that’s when they attack.”

Although there’s nothing particularly magical about the Big Pine worms, they seem to do the trick. But as Schlieker points out: “With fishing, it’s really location. If the worm is presented as an appetizing meal for the fish, they’ll bite on it.”

After the sale, seniors blow the money on a class trip or cruise. “The fundraiser is for pure fun, the seniors’ last hurrah,” Schlieker says.

-- Janet Cromley