Decades spent in the grunting fields have made Gary Revell the king of the Florida Panhandle worm fiddlers. (Photo courtesy of Sopchoppy Preservation and Improvement Association)
There was a time in the South when "grunting" earthworms was more of a serious undertaking and less a curiosity around which to build tourist festivals.
Not counting the folks who grunted—or "fiddled," or "charmed"—up a few worms at a time to go fishing, hundreds of others supplemented their household incomes by supplying worms to fish camps and bait shops.
Arguably the best worm grunters nowadays work their magic in the Florida Panhandle. North Florida isn't the only place worm fiddlers can practice their quaint craft, however.
From the Carolinas to Texas, any place with the right recipe of porous dirt, humus and moisture will work, be it a piney woods...