Worm grunting gets CBS News spotlight in Florida bait tradition
CBS News’ Conor Knighton explores how vibrations draw worms from soil and visits Sopchoppy’s Worm Gruntin’ Festival.
By Frankie Delgado · News Reporter
2 min read
Worm grunting, the oddball bait-gathering trick that uses vibrations to coax earthworms up from the ground, is getting a national close-up in a CBS News report by correspondent Conor Knighton.
According to CBS News, the segment looks at a process that remains little understood, even though the basic idea is wonderfully direct: instead of digging for live fishing bait, people create vibrations in the soil and wait for earthworms to surface.
Knighton’s report also heads to Sopchoppy, Florida, a town CBS News identifies as the self-described “Worm Capital of the World.” There, the correspondent visits the Worm Gruntin’ Festival, which CBS News describes as a big community party built around the town’s favorite invertebrate.
What is worm grunting?
Worm grunting is a method of bringing earthworms out of the soil by making vibrations, according to CBS News. The technique is presented as an alternative to digging when someone wants live bait for fishing.
CBS News describes the practice as bizarre, and the segment’s hook is easy to see: earthworms appear from the dirt without a shovel doing the work. The report does not present the process as fully explained, calling it little understood.
The story’s Florida stop gives the worm world its own stage. Sopchoppy’s Worm Gruntin’ Festival, as described by CBS News, turns the local practice into a celebration, with the town embracing the worm as a point of identity rather than treating it as backyard trivia.
The segment originally aired June 15, 2025, according to CBS News. The video runs 5 minutes and 10 seconds and is available through CBS News’ video page.
The premise is small, squirmy and oddly irresistible: if you need fishing bait, you can dig, or you can try to make the ground hum and see what rises. Knighton’s report, according to CBS News, follows that strange little shortcut from soil to festival grounds in a Florida town that has made worms part of its public brand.
For viewers who have never heard of the practice, the durable question is the same one the segment raises at the start: how can vibrations pull worms into view? CBS News says the process is little understood, so the report focuses on the phenomenon itself and the people celebrating it in Sopchoppy.
The result is a brisk look at a rural ritual with a very specific purpose: finding live bait, one vibration at a time.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.