Catawba

For several years now my husband has told us about "Catalpa" or "Catawba" worms.  He has told stories of the wonderful bait they make for fishing...of how you can fish off the same "worm"  several times...of how you can freeze them and then thaw them out when you are ready to go fishing.  
I had never seen one because they only are on Catawba trees.  They hatch there, eat the leaves, and lay their eggs there.
There are not very many Catawba trees around here.  He says there used to be a lot more than there are now.  But there are two on some land his daddy owns and a couple of days we drove by there and he got out to check the Catawba tree.  He came back to the car with a huge leaf in his hand and a beautiful yellow and black caterpillar...the famous Catawba Worm!!
I petted its back and it was like velvet.  Eli wanted nothing to do with it. LOL!
To me , it was like meeting a legendary animal...I had heard so much about it and never seen one.
When we got home I looked up some information on these and found that they eat all the leaves of the Catawba tree...but this does not hurt the tree.  It simply puts on more leaves.  The Catawba worm can strip a tree 3-4 times in one summer.  Scientists say that no other tree could survive this but the Catawba tree does.
I want to go back , get some of these worms and put them in the freezer for when we go fishing later this month.  I want to experience for myself how the fish like them so well.
I also read that their defense mechanisms are frass and puke...so if we don't take frozen ones, if we just take fresh...I will let Donnie bait my hook for me ...LOL!
The frass is supposedly great fertilizer for tomato plants!
I heard the whisper of the Creator  in the beauty of the catawba worm.