If you are doing a town board quest that needs you to acquire nightcrawler bait then your best bet to obtaining it will be from searching for and looting flint you find on the ground. Here is what flint looks like and how it can give you nightcrawler bait time to time.
If you do not get a night crawler bait on your first attempt, keep trying other flint rocks that you can find all over the place in New World.
