Ice Fishing bait ADVICE REQUESTED?

[mmaveal]

OK gentlemen here's my question. I stopped by Jan's Netcraft on my way home from the eye doctor. A guy I talked to in Jan's said he has had real good luck with "Gulp Waxies (white color)" for bluegill and crappie through the ice. To be honest I have tried Gulp products in Erie for years and have NEVER YET caught a fish on a gulp product. Anyway I caved and bought a jar of GULP waxies/asticots. Any advice??????

[wicklundrh]

Mike,
My best advice is this: Keep them in the bottom of the boat, bag, sled, tote, bucket, or whatever else you carry gear in. Save them for a time when the fish are biting really really good and you run out of bait. Then you can go to these baits, and ensure that you will atleast still be able to fish. I said fish.... The above happened to me on several occasions and I went from catching tons of fish (ran out of bait) to catching one or two. I've tried white (look like waxies), chartrouse, and pink. Summer, fall, winter, and spring. Live bait outfished them every single time. In most instances, fish would hit live bait and shy away from these things. I've had days where fish were hitting really good, I've switched over to these things and they wouldn't hit them at all. Back to mousee's or waxies and the fish hit again.

I hope your mileage varies. I didn't have good luck at all with them. I did find a super productive bait this year though. Comes in a stick form...maybe ten inches long.... red in color..... only downfall is that you have to carry a lighter with you..... make sure you get waterproof wicks..... works every time!

[mmaveal]

Stick baits would be kinda rough under the ice wouldn't they? Probably lift the shanty up a foot or so. Remember - I spent 10 years living in Louisiana when I was young. Jug fishing, trot lines, the works. Ah the good old days. Ha! Ha! That would draw a LOT of attention around the Trenton channel. Ha!

[Crappie 1]

OK gentlemen here's my question. I stopped by Jan's Netcraft on my way home from the eye doctor. A guy I talked to in Jan's said he has had real good luck with "Gulp Waxies (white color)" for bluegill and crappie through the ice. To be honest I have tried Gulp products in Erie for years and have NEVER YET caught a fish on a gulp product. Anyway I caved and bought a jar of GULP waxies/asticots. Any advice??????

We've tried them. The fish will nip at them about once. Never caught many on them. Used the white ones summer & winter. Watched the fish come right up to them and then swim away. Put a wax worm on and the fish would bite. Not a good investment for us...

[wicklundrh]

"Nip" is the best explaination I have heard yet.
My daughter (Abby) asked: "Daddy, why do we have these pink baits if we don't use them".... My reply: "Abby, we put them on when we don't want to catch any fish".... And she said: "We should just leave them at home then"

"Stick Baits", I prefer to call them "The Kitchen Sink".... You know the old saying: We threw everything but the kitchen sink.... Now we know why

[Hermin]

Anyone ever try canned "live" bait? Things like this stuff Fisher's Choice Bait by Timbuktu - The Ideal Solution to Live Bait!

[Crappie 1]

First time I ever heard of it...

[no1son]

They can work real well; so can crappie nibbles. Any time of the year. I generally have better luck with live waxies, spikes or some of the tiny plastics. One of the best is live goldenrod larvae from what I hear, but I have never actually used them myself.

Small jigs, even 10s are a little big at times, light lines, like 2#, locate fish signals on your flasher or depth finder before you fish a hole and then start from the top down all the way to the bottom and then slowly, little more than twitches, work your way up. Watch your flasher or depth finder for what kind of fish responses you get. Don't be afraid to change out the bait or move. If you have a shack, you may and often are able to look right down the hole and watch what happens.

I generally do alright on GULP but the smell gets to me; so they become my kitchen sink. I will certainly take the smell if that is all that will get me fish. The 1" GULP ALIVE minnow baits do even better than the waxies but are too much mess for me on the ice, what with the juice and all. The 1" leeches are also very good - black is best from me with those. If you have the ALIVE version with all that juice, a tweezers to get them out of the jar helps keep the mess on your hands down. But generally I do alright with the tiny plastics or spikes, although I keep GULP around, too. GULP can be a very good hang bait on a set rod in a second hole, too, although it is better if jigged.

GULP doesn't work that well for everybody, but a whole lot of folks do very well with some of them. For me there have been some very good successes and some quite dismal failures; it sorta depends on the outing.

One other thing, it can be pretty easily stolen, especially if you get into a sunfish group that is a set of nibblers, and if much of that happens it can get to be expensive.

[Crappie 1]

When I was a kid I used to go out in the fields and cut the knob off the golden rods. I would get a sack full and take them home to cut open. Get a little container and start cutting. Sometimes every one of them had a little worm in it. The fish loved the darn things, but they would get them off your hook pretty fast. I could usually get a mess of fish before they were used up... The good ole days..

[mmaveal]

Thanks for all the advice. I've heard that salting and freezing leftover live minnows works good. Never tried it but I'm going to this year. I wrote GULP about this topic - got a reply that acknowledged receipt of question - no answer. Thanks again
Merry Christmas to all.