got a friend that swears that as long as a cricket still has the larva, gills and shell will still hit them as they do fresh ones. he buys them a 1000 at a time and uses them out of the freezer. anyone ever tried
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got a friend that swears that as long as a cricket still has the larva, gills and shell will still hit them as they do fresh ones. he buys them a 1000 at a time and uses them out of the freezer. anyone ever tried
Never heard of freezing crickets but know of several that freeze taber worms. I would guess it'd work, but not as good as fresh bait.:o
I brought up this topic a while back and got mixed views. Some folks swear that dead crickets work just fine. Others say they need to be wigglin' to be effective.
I feel like if the "bite" is on, they will hit anything. I also have found that smaller bream will hit them dead or alive.
I'm not one to waste anything so I'm prone to freeze the left overs.
I have never try frozen crickets, I have always use my live.
i dont know either, but i know they dont have to be wigglin. once you let one soak for a little while they die anyway so a dead cricket sounds good to me. i used to buy frozen shad to catfish and when they thaw out they are alot softer so as long as a cricket doesnt get so soft to where you throw him off the hook after they thaw out i think it should be fine. i would just say dont freeze em and give them a tater or orage and they will live in a shed forever.
Even with food and water, I've never had much luck keeping them alive over a week. Bought crickets seem to have a short life span. I've even made a water bottle from a plastic coke bottle that works well, and used cat food for food. They'll live about a week, but that's about it for me. Does anyone have any ideas how to make them last longer?Quote:
Originally Posted by Southern Young Gun
I think Duckbill is right...I once ran out of crickets while they were hot on White river...I started tearing of pieces of foil paper from an empty pack of cigarettes...they hit that as good as crickets!Quote:
Originally Posted by Duckbill
Crickets don't have but a week life span. Seen a show about a cricket farm in Ga. on the show Dirty Jobs and they throw out lots of em when sales are down.
If you find a bream bed and run out of crickets use a floating bug jig around 2' behind a small cork.
we kept a pile of them alive once for over a month while we whittled away at them. Damp sponges, heat and taters kept them alive.
I found Bannas to be the best for them .. that "nanner scent" helps .. I think .. and it seems to "Blow" them up some ... While I was in the retail bizness I made the mistake of feeding them some "nanners" then all my coustomers wanted some of them "nanner" crickets or "Chirping Bugs" ... 1st time I have ever heard of freezing them .. something else to try.
JSC
The bait shops recommend putting a tater in with them.Quote:
Originally Posted by moswampy
My wife informed me that I had the life span wrong and after thinking about it I know I was wrong. I have kept em alive longer than a week. Tried to find some info on em but have not found the right site yet.
when the gills are bedding, one thing you need to remember is this. They are not always feeding on what you are fishing with, so it does not matter sometimes whether it is dead or alive. What they are doing is moving the bait out of their bed and they move it with their mouth, thus at times you can catch them on dead crickets as well as almost anything else.
I think the life span of a cricket is 6-8 weeks. So, it depends on how mature the crickets are when you buy them. If they're full grown, they shouldn't last more than a week. If you buy them at say 1/2" or so, they will probably last 2-3 weeks.Quote:
Originally Posted by STUMP HUNTER
You can buy crickets online and have them shipped to you. They sell them in different sizes and it gives the life expectancy of each size.
Duckbill what is the site link to buy them on line?
There are tons of cricket farms. Just google "live crickets" and several will pop up. It's probably better to find them as close as possible. One of the most popular is "Flukers" (flukerfarms.com). You can also search for cricket farms in your area.Quote:
Originally Posted by crappieseeker
Most of their customers are folks with reptiles to feed, like iguanas.
well its confirmed. i froze some crickets to try them out and smoked the bluegill. caught close to 100 and cleaned 67. even caught several large mouth bass and catfish. when you freeze them and they thaw they keep the same consitency and larva as they do when they are alive. was much nicer than dealing w crickets bouncing around everywhere.
Kevin
You can also buy crickets/mealworms/waxworms etc. in bulk from Petco. They sell them in different life stages so you can keep them longer.
Looks like Berkly just came out with some Gulp Alive crickets that are reported to work well. I know i've had good results on the maggots.
Crickets Uncaged - MyOutdoorTV.com
you dont want to buy them from petco as they are 5-6 times more expensive than buying them direct and having them shipped in. cricks at petco are like 12-13 cents a pice or 133 dollars per 1000. you can buy them online and have them shipped direct to you house for about 24 dollars per thousand.
Oh, that's good info.. I didn't know what the going prices were for crickets.
All I know is that if you put your crickets in the ice chest, they are alot easier to catch, and put on your hook. On cold days I've thought they froze to death, only to see em running around after it warms up.