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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??????
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!
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!
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...Quote:
Originally Posted by mmaveal
"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
Anyone ever try canned "live" bait? Things like this stuff Fisher's Choice Bait by Timbuktu - The Ideal Solution to Live Bait!
First time I ever heard of it...
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.
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..
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.
Has anyone ever heard of using acorn larvae? A couple of years ago, I read an article about a guy that went out and collected acorns, in the early fall. He would place them in a fine fish net, in his laundry room, and hang the net over a 5 gallon bucket. The article said that the larvae would bore themselves out of the acorns and fall into the bucket. Reportedly these larvae are tougher and are great ice fishing bait.
Google Image Result for http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/natureuk/acorn-larvae.jpg
I had a old timer down the road were i grew up show me this when i was young, The key is to harvest the acorns before they crawl out.
The way he did this is he had a bucket of sand and poured the acorns in top and they would come out and go into the sand.
Your picture makes these grubs look lot bigger from what i remember, there actually quite small .
Another grub we use to harvest was corn bores, use to cut up corn stalks till we found em, for free bait they both work great
My mom was a waitress on the weekends to earn extra money. She also loved to be around people. We lived in the country and there was an older gentleman looking for someone to ice fish with. My dad worked a ton of hours so my mom and i went with him. This was my first ice fishing trip. The gentleman used acorn worms and showed me how to do it. He used the sand technique. Those worms are awesome and hold up very very well.
Corn Bores were the bait of choice years ago. They are not for sale anymore and going out and getting your own is the only means of obtaining them now. There were THE best bait and were tough as nails. You could catch 3 or 4 fish on one Corn Bore.
I cut a lot of corn stalks to bring home & sort through. Then a neighbor started raising wax worms!! I was done hauling corn stalks. I'd just stop and buy a couple Doz. wax worms and be on my way fishing. I use a lot of Red Spikes, I like them, but they die pretty fast. On a couple trips last winter they were all the Crappie would hit..
I have watched videos of guys using colored spikes. Some Red and some Green. I want to use them but my problem is finding them for sale. Where do you get yours?
After I got out of the Air Force in 1970 we lived stayed Louisiana for a few years. Our neighbor used to harvest Catawba worms from the catawba tree in his yard to use for fishing bait on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. The CATALPA tree (up north) is supposed to be the same as the CATAWBA tree (down south). Has anyone ever used catalpa worms? If I could find a seedling I would plant a few to use for bait. He used to freeze the worms and when they thawed they would revive work as live bait.
I grew up, in Alabama, with my Dad using Catawba worms that he would collect from the webs and he would load up on Gills using them. I've never seen a Catawba worm or web in Michigan.
Most all of the bait shops have them up here. What part of Mich are you from?Quote:
Originally Posted by OleTimer
My go to bait is mousee. Sometimes you can catch a dozen fish on them. Fish seem to like the little tail. Two years ago the bait manufacturors had a disease and you couldnt get them. I also prefet butter worms to waxies. They are bigger and have tough skin. Seem to stay in the hook better when thefish are nipping. We buy our bait 1000 at a time and sometimes more. They stay just right in the fridge. Change out the sawdust periodically.
I have been using wigglers the last few winters and have had good luck on the bluegil with them.
red spikes are my first choice then small fathead minnows, wigglers are great on certain lakes
I am in SE Michigan. Commerce Twp. to be exact. I frequent Gander Mountain and have never seen them there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crappie 1
We should probable go to the Louisiana guys and ask them for a supplier of Catawba worms. Does anyone know any CDC members from Louisiana?
I use gulp quite a bit and catch fish ok with it. It's much easier when you can visually see the fish eat it. Also, if it sits in the heat in its package, fish don't like it either, I put mine in glass jars.
Great idea - I'll try it. I have never caught even one fish on GULP. I watch them on TV but it's never worked for me. The glass jar idea sounds ligical
I would ask the bait shop staff about them. Or just call around to your local bait shops. Generally one would ask about "Eurolarvae", spikes, maggots all the same animal, and you can even dye your own, if all you can get are the natural color. Here in Minnesota, I can get them from a number of hardware stores, right on the way to the lake. "Ace is da place..." The Ganders around here don't have all that good a reputation in the first place, and my nearest one is a good 25 miles of city traffic away anyhow; so I very seldom shop there.Quote:
Originally Posted by OleTimer
Ask around, it is good to know a few local bait shops anyway. They tend to be pretty good about general advice to regulars.
We have a new local shop that opened late last year. He has bait now but no Red Spikes. I'll suggest where he can get them. He is on Union Lake Rd. @ Cooley Lake Rd. As for Gulp's, my wife and I use the 4" Gulp Minnows on the Detroit River when fishing White Bass. They tear them up! That is not really saying much because when the White Bass are in , they will hit anything. LoL
They will hit anything is an understatement.. I laughed when i saw that