Gulp! bait

[Bean]

Has anyone used any of the "Gulp!" baits for fishing yet. I was up at the new Cabela's in PA today and picked up a jar of Gulp! grubs in natural color. The grubs are almost exactly the size of wax worms and you never have to worry about them going bad. I'm going to do a side by side test using a wax worm on one rod and a Gulp! grub on another rod this winter to see which they like better. There must be about 60 to 70 in a jar for $3.95. The package says 100% biodegradable and "outfishes live bait". We'll see.

[Hard_H2O]

I have used the Berkly wax worm imitators through the ice. They work pretty good. I was just reading on another forum about Gulp.

http://www.catcherman.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=000427#000000

Best info I have seen so far.

[Cooley]

I have never tried imitation bait before [ wax worms ]
Reading about these baits,if they work as good as live
bait I'll be saving alot of money................. .....

[mod_auger]

artificial baits always ponder me, especially when it comes to "life-like" imitations. here is the question that i ponder: in the long run, what gives me the best production for the dollar? naturally, a real bait will omit scents and odor that a panfish is accustomed to, or attracted to. likewise, a company will not market a product that has no research that proves it will catch fish. It is a fact that for every study that states one thing, there are 5 others that prove it wrong. for nearly $4 you can do the same experiment. i would recommend buying the Gulp. what do you have to lose? $4? what buys you $4 these days? what are you out? the fact of the matter is locating fish and finding their patterns will increase your productivity on the ice, period. once establishing the movements of panfish, you can refine your presentation. this is where i'd test the Gulp. If there  is a fisherman that has the panfish pattern down, he will catch fish on Gulp. As for the fisherman that doesn't, he'll insist that Gulp is a waste of money. My advice: give it a shot, there is nothing to lose and who knows, maybe it is a superior product to the real thing!!!

[Exudedude]

Thank you  Hard H2O, I am Sport/MN on that board.  I have to admit I have not tried the smaller waxworm imitators.  I'm sure I will try them.

However, someone stated they wont go bad... That is not true, if you leave them in the open air they do go bad, they dry up.  and if you leave them in water they mold!

[Hard_H2O]

I keep a jar of the Berkley Little Wigglers (I finally remembered the name of the wax worm imitators) in my tackle box. They are tougher than real waxies and if the fish are biting you can catch quite a few fish without rebaiting. They stay on the hook quite well. I have heard that the gulp (at least the longer bass worms) are quite soft.

There are several times I will use them instead of live bait:
When I am making a quick trip and do not have time to hit the bait store.
During a quick lunch time fishing trip during the week.
I have been forced to resort to them when I didn't plan on the fish bite being so good and I have run out of live bait.
I have used them when the fish are not taking the other stuff I have offered.

In my experience live bait is better in the long run but sometimes the artificials will work. It is fun to experiment with them. It is cool to fool them into biting plastics.

[Hard_H2O]

Exudedude,

I have an old jar that the Berkley Little Wigglers used to come in. I have only seen them recently in the plastic resealable pouches. I keep refilling the jar. It seems to keep them fresh longer. They do seem to lose their potency. They seem to smell a lot more when they are new than after the package has been open a while. If you keep them in a sealed container they do not seem to dry out. I do not keep too many of them in my inventory at any one time. I use them mainly for an emergency bait.

We use a lot of Berkley Power Tubes for lake trout in Ontario. Where we go we are limited to barbless hooks and artificial bait. The Power Tubes work great for the trout. Looks like they don't have a Gulp tube. Might have to give the Gulp! Minnow Grub a try on the trout.

[Mr.Seaguar]

Is it just me or do those imitation grub things look kinda sad?

[asphalt_kid]

No, its not you they are pretty sad lookin.

[Hard_H2O]

I bought some Gulp! on Friday at the new Gander Mountain in Forest Lake, MN.

I picked up some chartreuse Berkley Gulp! Extruded Grubs.

Bring on the hard water and let me give them a try.

They also had the new Buzz Stick. Pretty goofy idea. Might work but not for me. I like to keep my gear a bit simpler and I would rather not add another battery powered gadget unless I heard some good reports.

[bud]

my hands go numb from the cold........i don't need to lose the feeling in my hands from vibration too.......lol

[Mad_Ital]

Does anyone have any Ideas how to keep smelt alive for a period of time? All my other bait does fine in my garage, but cant seem to keep smelt for more than a few days. 

[nepa old man]

Has anyone used any of the "Gulp!" baits for fishing yet. I was up at the new Cabela's in PA today and picked up a jar of Gulp! grubs in natural color. The grubs are almost exactly the size of wax worms and you never have to worry about them going bad. I'm going to do a side by side test using a wax worm on one rod and a Gulp! grub on another rod this winter to see which they like better. There must be about 60 to 70 in a jar for $3.95. The package says 100% biodegradable and "outfishes live bait". We'll see.

I wasted my 4 bucks last year on some Power something majigger, want the rest ?

[samson]

bought some berkley power honey worm, used it 4 times this season and never got skunked, chartruse and red were the colors i bought.

[iceintheveins]

They do work and catch fish, but in my opinion they are no substitute for the real thing and will not produce as well in most all conditions. Around here in Colorado, having bait on the hook for ice fishing is a necessity to catch fish, and the power baits or gulp don't cut it.

Tyler

[kingfshr16]

 I made the mistake of buying the Gulp power wigglers in natural color, they sucked big time, but decided to give them one more try and bought some red ones and they do the trick some days when they are finicky.

[pike4some]

I don't know much on the berkley gulp, But i do use the power bait micros 2" power minnows they worked very well last year catching perch

[fishuhalik]

Don't get the Gulp! confused w/ any of Berkley's other ice fishing artificials.  It's way better.  Lasts longer on the jig, doesn't die, & I think it does work better'n waxies, at least it has for me so far this year.  So far in my experements Gulp!'s outfished waxies 7-2.

[asphalt_kid]

I love the earthworm type, the ones that look like spaghetti in the jar.
I had tremendous improved catches with crappie and gills when I had the bait on a small jig right before ice on this fall. When I didn't have it on the jig the fish simply didn't hit the jigs. I was using them in stained to slightly stained water and water temp was in the low 40's to day before ice on.