Packaged Baits

[RJP]

What is everyone's experience with packaged baits, such as gulp or salmon eggs.

I know this has been on the general questions forum, but I was wondering about people's experisnce with them specifically in New Jersey.

In case the bait shops aren't open yet, are any of these worth a try??

TIA

Russ

[fishkopp]

I caught my share of walleyes on gulp ,but it's always been jigging .

[AJ Flag]

What are you going for, and are you going open water or through the ice? I have used salmon eggs for trout and sometimes did good, sometimes nothing.

[RJP]

Thanks

AJ - I am thinking of using them through the ice if bait stores aren't open when I go out.

We fish for whatever, perch, panfish, bass, pickeral.

[AJ Flag]

No problem, and I have had perch and panfish bite them from fishing in open water in ponds, so I'm sure that they would do the same through the ice, maybe on the end of a small jig or something like that.  There are also these little things called mouseys, idk if that is the real name for them or not, but that is what I have been taught to call them.  They are like small little wormy bugs almost like small grubs, and I'm sure they sell them in tackle shops along with everything else, but I am not positive where to get them.

[iceman_4432]

Ive never tried Gulp bait through the ice.  I did pickup some (the maggot ones) from Cabelas last week and plab on trying them.

Open water ... I use GULP Bait all the time .... both myself, and more importantly, the fish LOVE IT !  Catch tons of bass & perch on it in LAke George during open water.  I dont see why it wouldnt work thru the ice as well. 

Also caught some brown bass this year on Berkly artificial spawn sacs up at the Salmon River

[lukasz]

Does anything hit the LEECHES on ice?

[TONYR]

Started using mousies today and it was a slow pick. I picked up a jar of power bait crappie nibbles (pink) a few days ago when the shop I stopped in did not have mousies or spikes or WAX WORMS (my favorite). Well to say I was supprised at the response of the bluegill's to this "Packaged bait" is an understatement. They hit steady as long as I used the crappie nibbles. There are drawbacks if anyone is interested?

[doodle]

Well what are the drawbacks

[TONYR]

The power bait, this is the first time I've ever used it, stinks (smells bad actually). The bait is small and soft and can be a problem getting it out of the jar with cold fingers and not destroying it. Once you get it on the hook you may need to re-mold it if its not sitting on the hook with the barb exposed. The bait is so soft (this is what I consider the main drawback) that you need to put a new one on after every bite/fish-caught. I found that I could re-use a bait that was not missing after a hit only about once every 20-25 times that I put one on the hook. When I fish with spikes/mousies/waxworms I have always found that the baits are more robust and stand up well to multiple fish most of the time. I was fishing a very small jig in deep water and only using one bait at a time. I found that the fish (40+ gills in 1.5 hours) were taking the power bait as well if not better than the few mousies I tried when I started the day.
      So here is what I consider might be a few positives, when you can't find live bait, these crappie nibbles make a great back up and you don't have to worry about them dying. The jar must hold 400 baits give or take, the price of $3.99 is seemingly high, but at $.01 a bait instead of $.11 a bait that I paid for mousies, this was a bargain.
     I plan to try more of the bower bait, the maggots, and the yellow crappie nibbles as well. I also am going to try this stuff in open water. I have read some posts about using this stuff as a sandwhich in open water for trout and after the response I got in my home lake, I am now a believer. Like I said above it's soft and comes off the hook on virtually every bite, but it works and will always be my backup if not my main bait. I need to fish this stuff in more lakes and do more comparison fishing to see if this was a fluke or not.

[Pomoxis]

Mealworms are a good standby bait. I've been getting fish on some I had from LAST YEAR. Get a jar and keep them in the fridge. You can keep them in your pocket when you go out. They can get a little warm or a little cold without much damage. They can freeze and die, but you can still use them within a day or two. And boy do they work! I don't use anything else!