The cost of bee moth... I'm sounding like my parents... went to Max today...

[FOOTDOC]

I understand you have to pay to play but I was surprised today at the bait store when a 30 pack of bee moth was $7.52 with tax.  For a moment, I thought maybe they thought I said two packs but they gave me one.  As I was walking to my truck, I was thinking of the times I heard my parents express their dismay with the rising cost of things.  In the overall scheme of things, I suppose this is insignificant but noticeable.  The ice at Max was good and I probably walked out 3-4 football fields from shore.  I fished 14' of water and had fish come and go.  They were not too impressed with my expensive bee moth/tear drop jig as I only connected with one average perch.  They seemed fascinated with my small jigging rap tipped with bee moth as they would hang around and follow it up and down but not commit. There were several lookers but minnows may have been a better choice.  The surface was well frozen in almost all places with a random break through here and there.  Only one other shanty out within looking distance but too far away to converse with.  It was a beautiful, crisp day out on the ice. 

[dohall21]

What the heck is bee moth? I've never heard of that here in Pa. is it like wax worms or maggots or to ne nice they call them spikes HaHa.

[stephen20]

Bee moths are wax worms. Lol. I call them wax worms but have heard them referred to as both in Indiana.

Thanks for the update. Hoping to get down there Sunday morning for a few hours. I was out about a week ago. And pretty much what you described then as well.

[river_scum]

wowsers! ill let them stay at the bait shop for that price. what bait shop was it?

fish are like cats. they are curious sometimes. i had the same thing happen with my jiggin rap the other day.  so i down sized to tiny flicker spoon.  same thing, they just looked at it, but i got a couple tastes/bumps.  so, smaller yet, i pulled out one of my clear tungsten bead head rods and started "pounding".  that wasnt magic but it put a dozen and a half in my sack before dark.  just enough action to keep me curious. lol  some days they just want to look it seems.  which i cant understand.  i mean you put a mini snickers bar in front of me im gona bite



 

[tater140]

  i mean you put a mini snickers bar in front of me im gona bite

Haha… thats a good analogy

[walleyeboater]

Hear ya on bait price.
I paid $3.50 for a 36 count.

[fishinator]

I switched to plastics years ago. Haven't looked back. A few bucks for a pack of 10, get multiple fish off each one and they never die.

[zcm_82]

I switched to plastics years ago. Haven't looked back. A few bucks for a pack of 10, get multiple fish off each one and they never die.

Same. I switched to Gulp waxies a couple seasons ago. I catch just as many fish, and a baggie of 75 lasts a looooong time.

[fishinator]

Same. I switched to Gulp waxies a couple seasons ago. I catch just as many fish, and a baggie of 75 lasts a looooong time.

  ever try any of the "wack em stack em" plastics? Sort of local for us. Made in cedar lake. A little pricy but they have amazing action. 

[Derslayer1]

i bought a tub of 250 moths, 30 freakin dollars. I had to check my drawers after that....

[bgriffis17]

maybe an old fart thing? b***hin about the price of a bug.

[zcm_82]

  ever try any of the "wack em stack em" plastics? Sort of local for us. Made in cedar lake. A little pricy but they have amazing action.

No. I got a ton of Gulp and the Powerbait Fry and wiggler dirt cheap when Big R folded, so I'm pretty much set on ice plastics for life. I pretty much cleared out the Watseka store of ice jigs, spoons, and plastics when they hit 60% off.

[TeacherPreacher]

Pretty steep for Bee Moths !!! I'm like others, plastics, wedges, Gulp and the like! I've tied up a bunch of ice bugs of my own creation and they all work. If anyone would like to grow their own Bee Moths I have the recipe I could post up? Back when I first started ice fishing we would start them around Thanksgiving so they'd be adults around Christmas. We used high protein dry baby pablum for medium and they were so big they'd almost grab the fish!!! Had them escape a few times when they were itty bitty and crawled all over carpet and couch. For some reason wife got upset !!!!
Teach

[river_scum]

lmao  my wife puts up with a lot as far as bait goes.  maggots on the couch would probably set her off though.

[walleyedan]

Boy, I'm glad a tub of B Moths are only $12.00 where I live. I haven't bought a 36 ct for a long time.  Spikes are $3.20 for a 100.  I save them the way my grandpa showed me how and the spikes will stay good until July or Aug.  Great bait on a wet fly in June.  By the way, that's about how the bite has been till we got some snow on the ice.  Some lakes that were good went to lookers and the the lookers lakes went to a hot bite.  That's why its called fishing and not catching sport. Good luck out there.

[kesdadddy7597]

Just fish them without bait and save your money.  IMO gills and crappie are just as easily caught without live bait or plastics. You have to make sure to hang your jig horizontal, and it doesn’t really work for “dead sticking,” but I can’t remember the last time I bought bait for ice fishing. I might borrow a few spikes from my fishing partner to tip my jigging rap when perch fishing, but other than that I don’t find it necessary.   

[hounds]

LMAO, Teacher preacher, my wife would have a fit.

[Unclegillhunter]

250 for $14.00 keep them till well into June!
Keep it safe! JDL

[Retired-UAW]

$13.00 + in Kokomo.   

[Lee1977]

Boy, I'm glad a tub of B Moths are only $12.00 where I live. I haven't bought a 36 ct for a long time.  Spikes are $3.20 for a 100.  I save them the way my grandpa showed me how and the spikes will stay good until July or Aug.  Great bait on a wet fly in June.  By the way, that's about how the bite has been till we got some snow on the ice.  Some lakes that were good went to lookers and the the lookers lakes went to a hot bite.  That's why its called fishing and not catching sport. Good luck out there.

Walleyedan, I’m curious as to how you store your spikes. I’ve heard of many different ways. That’s generally what I use into the beginning of the summer but if I could keep them a couple more months that would be great! Thanks

[WildBill91]

Hey guys in the future I will be sharing my experience raising mealworms...and I hope to try raising beemoths as well. Mealworms are pretty darn easy, not as good as beemoths in my opinion but they do work. Beemoths are going to be a bit more challenging and I am going to have to do that in the garage when its warmer.

[fishinator]

I tried raising beemoth/waxworms. They got huge but then started spinning cocoons and were hard to pick out. I put them in cold for a couple days as I had read that would prevent it. It didn't have any effect. Good luck. The ones I did grow were bigger than any I have ever bought in baitshops.

[walleyedan]

Old timer gave me a simple recipe for growing B Moths.  Takes a little time but you start with with twelve and I ended up with over 2000.  They were nice size.

[walleyedan]

Lee1977 check your PM box.

[TeacherPreacher]

Go to search: Re: Culture For raising Wax Worms- 1/03/2012 TeacherPreacher.
Teach

[marmooskapaul]

I must be missing something as I never use Bmoth. Just spikes and mousies when available.

[WildBill91]

Lee1977 check your PM box.

Walleyeda, do you mind sending me that info  as well? I definitely plan on trying to raise them this spring.