out fishes live bait?

[Brian Eaton]

There are companies with artificial replicas of live bait that make the claim they are better than live bait.Lets here some unpaid expereinces with these products.I realize the conveneince these products must have for the sunfish angler.But are they worth the money,and that you might be missing fish because you arent using a product of mother nature.Thanks for yalls replies!

[Nathanael Deloach]

I also first tried the Berkley maggots for Ice fishing and never had a bite on them so they just sat in my tackle box for a year. Then I went on a Non gill outing with my dad so I had no live bait. He fell asleep while we were in prime gill waters so I kinda threw this rig together just to be able to fish for them. 2 Hrs and more than 50 gills later I was sold on it and haven't used live bait again. My cousin and I one trip tried a little experiment with the style of jigs, tipped vs non-tipped with the berkley maggot and the feathered jig was hands down better then any other combo we tried. That was a side by side comparison over spawning gills. The only disclaimer I will say to this is that it was on one lake and was only fished in 5 ft or less. With every lake being different some other variation of this rig could work better.

[John Sheehan]

Fair enough but like I said "I do wonder if homemade silicone strips treated with fish scented oils wouldnt be a more practical and cheaper way to go.Someone on this site,I believe, gave me that idea and it sounds right to me."

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

That 1/64 jig w/ Micro Power Wiggler grub thingie looks good enough for me to eat it! What fish WOULDN'T take a swipe at that?!

[Alex G.]

count me as a fan of the Burkley Gulp products! both the maggot and the fry. Works wonders! IMO, movement is key!

Oh, and nothing has produced more gills for me than fly fishing!

[John Cachel]

I like live bait and when I went to Florida. There's lack of bait shops around Disney so I bought a jar of Gulp maggots. I used 1/80 plain jig with a Gulp Magggot and fish for a few days...... over 300 bluegills, many over 8 inch and several over 9 inch. The biggest is almost 10 inch so it prove that Gulp maggots is good. I caught many bluegills, crappies and some nice white bass on Gulp maggots at my parents' private lake.
Leaf worms cost go up! $3.40 to $3. 75 for 30 trout worms! I use Gulp maggots often now! If I know the lake have some monster 'gills then I would use live bait like whole leaf worm or leech!
Take both live baits and Gulp with you for fishing trip!

[Howard Webster]

I have tried some artificals so far the best results are worms and maggots when i can get them

[Mike Epperson]

+1 for Berkely Gulp Ascots.....they work great for bluegill. I usually tip a jig with it and dropshot around bedding areas...

[jim cosgrove]

always have a jar of gulp waxies on me.i live to get em on a fly rod and the heavily fished waters by me igotta go deep alot. so a wieghted fly is basically a small jig. unless they are slamming gotta tip it with something,am working on a paste scent though.

[chuck ellis]

give me some catawba worms and I will wear your tail out if you use artificials the big bream did not get that way from being stupid they are just as smart as any lure wise predator fish that swims and I have caught numerous gills over 10 and up to 13in on live bait but very few on artificials ,to me they are smater than a bass when they get to be what we call stumpknockers they just lay in the shade waiting for that big fat cricket ir catawba worm or wasp maggot to come dropping in.

[creekx]

We been trying Gulp angleworms tipped on popeye jigs and on a dropshot rig with some sucess.

[George Hogoboom]

I have been using Gulp red angleworms with fairly good luck. I don't think it out fishes crickets but it don't die and you don't have to feed it !

[Jim Gronaw]

Used some Gulp! Earthorms today on some very spooky and skittish redears...caught more than a dozen that were in clear, shallow water. In other areas of the lake, did better on bedding gills and female gills were on the outskirts of the bedding males and took the Gulp! worms with gusto...totaled abot 35 fish in less than 2 hours. No giants...a couple of 10 in class shellcrackers and gills went 7 1/2 to almost 9 inches. Shoreline growth is discouraging lots of anglers but if you fish around the edges where everybody walks by you may be surprised...lots of bedding males just under the suface weed growth in 12 to 18 inches of water...might be similar in your home lake.