Anyone tip their jigs, flies or lures with natural bait?

[Damon Toney]

I've been looking to experiment with adding a lure to my natural bait. I crappie and strip bass fishermen who tip with minnows and eels all the time. Do any of you do this while targeting bluegill?

[Allen Morgan]

Slip Sinker and I will tip micro-jigs with Gulp! Alive! pink maggots.  Jim Gronaw has been using Gulp! Minnows tipped on a jig.  Jeff Abney will tip custom-tied jigs with Crickets and Grass Shrimp.  Carl Hendrix will tip his Rascals with bits of Nightcrawler.  I've tried that a bit myself, and yes, it does work.

If you go through past posts of any of the people I mentioned, you will see the it is a viable option.  Many people will say, "Why tip an artificial jig with bait?  Doesn't that defeat the purpose of an artificial lure?"

Many folks will say that the color/movement of an artificial lure will attract the fish to the lure, and the scent/taste of live bait seals the deal, making the fish hold onto the lure just a hair longer, enough to give the angler just that much longer to set the hook.

[Slip Sinker]

gotta love the Pink Maggots and waxies! lol

since ive had repeated and continued success with it its hard for me to break away and try anything else.

i love to share and convey whats working for me whenever possible... if it made your fishing experience more enjoyable and productive im a happy fisherman... your welcome and thank you 

sometimes i feel like a Berkley salesman... i just love their products... Nanofil and GULP especially

[Damon Toney]

So Berkley GULP really works? Never tried it.

[Slip Sinker]

thats all i use Damon from dropshotting, slip bobbering and ice fishing... its made me a happy fisherman

[John Sheehan]

Hey Damon , I tip small spoons and jigs with crawler pieces and scale down to mealworms on jigs when the water temp gets cold .

I use Hus spoons, Blue Fox Rattlin Flash, Swedish Pimple , smallest Nungessers and Acme Kastmasters ,they all have a thin profile and work well on the small mouthed Bluegill.

I catch Crappie , White Perch ,Yellow Perch and small Bass with this approach also.  

[carl hendrix]

  for me;; adding a piece of nite crawler;; to a fly;; or a jig;; increased my catch rate big time !!   when I can catch 100 or more blue gills; in a couple of hours;; not counting bass; catfish; stripe; other types;; you know your doing it right !

[Damon Toney]

Man, looks like I am in the right place. You talk about this stuff with other people and they look at you like you're crazy. That's exactly what I was thinking. Use the lure for visual acuity and to send vibration off into the water to draw fish in from longer distance, then give'em real meat to chomp on.

[carl hendrix]

Damon;;  one way to look at it ;;;; your driving along; on a lazy sunday afternoon;; window down;; you see a flashing sign;; your aware of it; then; a strong aroma hits you !  its a great smelling B B Q !!  your were not hungry till you smelled it- now-- you just have to have some of that !    that is the exact way it has been put to me by several pro bass fishermen !   so-- it makes common sense doesnt it ??     be sure to check out the pix pages;; of david ( tooty) l eitutis;;; allan morgan; dick tabbert;; jim gronaw; mark sleeper;; mark stein; greg mc/williams/ jen nayfly;;; john sheehan;; only to name a very few;; extremly talented fly ; jig tiers !

[John Sheehan]

My name doesn't belong on that list with those expert fly and Jig tiers but a  few feather and Buck tail Jig patterns I make have caught without tipping and tipping .Carl is the one that belongs on that list of expert tiers . I catch on  hand tied Blue /Black/ White feather (shiner or herring ) and Red feather patterns( bloodworm) ,Black or white Rabbit Fur patterns and White  and White/Brown or Chartreuse Bucktail materials.( killer on Crappie even untipped) I like the red thread collars  and black jig heads if I find them .Really basic stuff .

[Slip Sinker]

for me... i never tip with live bait except in the winter jigging for b gills thru the ice ... then i use live waxies or pink gulp waxies. 99.9 percent of the time i am tossing a jig with a plastic tail and i am imparting action to the jig with the rod tip and have done very well... adding live bait to a presentation such as this only stifles the action im trying to achieve. 

if I feel a slip bobber is the correct presentation I will use a plain hook over a jig… then im able to adjust weight with split shot as needed…then GULP pink waxie is the bait of choice.

There is one exception… when tossing my ice jigs specifically the siska smelt stick… I tip exclusively with gulp waxies chartreuse or green. I avoid live bait whenever possible. Its just a personal preference of the way I like to fish.

[Tony Livingston]

We've hashed this out several times here on the forum, and opinions vary.  I have no doubt that dressing a jig with a little protein produces better for me than fishing it naked. My question is, and always has been, which element is responsible for catching the fish? We often talk about various jigs,  how many fish they have accounted for over a given time period, and give kudos to the makers. But really, is it a fair test when meat is hanging off the hook? Fish it naked.....then report back with the results. Adding protein can be dynamite when the goal is to put fish in the boat, but it's an unreliable method of testing a jig's effectiveness in my opinion. Too much of the reported success may be due to tipping, not the jig itself.

I've said it before, how do we know that tearing a cigarette butt in half, spray painting it pink, and adding a cricket or grass shrimp wouldn't do just as well?? Maybe all that's needed is a splash of color, and the scent of meat. Do the details matter when tipping the jig? I think a lot depends upon the conditions and the fish themselves. Unpressured fish will usually be easier to catch, and more willing to bite.

[dick tabbert]

I pretty well fish the bait as is just the way I've always done it. Some people fish tipped baits and swear by it and have the numbers to probably prove it. When I go out its the fish and I and at times I catch plenty fish but there are days when its slow but its like that with people who fish tipped baits at times. As a general rule I usually always catch something. When my grand daughter fishes with me and she tips most time she out fishes me so I do think tipping is a plus its just not for me.