Waxie vs Minnow

[lotsofish]

I was out on a near-metro lake this afternoon sight-fishing pannies (6-7 fow) and I noticed something that I don't think has happened to me before. I had started fishing with waxies and catching a lot of gills. I put my second rod down with a crappie minnow and bites on the wax worm pretty much stopped. All the fish were focused in on the minnow, but none were really going after it. As soon as I pulled the minnow back out, I started getting bites on the wax worm again.

Had a number of bass pass by and the only ones that bit were on the wax worms when I didn't have the minnow down. I thought that was a little strange too.

Anybody ever notice something like this?

[bmc]

I never use crappie minnows in the winter. I always use Gulp maggots, larve, or wax worms. Reason being, if the fish are finicky, they're more likely to bite on someting small, that they don't have to chase. If they're aggressive, I just use a small jigging spoon w/ one of the above on it. Heck, sometimes if they're really aggressive all bait does is slow you down!

Brian

[jwhjr]

On my favorite lake, crappie minnows is all they'll bite on. If I want to try getting some sunfish I'll throw euros on. The crappies will rarely if ever touch them.

[mr_jman]

For whatever reason it seems like bluegills feel like they can attack something way bigger then they should. I think a minnow has more attraction then a wax worm does but when it comes down to what a gill will take, it will go after the wax worm more often than not. A large bluegill will hit a minnow, but most average ones will nibble at best on it.

A suggestion would be to use a minnow to draw the fish in and have a wax worm on the 2nd line and most times you'll get hit but if they are focused on that minnow then pull your rod up and have a 3rd rod rigged with a waxxie as well, that can be dropped down in the minnow rods place.

From what I've seen gills are very attracted to slow falling fluttering lures (in shallow water this is a great option) Many times they will race up to the lure and hit instantly. In deeper water a heavier lure will do the job and fish will still race up to it.

When crappies are around I prefer to have a small minnow on or just a head but usually all day until dusk I go with wax worms or euro larvae. If the fish are super aggressive then a plastic or nothing at all will get you back down that hole faster than rebaiting all the time. You'd be surprised how many more fish you'll catch by getting that lure back in the water instead of putting on more live bait when the fish are feeding.

[rcatcherman]

Take them both you never know until you get there...