Thoughts on the Brave New World of bait

[Steve Foss]

Put simply, I doubt I'll be buying any treated/processed ciscos anymore, as long as I can get saltwater herring.

Had 8 flags today. VERY slow day for this location and 4 tip-ups, but all 8 flags came on the herring. Had cisco on 2 tips, herring on the other 2. I fished with herring when I lived in N.D. with great results.

Glad to see they rock and roll over here, too.

I've had good luck with the treated/processed ciscos as long as I rinse them thoroughly of salt/borax and rehydrate them by soaking them in water at least 4 hours, but when put up against the herring, they did not produce. I'll continue to put the two baits up against each other as long as my 4 dozen or so processed cisco last to see if those results are borne out again.

If they are, bye bye cisco. Helloooooooo herring.

[Jackpine Rob]

Steve, send me an e-mail. I am working on a little project that might benefit guys like us. I'm looking for a beta-tester, and you might just be a candidate for such a noble and esteemed position. Trials are about 3 weeks out or so, so you can complete your herring choking tests and such, and have a good control group to play my stuff against.

Robmaki(at)msn(dot)com

[Acemac]

2 questions

1. pictures of the herring and suggestions of how to get it?

2. I plan on doing my own experement but have you tried the 4 inch gulp alive minnows?

[Steve Foss]

Rob, e-mail sent.

Acemac, they look darn close to cisco. A little thicker in the body is about all. I got mine at Great Outdoors in Ely. I've been told they usually stock them at Marine General in Duluth. I don't know if anyone stocks them in the Cities, but you might look up the number for G.O. in Ely and give Jim Maki a call there to see where he got them. Then a call to your favorite TC bait shop with that info might be in order.

I have not tried the Gulp plastics on tip-ups.

Yet.

Here's a pic. Cisco on top, herring on the bottom.

[mrklean]

i picked up some anchovies out here in Cali im gonna try and see how they work hopefully next week

[OnAFly]

Steve - I hope your wife doesn't see that you use the "good" towels to take pictures of dead bait!

I might have to try this out, keeping live suckers is a pain.

[bobbymalone]

Gulp! is one of the most over hyped products on the market.

Never seen it produce even close to what live bait does and I haven't heard many sing praises about it without a financial incentive.

[mainbutter]

Pike love herring, 'nuf said.

I used to tip silver dardevles with chunks of herring when I fished pike in Alaska. My dad started doing it first, using the exact same spoons, and he outfished me 2 or 3 to 1.

It doesn't surprise me that whole herring would make good dead bait trying to ice some pike

[RK]

Hiya -

I know a resort owner in Manitoba who SWEARS by herring and mullet on tip-ups. He mail orders the stuff even though he has an infinite supply of ciscoes at his fingertips. He's convinced they're the best thing going by far.

Mainbutter - where'd you fish pike in Alaska?

RK

[JBMasterAngler]

I'm gonna try an oriental market tomorrow and see what they have to offer. I'll look for the herring, but settle for whatever else if it looks good enough. If they have the goods, I'll post the location.

[Steve Foss]

i picked up some anchovies out here in Cali im gonna try and see how they work hopefully next week

[tacklejunkie]

Gulp! is one of the most over hyped products on the market.

Never seen it produce even close to what live bait does and I haven't heard many sing praises about it without a financial incentive.

Agree.

[Steve Foss]

I occasionally use Gulp smelt or Gulp minnow plastics to tip laker jigs, and to tip summer pike spinnerbaits, but that's the only way I've used it. I'd read about using it under tip-ups but have never bothered. Definitely won't bother after reading the comments here. Gulp isn't any more convenient than deadbait anyway, and I've never heard of deadbait eating away at some outerwear fabrics.

[JBMasterAngler]

To my surprise, the oriental market didn't have anything. The only fish they had that was "bait" size were frozen mullet fish. Didn't seem appealing to me...I envisioned it as the same as using frozen suckers.

[Steve Foss]

JB, you should have read RK's post mentioning mullet a bit earlier in this thread.

[JBMasterAngler]

Oh for pete's sake!!! OK then, I guess I'll go back there and buy some. Was about a dozen per pack for $3.50. I'd say they were about 8 inches long. Luckily the lake I went to after that stop didn't have a fishable pike population. For that price I guess it wouldn't hurt to experiment.

[Steve Foss]

Oh for pete's sake!!! OK then, I guess I'll go back there and buy some. Was about a dozen per pack for $3.50. I'd say they were about 8 inches long. Luckily the lake I went to after that stop didn't have a fishable pike population. For that price I guess it wouldn't hurt to experiment.

And you'd best buy up a big bunch. At half the going price for ciscos and herring, 8-inch mullet are a steal! When that store sees they have a good thing going, they'll probably bump up the price a bit.

[Jackpine Rob]

How much are they charging for the "new" ciscos?

[JBMasterAngler]

I'm just gonna buy 1 batch for now and see what happens. If they don't workout I don't have much use for baby mullet fish...cutbait for cats in the summer maybe I'm hoping to get out christmas eve and christmas morning on lakes with good pike numbers, so hopefully I'll report good news.

[Steve Foss]

How much are they charging for the "new" ciscos?

Great Outdoors in Ely has kept them down at least year's prices, like $6.50/$7 per dozen. I didn't check exact price with him because he's got herring, and I bought those. Just Bite Me in Babbitt gets $8/dozen. Not sure what others in other places are charging.

[candiru]

I have a couple of packs of Herring in the freezer. One is from Puget Sound Herring Sales. The other is from Walcan Seafood Limited. Maybe a couple of companies for you or the bait shops to look at if they want to get some.

[Acemac]

IMO Mbuying this type of thing at a bait store is a waste of money. the guys at lakewinds said they would order herring for me if I wanted it I think it may come fresh so I would have to freeze it myslef.

[mrklean]

so far the anchovies are a bust, just got some shad gonna try that out

[Steve Foss]

Can you provide some more detail on your efforts with anchovies?

[mrklean]

well so far i have ran one tip-up while i have been spearing, the depths i have been running them has varied from 1-3 feet off the bottom just a standard tear drop lure changed the colors up some used gold, orange, blue, chartreuse. No flags yesterday or today im not gonna give up 100% yet but im gonna switch it up tomorrow and see what happens try the shad see if the larger silver body will work a little better, the chovies are kinda dark colored.