Gulp Alive! Vs. Real Bait.

[walleye44]

Wow.. I really have to try that gulp stuff. I have always used live bait. Thanks for post..

[cavalierowner]

I just got back from our every-other-year Canada trip last nite. I brought up some Gulp Alive as a test against live minnows. On this trip there was no question live bait out-caught Gulp easily 4 to 1. In fact, casting a Shad Rap did better in some cases than Gulp. So we have decided that it will always be live bait, with Gulp as a backup.

[BobT]

That's pretty much how I use it. I keep some in the boat just in case I don't have live bait along.

[swamptiger]

That's been pretty much my experience with artificials, as well. I won't comment on Gulp Alive, specifically, because I haven't tried all the Gulp products, but in my experience live bait always outfishes artificials. I have had pretty good luck with some of the realistic looking smaller minnows like Northland's Mimic Minnow, and some of the small artificial leeches and tube jigs, however. If I had to stick with only one bait, it would be a live crawler.

[Down Deep]

I brought up some Gulp Alive as a test against live minnows. On this trip there was no question live bait out-caught Gulp easily 4 to 1.

I agree. Had the same experience. I don't buy Gulp anymore.

[Moose-Hunter]

Tried gulp for the first time this year... imho... I won't replace live bait with it, but it's good in reserve.

[kcota15]

I have a trailer at the NW angle. We fish almost exclusively in Ontario therefore don't hassle with any live bait other than crawlers. I don't have a boat and fish with my father-in-law. He uses crawlers and I use Gulp. Most days we catch about the same number of fish. We mostly jig the reefs. Rarely I will switch to crawlers if everyone in the boat using crawlers is outfishing me. I have used Gulp in many situations and really believe that it works as good if not better than live bait under most conditions. It took me a bit of convincing, but once I beleived in it, I seemed to catch even more fish. One of the great things about it is you can catch several fish without rebaiting, while the crawlers need to be replaced even after missed fish.

[yaggie]

This weekend on my favorite lake walleyes were biting instead of the big sunnies we were after. We ran low on fat head minnows so I switched to gulp minnows. My fishing partner and his grandson finished up the fat heads. They caught fish and I just watched. No hits on the gulp. $19.00 container only three gulp minnows used and no hits. Container is for sale cheap.

[tom fellegy]

last friday here on millelacs, real crawlers 4, gulp crawlers 2. fished from 0900 til 1530. both got bit off once from larger fish, both had about the same hits and didn't stick. both have a time and place for use. in mind, live bait is always #., bwca trips, gulp, ringies and alike

[gurkster]

Does gulp alive expire or go bad? or does it keep year to year if sealed in its container? What about if it freezes, does that hurt it?

[ozzie]

I haven't noticed anything that will hurt the gulp alive like freezing or getting old

[BobT]

I leave mine in the boat year 'round.

[gurkster]

Good to know! Thanks!!

[Jarrod32]

Was out this past weekend on Waubay Lake; I used Gulp Alive! leeches and TriggerX twister tails; my buddy used live bait (crawlers and leeches). Can't really give an edge to one over the other; my artificial baits worked at least as well as the live baits, but neither was noticeably better than the other. In fact, it is also too close to call between my Gulp Alive! leeches and the TriggerX; both performed very, very well.

Note: See my report in the South Dakota forum...

[Jarrod32]

The real issue, in my mind, is whether such baits can keep up with live bait in a static presentation such as under a slip bobber or on a stationary bottom rig.

Plastics such as Gulp Alive tend to do very well compared with live bait when the presentation is moving, as in trolling or drifting, but few people have enough confidence in the plastics, or enough time to try them side by side, to come up with a worthwhile comparison. I know I don't feel like undertaking that level of experimentation when I'm on the water.

I will say that 1" Power Tubes do better than live minnows under slip bobbers for shallow crappies 95 percent of the time. That's a comparison we've made often. On complete slack dead windless water, the minnows will somewhat outfish the tubes. If there's even a slight ripple on the water, it's the tubes every single time.

Makes me wonder how the Gulp Alive in various forms would do on other static presentations for other species. Like tip-ups for pike, walleyes and lakers, or slip bobbers for walleyes.

So far I haven't seen anything definitive on that. Mostly it's just been speculation, like a lot of what I've just posted.

We caught walleye and some largemouth bass on a Gulp Alive! leech under a slip bobber on Waubay Lake...again, I can't say that it outfished the live bait, but the live bait didn't outfish the Gulp either...