goldenrods

[Gordie]

back in the day my grandfather and I would go out and pick goldenrods just wondering if anyone still uses these. Grandpa didnt belive in buying bait when he had all the natural resourses to get his own.

[Eyehawk]

shhhhhhh quiet, thats my secret bait ice fishing bait! My grandpa use to pick them to and use them, because it was cheaper than buying wax worms and they are natural, plus he would out fish alot of people using his goldenrod bugs when the sunfish were finiky and a waxie was to big for them, of course this was before vexilars and marcums and GPS's but they did have power augers! lol But he taught me how to pick them and cut them open and such, and I still do to this day, Im 23 and part of the young generation of fisherman but I still do alot of what the older generations use to do, like pick golden rods or measure your depth in arm lengths, or make fishing spot by landmarks or cabins. Not all of us have a GPS or a vex. But yeah I still do pick them and will probably till I die, hopefully I will get a chance to pass them on to my kid or grandkid later on in life. It takes some time and work and thats why I believe alot of people don't do that cuz of lazyness and other commits like work.

[Gordie]

yea eyehawk, grandpa and I would spend the morning squirrel hunting and then it was fill gunnie sacks with the goldenrods then after cleaning tree rats it was time to get the bait out of their hidding spot. man I miss those days with grandpa but I am passing this old secret to my sons.

[Huskiedevle]

You guys are taking me years back when I was a teenager who was too broke to buy waxies, but made the effort to collect goldenrod galls to harvest the grubs.It was work to get the grubs, but I always caught fish on them.How times have changed, and now, all I use is eurolarvae, with the occasional wax worm.

[The Grebe]

I to used to pick golden rod bulbs and cut em open to get the little round white grubs for ice fishing.

If the bulb had a tiny little hole in it, some kind of bird had beat you to the grub.

Those things were hard to put on the hooks, especially in the cold with numbed fingers and most of the time innards would leak out.

I don't know, I was a kid, learning on my own and maybe I had to big, or to dull a hook? I never really had much luck with them little grubs, but like I said, I was a kid and I was probably doing something else wrong and then blaming it on the grubs.

Whatever the case, when waxies came along I switched and never went back. I've thought about it once in awhile over the years though, collecting onion bags full of those bulbs so you could get a small container of bait and I've thought of maybe....nah, I'll stick with the waxies.

[hanson]

Sounds like a lot of work when you can just use PLASTICS!

My dad actually has a pile of goldenrods in the garage right now.

I might show him some tricks with PLASTICS one of these days.

[Eyehawk]

I think I'm gonna give plastics a shot this ice season, just to try them, but I am a firm believer in live bait, especially goldenrods, because when the bluegills or crappies aren't biting on waxies they pound those bugs, and I think all the work for those bugs is worth it, especially for a big crappie or bluegill! I usually try to get two 5-gallon buckets full of those goldenrods each fall, but bow hunting gets in the way on the weekends.

[fisherdog19]

I'm born and raised in NJ, what the @#$%&* is a goldenrod?

[GatorBait]

It's a wildflower, can be found throughout most of North America. Sometimes considered to be a weed, has a long stem that are usually waist high or so and has multiple endings that are gold color and contain pollen. Go to Google and type in GoldenRod. You'll learn something today.

[huntingmaxima]

A guy at work told me that he use to collect acorns and put them in a 5 gal. pail, and then use the worms in the acorns also. I think he said that he would put sand or saw dust on the bottom, and the worm would eat its way out. He would then find them in the saw dust.

[buckpredator]

I've used these little guys alot and I've done that Acorn trick as well. This year I have been making a transition to plastics, but every once in a while when the fish are finicky I tip the hook with a couple of these grubs and it really seems to entice some of those tight lipped fish. There has been a time or two when I'm out pheasant hunting that I have to carry a bird by hand cause my pouch on my vest is full of these bulbs.

[delmuts]

i have an uncle that picks up lots of hickory nuts to crack and sell the meat from them. he says many of them have a worm/grub in them. he saves those for a freind who loves them for ice fishing .

[fisherdog19]

I knew that a goldenrod was a wildflower, I thought you guys were referring to a grub. I have now figured that you get the grubs from the wildflower. Where in the plant do you find them?

[hanson]

In the fall, goldenrods will get a roundish, egg shaped growth on the stem, a little smaller than a golf ball. They are usually a couple feet off of the ground or so. Anyway, inside, you'll find the little critter unless something has eaten it already. You can tell this because there will be a hole in it.

[Coach1310]

I always new the grubs were there, but never knew anyone used them for fishing. When do you pick them? Could I go out now and find some? Any help would be great. Sounds like a neat way to use the resources available!!!

[delmuts]

you sure can find and use them now ! just remember that if the bulb has a hole in it, the grub is gone. i believe the grub will stay inside til the springs' warm weather .

[The Grebe]

The Golden rod bulbs will occur in abundence in some places, but in amongs them there will be an imposter, I'm not sure what it is, maybe a milkweed, it's more pointed at each end and thinner, you will find that it is much harder to cut into and it has a different kind of worm in it...sometimes no worm and no apparent hole where something has gotten to it. I suppose that if you do find one, he could go right into the container with the little round golden rod fellas.

[Gordie]

we always tried to pick them before frost or snow because the birds dont really bother with them until they cant find any bugs to eat. you probally can find some but after this snow the birds may have picked thru most of them.I always had the best luck finding them in sept-oct after hunting squirrels and pheasants. as to where to find them along most grassy meadows. and HSO dicthes may even have some shouldnt have to look to hard to find them.

[decoy]

What's the easiest way to get them out of there?

[The Grebe]

Break the bulb off long enough so that you have something to hold onto, cut around it with a sharp knife and pop it open. The grub will have a little chamber hollowed out in there.

[Crusty old Swede]

A few tips, collecting goldenrod galls is easy, as mentioned already, pick them while you're out pheasant hunting and you'll find the best patches are far away from trees. You might find two kinds of holes in the bulbs tiny round ones about 1/32" and bigger ragged ones. Throw out the ragged ones - the maggot has been nabbed by a wood pecker, the tiny round ones can still have a maggot in them. The tiny round holes are where an earlier maggot bored out and fell to the ground to pupate. I find that the maggot is usually slightly off center up toward the flower end so if you slice about half way through the middle and crack the gall by twisting the knife most of the time you don't grease them. Like waxies, a sharp hook will poke right through without turning them inside out. The imposter galls are made by a different bug that produces skinny little catapillar like worms that aqurium fish love. As for using then with plastics I like to use short pieces of Berkley power bait trout worms for a buggy looking body followed by a goldy for flavor.

[umsmallyz763]

I now know what I will be doing next fall.

How do you keep them alive until winter?

Joe

[Eyehawk]

What do you do with fish that you caught and cleaned and not eat right away?

[umsmallyz763]

I usually put them in the freezer.

Won't the freezer kill the little buggers?

Joe

[Bluegills1512]

I know what eyehawk is saying, because I do too freeze the bugs to keep them from not spoiling and rotting away. No it doesn't kill them it preserves them. They are not like wax worms or euro larva that move, they are just a bug that has juices that attract the fish to them.