Eurolarvae or maggies

[Jig stick]

Does color make any difference? Or do I go with the white spikes

[IcePro]

At times color does make a differnaces. I have found out if the fish are feeding over a muddy bottom red seems to produce better. There is a worm that is in the mud that is red in color (This is a very small worm) I am not sure of the name of this worm/larvae.

Buy the assorted larvae and all your bases are covered. Do some expermenting next time you are out.

Does the color of the ice jig make a differance? I think once you anylize the options you will make your own decision if color matters.

[Guest]

I posted a message under Euro Larvae about this too. I think that red is the key to turning on a lot of negative fish. Two reasons:

1) Red means "blood" and blood is a triggering mechanism for fish to strike indictating a injured prey. Injured prey are easy targets for predators and red resembles an injured prey.

2) Blood worms (like IcePro said). Blood worms thrive in the soft bottoms were a lot of schools of fish roam. When fish stir up the groud these worms come out and are easy targets for fish. When a fish see's these red euro larvae it thinks the same thing and grabs it before it has a chance to fall to the bottom.

Color of the jig in the most will matter depending if the fish are in stained or clear water. Natural colors are good for crystal clear water tipped with a white or yellowish larvae. Stained water might bring upon the need of a flashy/bright jig to get the attention of those negative fish. In some cases red jigs tipped with red euro larvae will out produce almost anything on the market (assuming fish are feeding on such prey as blood worms and such). I always like to start with a neutral color like red or orange and work my way from there.

Fishing is all a game of adapting to the situation. Find fish first, then find the right presentation.

Good Fishin, Matt.

[Guest]

When I buy my thousand before season I take out some to color. It is easy, anyone can do it. I just take some cooked turkey meat and thoroughly soak it in food coloring for the color I want, put them in a breathable container at room temp until they eat enough to get them the color you want. Then back in the fridge, seal 'em air tight and they are ready for your fishing!

[Guest]

CHIRO
That's the right way to color the maggots if you're going to do it.
I've even soaked a piece of turkey breast in a solution of purple jello and then added some phoshorescent pigment to the mix.
The spikes do glow but they glowed even more if you just used the pigment mixed with a little water and let it absorb into the meat.
It's a pain in the butt though.

[Guest]

Tony on ice,
The aquarium experiments were interesting. A comment though. You said the fish homed in on the white mag while showing little interest in the dyed mag. If you had been feeding your fish previously with white mags they would have been programmed to the white color and may not have recognized the dyed mag as food, with the exception of the rockies who generally eat first and ask questions later.
Try feeding your fish only dyed mags for a week or ten days then try the experiment and see what happens.

[Guest]

ESOXLUCIOUS
I don't feed my fish maggots at all other than when I'm experimenting.
They get buckeye minnows, crickets and crawfish (in season) and garden hackle. The Rock bass also eat bacon ! Talk about pigs !
At times, I do drop a bunch of spikes into the tank after they have turned redish brown and have gotten hard. They float and the bluegills, crappies and of course, the rock bass will feed on the surface.
A guy can learn a lot about different baits, lures (bend the hooks over or take them off) colors and light penetration by setting up a fish tank. Sometimes i sit in front of the tank for hours and toss jigs into it under a float to see whaich ones get hit on the most in certain conditions. I ever put a recirculation pump near the bottom to muddy upthe water to do the same tests with less visibility.
It's amazing what you see and 90 % of the time, the fish in a lake will react the same way as the ones in the tank...except for the rock bass.
They have the appetite of a Tyrannasaurus Rex and the brain of an amoeba !!

[Guest]

JIG STICK
Stick with your basic white spikes and just buy a small container of the colored maggots to experiment with. It won't take much time to convince yourself they they really have no benefit over the natuaral spikes. In the winter, movement and scent are the keys to triggering fish to feed. THe cold water lessens the distance that the odors travel as it's much more dense in the winter months. If your fishing in more than 20 feet of water, the capability of most fresh water fish to see any colors other than blues and greens below that depth is diminished to a point that it really doesn't matter what color jig you have on as long as the fish can see some movement and it's not startling to them.
Spikes have a very high Idodine cotent in them and this odor is highly attractive to gamefish and rough fish. The Eurolarva or colored maggots don't have the same odor and aren't nearly as productive as the regular spikes.
While experimenting in my home aquarium years ago when the colored maggots were first introduced, I would drop one spike and one colored maggot into the tank and the fish always went for the white one first.
With two bluegills in a seperate chamber of the aquarium and blocked off from all the other fish, when I dropped the two different baits into the tank, both bluegills ALWAY went for the white spike and the on that didn't get there fast enough would often let the red or other colored spikes fall to the bottom without even touching it. Eventually it would swim over and eat it but reluctantly.
This happened with every fish in my tank other than those incredibly pigish and glutonous rock bass which would eat anything moving or not.
Perch were especially lured to the white spikes and in Oneida lake, they feed heavily on those red blood worms when the worms surface to feed.
I hung in my aquarium, two of those maggot chum feeders that the Europeans use when carp fishing and filled one with plain whte spikes and the other with the coloroed maggots. All of the fish in the aquraium were swimming around the container with the white maggots and feeding heavily except for the rock bass and one small catfish (She's spoiled and will only eat cheese or worms). The rock bass are opporunsts and will eat anything anytime. They were picking up the colored maggots off the bottom while the other fish were sucking the spike up before the even got near the bottom.
That was enough to convince me then that the Eurolarva were a waste of money. Just ask anyone who ice fishes in Europe. They'll pretty much tell you the same thing....unless they're in the Eurolarva business.

MP5
When did Red and Orange become neutral colors ?? :^)

[Guest]

Tony On Ice,
I had to laugh at your T. rex and i.q. description of the rockies. I was reminded of a question submitted to Jason Lucas. He was the famed urban fishing guru for Sports Afield back in the 50's and 60's. He was asked what baits rock bass liked the most. He responded by saying they hated them all as they hit everything so fast and hard. haha

[Guest]

ESOXLUCIOUS
We have rock bass here in Lake Ontario and the Finger Lakes region that go 2 lbs plus !!
It's not uncommon to be trolling the mouth of the Oswego River where it empties into Ontario with a # 18 Rapala and catch 2 and sometimes 3 rock bass on the same lure at the same time. Most times, these are the 8 to 10 inch variety that think they have a mouth the size of Carrol Channing or Moby Dick. Those big fat pig rock bass are too slow to catch p with the stick baits so they just lay on the bottom with the carp and cafish until something that resembles food floats by.
We eat quite a few Rockies in the spring and the ones we catch through the ice and they're pretty good even if you don't lay the spices to them.