cant wait to try gulp on the ice

[robert1965]

what do you think

[toughguy]

Maybe I do something wrong but I have never had luck on the ice without live bait. I almost always use plastics with some sort of live bait added. I've tried them all and I have found that just artificials work well when the fish are active. Live bait also works just as well when the fish are active and it works better when the fish are slower. I'm sure I'll try whatevers new this year but I'm yet to be sold.

[harvey lee]

I hardly ever take live bait along anymore. Almost 100% plastic baits. I will still jig with a minnow head for eyes but that is about it. I have not used live bait for pannies for quite some time.

[robert1965]

I don't know. I was impressed this year using gulp on the water, two three fish on a gulp surprised me. tough stuff, it should be interesting, a lot of guys pinch of the body, and just use the head.with the price of minnows, opposed to the durability of gulp. im excited to try it

[toughguy]

Like I said I must be doing something wrong. I know lots of people that only use plastics with success. I'll give it a shot again this year I'm sure.

[robert1965]

for walleye

[jwhjr]

Like I said I must be doing something wrong. I know lots of people that only use plastics with success. I'll give it a shot again this year I'm sure.

I'm in the same boat. I have trouble pulling in crappies unless using live bait.

[mozy]

Have always used livebait, but am going to try the natural color gulp maggots this winter. Used them last weekend and they worked pretty well on open water, should do ok on the ice I would think. For $3.79 it's not a bad deal, and I don't have to worry about waxworms dying within a few days.

[jwhjr]

Have always used livebait, but am going to try the natural color gulp maggots this winter.

I had very limited success with these last winter, but I'm sure I wasn't doing something right.

[robert1965]

was the minnow type out last winter

[NCLaker]

For those guys having trouble with plastics ... Do you fish using a flasher (Vex/Marcum etc). Using these is a must when learning to use platics IMO. You need to use them to see what techniques/action is working. Getting confidence takes putting the time in and experiment with them. Once you get it figured out you'll have a blast.

Here is an example of what often works for me:

Typically I will drop mine down 1-2+'above the fish. Hold to see if they swim up to sniff/take. If they don't move, I will do some aggressive lift and drops to get their attention. Usually they will swim up to investigate. When they are on it don't do much more then quivering the jig and/or do so while slowly lifting to get them to chase. That usually works best. Most times they will nail it instead of lots of nibbling. You will find your hook percentage much better than with live bait.

Normally if they are on your bait, you don't want to get to active with jigging - they can get spooked that way.

To do this the flasher is a must (having Zoom mode REALLY helps) - tought to do if you are fishing blind (no flasher). Spring bobber rods can also help a TON when the bite is lite. Don't use plastics on bobber, deadstick, or tipups - those are best left to live minnows.

[BigWadeS]

I need to remember these tips, because I have only had success with live bait, what kind of plastics and/or gulp do you use on the ice?

[NCLaker]

Only been doing plastics for 1.5 seasons. I use use mostly the smaller stuff on smaller single hook jigs - any of the Little atom platics (especially nuggies), shrimpo/rastos, etc. Jigs - Genz bug, diamond fig, etc. I am bias towards glow jigs/plastics for night time fishing.

Haven't really used Gulp on the ice. I tend to like stuff with a flimsy tail that will show more action.

Matt Johnson - likes the bigger stuff. I plan to do a lot more experimenting with that this season.

Don't let the smaller plastics fool you. They won me a crappie contest fishing against my buddies on the St. Croix (they were using live bait), and caught a nice 16" walleye on late ice last year.

[Bobb-o]

Like Laker says the stuff with the flimsy tails shine for panfish. The Little-Atom Nuggie is probably the best panfish plastic i have ever used for pannies year round. At times though i will butcher up different plastics to create things i think the fish will like, I will do this especially with Gulp and Gulp Alive, carve little slivers off with a razor blade to put on smaller jigs.

[NCLaker]

"Frankenstien" platics ... I like it. M

May have to play with some of these. Lot better then just letting your leftover Gulp dryout over the winter. Thanks for sharing another good tip. That is what I love about fishing, here is always something else to experiment with and challenge your creativity.

[WinterHaven]

All I use for Crappies is plastic myself and whether they are active or in a negative mood I usually don't have a problem catching them.

[Frank Boling 41]

I agree with NCLaker,I think you need to experiment and change things up every now and again...case n point,I have a buddy who almost always uses the same kind of live bait, never ever has used plastics or does any kind of mixing or matching,and time after time he only snags a few small throw back fish or has an empty line!

[ozzie]

I am really curious to see how the gulp alive minnows will work in the winter....I have had great success with them in the open water on the crappies.......to the guys that are using live bait to get confidence in the plastics I started out with the ratso and shripo jigs and tip them with 1 euro. After using this and gaining confidence I started to leave the euro off the jig and still caught fish......things to look at while using plastic is drop the bait 3 ft in the water and jig it move it like you will when it is in front of a fish and notice the action that the jig and plastic make- slight movement can get that tail to wiggle alot......one thing to look for is if the jig is spining try to eliminate that as the fish don't like a spinning bait. You can stretch the line to stop the spinnig by pulling sections of line in 3ft section and holding a tight pull for 15 seconds and do this for like 50ft of line. Hope these tips help as they definatly helped me put more fish on the ice!! (and back in the water)

[jdsmi]

I am by no means an expert but I used red Gulp maggots last winter and had a blast catching crappies, bluegills, and perch.

For me it was much more productive than live bait and many times I fished all evening with the same piece of Gulp.

[Sandmannd]

Gulp has worked well for me in the winter, but then I tried the euro larva and it outfished the gulp most times.