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Thread: Ice out - Finally!! + Berkley Gulp 2.5 inch minnows

  1. #1
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    Default Ice out - Finally!! + Berkley Gulp 2.5 inch minnows


    Today I went down to Chautauqua lake and saw my favorite canal was ice free finally. I had other plans, but I pulled my pole out and took a cast under the bridge. Crappie on first cast!! weee!! Only 9.5 inches, but sure looked good. Next cast a perch then another and another and another till I had been standing in that spot for over 4 hours and my back was gettin sore and I was wearing the skin off my landing finger with a fish on just about every cast I made. Also got a little too much sun and to heck with whatever plans I had.

    Got about 25 crappies all the same size and 80 or so perch, 1 smallie, 1 largemouth, 1 22 inch sucker(first one I've caught on a jig in that lake in over 30 yrs fishing there), some bluegill, and a 10 inch brown trout. (Only the 2nd or 3rd from the lake in the same time period.)

    While I stood there I watched the lake go from about 80% ice coverage to almost nothing. It just all melted and drifted off down the lake and by dark the lake was totally clear from what I saw.

    It was a satisfying and interesting afternoon.

    One more thing. The other day I was in Erie and stopped by FishUSA National headquarters. They had just got in their first shipment of the new 2.5 inch Gulp Alive minnows, so I held my nose and bought a pack to see how they worked. I pulled em out while I was at the lake today and smacked pretty much everything on em. Figures after all the complaining I've dome about their cost. Turns out its a good bait, except for two things. They are soft and fall apart pretty quick for a plastic bait that expensive. After a couple fish its usually almost ready to fall off the hook, so I pinch the head off rehook it and can get a few more fish on it till something tears it off. Not very durable for sure, but it caught fish. Second thing. They say fish grab it and hold on, but most of the fish I could see hit it when I didn't set the hook just to see what they would do just spit it out and took off. No holding or rehitting because it tasted so awesome to them like the ads say. Maybe the scent makes them hit more initially along side the definite emerald shiner look of the minnow. I did also seem to catch more large fish with it than the panfish assassins I was using as well, but may be attributed to the fact that the minnows are twice as long as the assassins.

    Aside from the price, durability issues, and not quite living up to their claims, the lure gets fish. Better than live minnows? - debatable. Better than other plastics? - also debatable. Will I buy more when this pack runs out? - Hmm... I will want to if my further use of them proves productive, but I will still hold my nose about the price. What it does give you is a very minnow like bait to use on regular jigs for casting. One last thing I found out. The Gulp Minnows in the packs are exactly the same as the bucket minnows. The only difference with the buckets is the bucket, number of baits, and more juice for the baits to "swim" in. *GRIZZ still grumbles about the price* Yes I recommend spending more money on rods and reels to get better stuff because I feel its worth the extra doe, but I hate being railroaded into paying too much for things that are not worth what they cost. If I spend my hard earned money on something premium, I expect something premium.
    Last edited by GRIZZ; 04-06-2008 at 04:43 AM.
    Good things come to those who bait.


  2. #2
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    It is amazing how fast the ice goes, once it is ready. I have broken ice in a boat and it seems there is still a fair amount and then just with in a few hours its gone. It shows the power of the sun and maybe a little wind.
    I am still in waiting mode… there is still lots of ice, at least 2-1/2 feet but its not very drivable because of slush snow and water.
    We usually get about 2 weeks in the spring when you can drive anywhere, but has not happened yet…..close though.
    I can picture those fresh fillets curling up on the ends in the frying pan….. congratulations
    Ken

  3. #3
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    Grizz ....... How did you hook up the minnows? Bare hook, Jig head or what? Thanks for the report.....

  4. #4
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    well if you think of price its not much more than payig for any other gulp products really. plus the main thing with them is convenience when you cant get or dont have minnows. yeah the price does seem steep but not oout of line with any of there other gup prducts

  5. #5
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    Sounds like you had a great day! Glad for ya!

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  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Blue Duck View Post
    Grizz ....... How did you hook up the minnows? Bare hook, Jig head or what? Thanks for the report.....
    I used simple round head jig and threaded the lure through the head and back like you would a tube or a grub.

    Quote Originally Posted by john h View Post
    well if you think of price its not much more than payig for any other gulp products really. plus the main thing with them is convenience when you cant get or dont have minnows. yeah the price does seem steep but not oout of line with any of there other gup prducts
    True, but my gripe is with the whole line of Gulp products. Considering all the negative issues I stated in my original post, they are not very durable, they are 5x or more than other plastics, and though they work well, they don't work 5x as well, they are just priced too high.

    Look at it this way. Its possible to get several fish on a single real minnow. Realistically, these baits don't really catch many more fish per minnow than a real minnow, though if your careful you can and the potential is there to get several more fish per Gulp than the real thing, but would you pay 50 cents each for real minnows, or even half that much?

    I'm not saying they are worthless, I'm just saying they are overpriced for what you get.
    Good things come to those who bait.


  7. #7
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    WOW sure glad our water does not freeze..
    Our only ice in water is in a glass.
    Sounds like you had a good day on the water.
    pete

  8. #8
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    Great news Grizz! glad to hear you got a chance to whup on the old cabin fever a bit. I'm thinking bullhead later this week, then crappie next weekend. Spring hasn't completely sprung yet, but it's trying to!

    I wonder if the ice is off Silver Lake yet... might be time to visit my sister-in-law's place

  9. #9
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    Grizz I am with you on that price for Gulp products. I just don't get it, how can they possible cost that much more to make that any other soft plastic.

    I have had a customer state to me in an email that he caught over 300 crappie on a single jig, now that is value. Cost was probably .75-.85 for the jig and I am pretty sure that a Gulp minnow would never see 20 crappie much less 100.

    Real Minnows at $9 per pound which depending on size is at least 12 Dozen or 144 of them would work out to be .06 each and maybe less if they are a little smaller. That is what minnows go for at the local distributer.

    Now I have to say for my self I can't hold on to a jig long enough to catch that many crappie without losing it to a snag. I have got my jig back from snags at least 5 or 6 times, but still if I catch 100 on a single jig it was a lucky one for me that it didn't get lost to some stump in this lake.

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  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by skiptomylu View Post
    how can they possible cost that much more to make that any other soft plastic.

    Skip
    Well from personal experience the Gulp products aren't actually plastic. Maybe it does cost more to produce a Gulp bait. I use the Gulp 5" Sinking Minnow almost exclusively for LMB... and I will admit they are fairly sturdy and last a while... but the fish love them to death.
    Leave one on a hook over night after you're done fishing... they shrivel up to a little nothing... no plastic bait of mine ever did that. But whatever their made of + the scent they activate them with = fish on the stringer. Most gawd awful smelling things i've ever encountered fishing.
    Fishin' fills the time until College football season

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