Trevally Hit At Lunchtime on my Okuma T40X Rod on Live Crab!
I was whipping Completely Hooked Lures “Scuba Blue” 2in grubs this morning inside the West Loch area. Caught & Released a few White Trevally papio. Then a screamer! Grabbed the lure and ran to the island across from me, couldn’t stop it with my whipping rig of a 8’ Okuma T-40X Steelhead with a 3000 spinner with 8lb SeaGuar monofilament. Whatever it was, IT WAS TO BIG FOR MY RIG TO HANDLE. It ran into the mangroves and spit the hook out. The #4 MZ red Sickle Hook was mangled. The glow threads were pulled off, the 10lb Sakura leader was chaffed, and the CHL 2in grub was “sashimi’d”. Lol.
So i went up a notch and took out my 11ft Okuma “Drift” rod with a 4000 spinner with 30lb PP line. By then i had used up my left-over squid. No problem. I took my net and collected a few blue pincher crabs for live bait (have the bleeding fingers from baiting them w/pinchers still on). Used a #5 MZ hook with 12lb Sakura fluorocarbon leader. Within 5min of the crab hitting the water i caught this bad boy, a nice 17-1/2in White Trevally Jack Papio. I had fun reeling in this fish! His “buddy” tailing him was a Barred Jack much bigger then this fish! Didn’t tighten the drag as that’s how fish are lost, within gaffing or netting. estimating this fatboys weight around 4lbs. Unfortunately he swallowed the hook so had to keep it. I live for action like this!
I really miss my Okuma T40X rods. Okuma has since replaced this series with the Guide Select Pro line.
I guess we will see when I start fishing kokes in another couple weeks. I've done very well with the Gulp Maggots, but have not used the Gulp Alive Waxies. The proof will be in the pudding, so to speak. However, if the scent is the "same" as Gulp, but 20% stronger, then I hope it will make a difference. Stay tuned. I started fishing kokes hard last year on April 5th. Hope to be doing the same this year. My boat is waxed and 100% prepped for the season. Just waiting on water levels to come up a few more feet.
[color=#00369b][size=large][font=Comic Sans MS]I'm not sure if this link is what your referring too. I ordered small glass jars hoping to preserve the oils mixed with maggots and not leaking. Always kept a regular natural supply on hand in the original marked container.[/font][/size][/color]
[color=#00369b][size=medium][font=Comic Sans MS]Thoughts about Asticots
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I understand wanting to be frugal. But when you consider the cost of each piece of bait coming out of the jar as a percentage of your total cost of fishing for a season, what are you really saving if you reconstitute a few individual pieces each trip? I don't know how many pieces are in each bottle as they are sold by weight. But let's say there are 300 pieces in a jar and the jar costs $6. Each bait piece is then worth $0.02. Not considering the amortized cost per year of your fishing equipment, but rather just the supplies such as fuel and bait, how much do you budget for just fishing? Is it $500, $1,000, $2,000?
If it is $500, each individual bait piece is 0.00004 % of your budget. If $1,000, it is 0.00002 %. If it is $2,000, it is 0.00001 %. That's why I start each new season with 3 bottles of brand new bottles of Berkley Gulp products. The bottles from last year got tossed when I put the boat in storage for the winter.
But, listen, if getting the very last bit of use from your bait makes sense to you, then by all means go for it. Tight lines to one and all and I hope to see you out on the water. :D’, 0xac4403c4, 1, 0, 0, 0, ’
I love those Gulp Alive Waxies too. I've found that if I cut the seal so that there is a ring remaining around the lip of the jar, the lid seals nicely I've got open jars that are 2-3 years old retaining their juices. Give that a try. I find the Waxies stay on my hook better than the maggots.', 0xa29f666e, 0, 0, 0, 0, ’
I just got all stocked up for the year for my Kokanee fishing and was planning to start targeting them soon as well. How well did you do last year starting in April?
One thing to consider is that the Gulp Alive products dry out really fast in the air. I've used both kinds of Gulp minnows, and the Alive kind get dry and turn to leather in a very short time unless they are in water or their fluid. It can happen just motoring from one part of a lake to another. You almost have to keep them in the jar unless you are actually cast them.
And once dry, they do not "come back" even if you soak them. Had one minnow I had to literally carve off a jig hook when I left it there on the drive home. The regular Gulp lures aren't so bad, but they are a "one trip" deal and don't survive going back in their pouch very well. That may not apply to tiny ones like waxies which you aren't likely to try to reuse.
I just did my annual inventory of plastics and found that I won't be needing ANY this year. I did find a bag of custom colored ones given me by TubeDude. I'm torn between using them in his honor, or not. I'm sure he would want me to use them. On some of his wobble jigs.
So, I learned something new. Went to order some "stuff" from the Cabelas spring sale the other day. I thought I'd order another jar of Berkley pink maggots. That is when I found out that Berkley makes BOTH Gulp maggots and Gulp Alive waxies. After trying to find out more info, their website says its the same flavor but the Gulp Alive is 20% stronger flavor. So, I ordered the Gulp Alive waxies. The website also said the waxies are more tender and soft but still hold on the hook. But they can be recharged with scent if put back into the bottle since the waxie formulation allows for it soak-up the scent. Anyway, maybe I'm the only one who didn't know this? But if you're looking for even heavier scent, then the Gulp Alive is the way to go.
Also: I've been buying bottles of the "recharge Gulp Alive" scent for years to keep my maggots, and now "waxies" soaking in plenty of fluid as well as dipping my jigs/squids into the scent. Finally, I compared the "maggots" I have to the new "waxies" and they are nearly the same size but the waxies are tapered like a true waxworm shape while the maggots look like little bratwurst sausages in shape.
Thanks Scott, I appreciate that run down I didn’t know and I’ve been getting frustrated with all my baits going bad on me… Do they rehydrate after they have dried and shrunken (maggots)? I have half a dozen bottles that are only partially used that keep drying out on me… I did find the gulp minnows in the bottle and if I can keep that from tipping over the juice lasts a little while, but I’m sure getting tired of those things costing a fortune and not lasting much better than night crawlers… Somewhere I found some tiny ice jig bodies less than 3/8" that has a tiny pointy tail and I’ve put them in the gulp minnow bottle&juice and got to say them little suckers really work on gills and crappie… Hope I can find some more of them, they catch fish as well as fresh bait through the ice and they last much longer… in fact since the ice season was so short I’ve been using them open water and catching bunches until lately when it’s slowed down… A while back did I see someone say they found bottles that actually sealed and kept all the juice from leaking out??? If so can someone remind me what they did??? Thanks J
Bob, I was speaking more of the minnows and other shapes, not waxies or maggots. Minnows and such run about a buck each, IIRC. I don’t mind the cost, but it’s annoying to put a rod down with Gulp on it and fish with something else for a while only to discover that when you pick up the first rod again, the Gulp product is toast.
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