Gulp Maggots vs Waxies vs Crawler Hunks

Yesterday (Wed 9/20) was so beautiful I decided to go fishing with the intent of testing various baits on panfish. First stop was Hooked On Fishing to get some waxies. I also asked Mike S if he wanted to hop in the boat as I was alone this time and could have used another person to help with the grueling test. Mike had to work, so I had to do this dreadfully tough job by myself.

Locating schools active panfish only took a few minutes so I started with an almost vertical presentation and switched baits every 10 minutes using just a small long shank hook and waxie, then Gulp Maggots 400X Scent (looks similar to a waxie), and a piece of crawler. All baits worked well but the waxie was the best by a small margin – unfortunately, most the fish were on the smaller side, but I was able to catch them non-stop. I had a hard time keeping the Gulp on the hook.

I then switched to a tiny jig and plastic, tipping it with the three different baits. Regardless of the bait used the fish were nibblers that day and kept biting the plastic tails off, or stealing the bait. So I stopped using a jig.

To target larger fish, I put the plastic on a long shank hook with a small 1/64 oz split shot about ¼” in front of the hook (almost looked like a jig). I again tipped it with the three different baits, giving each presentation about 10 minutes of test time before switching. This presentation was by far the best on this day as I could easily hook up with the nibblers, yet the small split shot kept the active fish from swallowing the hook (I could release them without injury). The added bulk of the plastic did trigger larger fish into biting. Here the crawler and waxie preformed better than Gulp. The main reason being that the Gulp would easily come off the hook with those nasty nibblers – they kept stealing the Gulp. Although the waxie did produce more strikes, a piece of crawler stayed on the hook the best so it tied with the waxie bait.

Using a plain non-tipped plastic on a jig, or plastic on a hook, did get fish but not as many as when tipping with any of the three baits.

Summary: If Berkley could toughen up their Gulp Maggots so they would not come off the hook so easily, it could be a winner. But on this 70-fish “nibbler” day the waxie and crawler hunks caught more fish simply because they stayed on the hook better.

Dave Gulczinski

Funny. I tried a similar experiment last Friday with Waxies and Gulp (no nightcrawler). I found that the fish didn’t swallow Gulp like a regular waxie, thus I missed a lot of fish. The good news was that the fish still hit it and I did catch some on it. I am still not sold on the stuff, but it will take a few more trips to decide.

Thanks for sharing your insights

Mr Twister.

I’ve done this same test on quite a few panfish trips.
Hands down, I’ll take the live bait. Not that we didn’t catch fish on the Gulp, just not nearly as many as on live bait.
Where we especially noticed the difference, was on days when the fish were not biting very good. On those days, Gulp couldn’t hardly even catch a fish.

JWB

Gulp. I’ve had great luck with the Mini-Mite jig [plastic and jig] tipped with a waxie. Very nice comparision Dave, Thanks for taking the time to do it.
Thanks, Bill

I’ve also done extensive testing in this arena. I also don’t mess with the crawlers much, but I have added the Berkley Power Bait Micro Power Wiggler. Also note that most of my testing as atop hard water.

I’m going to keep this discussion between live waxies and Berkley fake waxies (Gulp and PB). Lots of variables to think about here, and it all depends on the mood of the fish, but generally speaking here is what I’ve found.

Gulp:
I use the gulp maggots (jarred) in the pink and white colors. I’m not a huge fan of these, but I bring them along as a backup solution when the live waxies run out. One thing I would note, is that sometimes when your on a pod of fish and the bite slows on live bait, you can drop one of these down there and the bite is back on (sometimes replaces changing your lure). I’ve found the pink to work better at night and the white to work better during the day. I honestly haven’t experienced many problems with these being pulled off the hook. I believe they stay on better than the live waxies.

PB:
I’ve got the white ones and I occasionally throw them on with a jigging spoon when the bite is hot. They stay on the hook very well and it’s not uncommon to catch several fish without loosing the wiggler. One time we were smoking the perch on minnow heads. My wife was along and I was continuously baiting her hook as she was catching them as fast as she could get her line down. I said heck with that and put on a few PB wigglers and she continued to smack the fish and she caught the biggest fish of the day off that PB. I like this stuff, but I’ve found it to work best on a moving lure (one that is continuously jigged) as opposed to one just sitting under a bobber.

Waxies:
My favorite. Clean, and easy to keep alive.

Eurolarvae (spikes):
I use when the bite is super tough, but they can be a pain to keep alive for a long while. I have done a little experimenting with colors, but white and red are my favorites. Again, the red seems to work better at night.

Mousies:
I haven’t used these much, but my buddy has brought them along a few times. My limited experience has showed waxies to out-produce these (or at least be equally as good).

I’ve done lots of experimenting with jigging spoons where I’ll hook one live waxies on the treble and then one PB or Gulp. I have done that often with lots of success; however I have found when I get a bite and miss the fish, that the live waxie is usually gone.

Tue 9/26

Hey Tyler thanks for the info. I don’t do the hard water thing but I could relate what you were saying.

Today we went out for another test – this time my partner used a plain hook and either a waxie or crawler hunk. I used various plastics (think of a Mini Mite or similar profile) tipped with either a waxie or crawler hunk. We slow trolled until the fish finder lit up with a school of fish and then did a slow vertical lift/fall presentation. All presentations did very well on these active fish but it was interesting that one school of fish would much prefer my offering over my partners, and then the next school of fish would much prefer my partners offering. Also, in the morning the plain hook & bait was best, but in the afternoon the fish preferred the bigger tipped plastic offerings.

I guess this is why we can justify a few tons of tackle and a bunch of bait. Also this testing is a good excuse to spend large amounts of time on the water.

Dave Gulczinski

PS: I went fishing Sunday at Pool 4 for walleyes and only got one sheepshead (although my partner did get an 18″ eye) I think I will stick with these active panfish a while longer.