Gulp! ?

[hookup]

Nice fish Hawn ... I would have called it a striper.

AF - them big cats on UL are the bomb. I call them bonus fish when targeting other species, but nothing like landing a hog on UL

 

[Lost Pole]

I like gulp shrimp for salt. Never tried any of their products for fresh water but once I believe.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Hawnjigs]

Dang LP, that is one GORGEOUS redfish! Was it a keeper?
Indeed, no need to squander on expensive Gulp! if ties are reasonably effective.

Have only caught a few small stripers in CA tho a fair amount of white bass here, and can say that hybrid vigor is noticeably demonstrated comparing the fight of a wiper with the 2 parent species.

 

[Hawnjigs]

With a seasonal dead shoreline bite on the Mac, drove 200 mile RT south to Swanson Res, not counting the extra 50 when a wrong turn ended up in Holyoke, Colorado - endless corn fields roads of rural Nebraska all look the same.

My kind of spot - no trails down the high jumbled boulder dam face and most boats out in deeper water chasing big catfish which is the preferred opportunity in 5,000 ac Swanson. Couldn't locate any crappie holds so made do with small but fun wipers and 3 decent kitties. Tried tied jigs and a crank, but all preferred the same 3" Gulp minnow. Best cat was over 2' and best wiper broke off on what appeared to be a leader rub.

 

[PanfishHunter]

I have used gulp! products mainly for panfish. I've had success on their 1 1/2 inch minnows, and their pink maggots.

My biggest carp to date has been on the 1.5 inch minnow on a small jighead. i think they work decently.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Do you think Gulp! worked better than tied jigs for those applications? How big was the carp?

 

[PanfishHunter]

They definitely did work better than tied jigs, and in some instances they even worked better than live redworms.

The carp was around 12 pounds. Put a heck of a bend on my ultralight!

 

[joe]

Just a thought ... Have you tested it out against a regular plastisol minnow ??

Yeah, in the past because I don't make or fish with plastisol anymore. I bounced between Flukes (4") and SuperFlukes (5") and found the softer plastisols to be far superior. Hand pours of LC536/salt were vastly more effective in any form.

Never been impressed with the Berkeley claims about any miracle attractants and GULP! was no different in any form. For lure crafting material, the characteristics of flexibility and vibration are nothing like plastisol and it makes a difference in the effectiveness. Know how to work plastics, GULP! will not impress most of the time.

The GULP! corn sucked for carp and absurdly more expensive than even DelMonte. The maggots and red worms were forgettable. Only reason I even tried any of it was for a convenient carry along for Redhorse and other species, something that could stay in the bag and not rot.

Does catch some fish, but nothing which couldn't be outdone by any other options in the box. It's a neat idea and one they have yet to really pull-off despite decades of exaggerated claims. They may refine and improve this line of products in the future, who knows. Thus far, Berkeley seems to view every angling generation through the eyes of P.T. Barnum (got me a few times).

 

[Fatman]

Gave my nephew the Gulp I tried. Nice fish guys!!!

 

[Hawnjigs]

Fatman, sounds like you weren't impressed with Gulp! - what version failed your expectations?

Indeed Berkley hypes buyers - "400x more scent dispersion"(measured how and compared to what?) and "outfishes all other bait" (nope, guys with live baitfish will outfish my Gulp! Minnows EVERY time). That being said tho, I still consider my lesser share of catches satisfactory enuf to keep using them, particularly 2-1/2" and 3" Minnows. Color doesn't seem to matter much, I have caught on Smelt, White Pearl, Chartreuse Shad, and Pink Shine - I think the common denominator attraction might be the pearl sheen inherent in all 4 colors. Because the Minnow seems best presented as a twitch/jerk bait, the stiffer material is not an impediment, in fact I noticed no decrease in bites after the skinny jiggle tail got bit off leaving an even stiffer action stub.

Bottom line for me is that Gulp! is a reasonably effective option to tied jigs since I too no longer use plastisol baits and avoid natural baits unless very, very desperate when nothing else works.

 

[joe]

Hey, what doesn't work well in one place may very well be the thing to throw in another water or other species. Uncle Josh rind is getting kinda hard to find on shelves anymore, so every now and then I see a point at spending and experimenting.

Although I give it a D- as a bait attractant, some of these forms might make a darn good substitute for an Uncle Josh #11. Just for the effect on fall rate and a bit of flappiness for a trailer. Pork is getting rare on shelves, chamois and leathers have a great action, but not so much effect on slowing the fall.

Hawnjigs, I know what you mean about plastisol alternatives or lack thereof. Never realized how much casting weight that dense vinyl adds to the mix without the effects of such fast sinkrates, either. Ditching plastics requires a lot of rethinking and, at times, a bit of humble pie. I'm still getting used to it and it's been years.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Used to be a 100% plastics jigger, then switched to mostly ties with the help of JiggerJohn whose jigs just plain outfished plastics for the species I was targeting around 5 years ago.

For recent favorite wiper, Gulp! Minnows seem to be seasonally more effective than ties, meaning I only tried Gulp! when the lure bite died & only baiters were getting any. Also, maybe wishful thinking, but I like the Gulp! "biodegrade-able" claim.

Observing others, a favorite lure/bait is often what one pre-decides and sticks with. Like after getting a few nice wiper with Gulp!, kept flinging for other species with decent results. Don't think I'll ever try pork rinds, but, never say never...

 

[Hawnjigs]

JiggerJohn has been reporting Gulp! the most effective tool on his Outer Banks pier vacation. Apparently, the pier regulars crew might have been on the verge of tar & feathering them out of town after he and son Sean pulled up HUNDREDS of sea trout and bluefish much to the chagrin of the locals. Details to follow after he recovers from his exhausting ordeal.

 

[joe]

Funny, the saltwater angler's seem to have much greater success with it than the freshwater. When it first came out, the sandworm critter was a big hit with the salty crew.

It'll be interesting to see how JiggerJohn has been using it.

 

[jiggerjohn]

Actually my Gulp use recently is all Hawnjigs fault - he has been doing so well in tough lakes& streams in NE,that I FINALLY began to experiment ,using it on,mostly, his amazing HU jighead. Before our OBX trip I tested it on local freshwater lakes,which were "fished out" -got big bluegill, crappie,bass, and holdover trout! So my 33 year old son,Sean, and I started with this tipping from our first day on at the famous Jeannette's pier in Nagshead, NC. Right away, sea trout jumped all over our home tied "woolies" ( mine on a HU head, Sean's on his 1/28 oz Hawnjigs roundhead with no 6 hook). We used the Gulp 2 1'2" minnow that first evening, estimating WELL over 100 fish in calm conditions after dark. After that we found a bit more wind and chop down from the high pier, so put a bit of weight just upline from the same jigs, doing just as well in morning& evening shifts. What seemed funny about our success was that all the regulars and most visitors daily hauled out huge carts or buggies,carrying 4-8 9 foot "whale rods",tons of tackle, 3-8 oz sinkers, huge coolers, bait, etc, while we just brought out our freshwater 5' Charlie Brewer rods, 6# tectan line, and a small satchel of home made jigs & Gulp packages! (sometimes just the rod, with the jigs & tippings in our pockets ,so we could move around more efficiently and locate the roaming trout.) As the week went on, we discovered that the gulp 3" mullet was even more productive than our minnow tail tippings (yep, I'll be testing smaller versions of these gulp twisters in home lakes for the rest of Fall season!). Virtually all we had to do was cast out,wait for the jigs to drop a bit, then commence a slight twitching on a slow steady retrieve, allowing frequent drops. The ocean current allowed our jigs to drift in the current & wind while dropping,where we most often got pickups. With our small, sharp hooks, the setting was merely a tightening -whereas the regulars did max "eye crossing" sets to try to pound in their huge stainless hooks. Still with wind & current,bow in line, and distance down from the pier to ocean, we didn't nail em all, but it was always a fun challenge to reel up the entire real weight of thrashing trout and blues through the open air up to the pier (Sean actually developed a callous on his finger from reeling up so many!). After a bit, all eyes would be on us as we entered the pier, but those that tried to mimic our jigging only had the locally sold 1/2 oz jigs and giant 6" twister tails, so had little hope of success. We went through maybe 6-8 entire packs of Gulp (those bluefish with their ripping teeth sure didn't help!) over the week, and got, a very conservative estimate, over 400 nice fighting fish (nothing huge, but we had a blast -like our freshwater rainbow trout jigging, but this ocean variety is wilder& more wacky!!). By the way, if we wanted bottom fish like mullet, flounder, or blowfish we simply had to be more patient with the same jigs and allow them to reach bottom (wasn't all that deep off the pier), then use a slow drag & pause -detecting any twitch and we had em, as they usually took Gulp enhanced jigs in deep!

 

[hookup]

JJ

Do you think using your

5' Charlie Brewer rods, 6# tectan line, and a small satchel of home made jigs

instead of the

4-8 9 foot "whale rods",tons of tackle, 3-8 oz sinkers

might have had anything to do with

very conservative estimate, over 400 nice fighting fish

?

I do ;-)

 

[jiggerjohn]

Hookup, Yep, the small Slider rods gave us great feel & jigging control. Some would say that a light (yet with guts) 5' rod would not give casting distance for the ocean, yet our Charlie Brewer models and thin Tectan line gave us casting distance from the pier and in the surf superior to what the "bait and Eight" (8 oz sinkers!!) guys were clumsily trying to heave! Also I had a 'secret weapon" in that our own Lady Rod Builder had made a rattlesnake skin handle (beautiful!) for me to install on a Brewer rod for my grandson's Christmas present last year. Little Dra (10 yrs old) couldn't take off a whole week from school (despite his considerable lobbying!!) so I "borrowed" the outfit and discovered the snakeskin gripped my hand much better for control,after handling oily ocean fish, to maintain proper working of a petite jig. We'd planned to take trout and flounder in the 10-18" range, so saw no need to go with heavier outfits than we use in freshwater. Most salt guys,it seems, plan for the occaisional sea monster, and miss most of the really fun action!! Oh, I did sting one really big fish last Friday morning, but finally controlled his slow powerful run and had him coming my way until the hook pulled out - you could say my little rod actually gave me TOO MUCH power !!

 

[Hawnjigs]

Hey JJ2, didn't yah mention that you also tried straight jigs without Gulp! tippings to compare?

 

[jiggerjohn]

Hawnjigs, Yep, I fished the jigs with just the wool,satin, and flash , original tie when "degulped" by those wicked bluefish, but couldn't draw a follow-up bite! Also figured to save some money on expensive gulp tail by replacing with ordinary soft plastic tails -they'd rarely grab them either! However, we did experience that,though a naked jig -just an ultra flashy bare tin HU head alone with a gulp tail (either minnow or twister)- was taken eagerly, a dressed woolie tied with extra flash material brought the fish to the apparently tasty gulp even faster! It could well have been that the scent/taste of gulp had the fast striking trout & blues holding on just a bit longer,so that we could actually FEEL them on for the set?!

 

[hookup]

I've seen the snake skin handles at mudhole ... haven't built with them yet.

I usually fish w/ a TN handle rod that the reel's taped on. I found a product called RodWrap not only holds the reel on, but also when its wet & slimy doesn't slip in the hand.