Is Live Bait Obsolete?
BY DARRELL TAYLOR
Living on Lake of the Ozarks in south central Missouri offers the advantage of immediate accessibility to fishable water and the opportunity to test new products on a timely basis.
Such was the case last year with Berkley’s new Gulp Alive, when I dropped a jig tipped with a Gulp Alive minnow alongside our dock. Before it reached the bottom a feisty crappie attacked it. On the second drop, a hungry eight-inch bluegill engulfed the jig. This process continued for the next 12 drops, failing to catch a fish on only two of the drops.
For 20 minutes, bluegill, catfish, crappie, white and Kentucky bass fell for the Gulp Alive minnow. The only keeper-sized fish were bluegill because the water around our dock isn’t deep enough for larger fish. In spite of the small fish, the catch rate was impressive.
It was about 9 p.m., and our submersible dusk to dawn light was working its magic. Flying bugs were landing in the water, which attracted small minnows. As the minnows scurried around chasing bugs, they attracted fish that preyed on them. It was the predator/prey relationship on display to perfection.
Our youngest daughter and her boys were fascinated by the fracas.
The author with two bass he caught on Berkley Power Worms. Photo by Karen Zarky.
They could have spent all night, watching and fishing. “Dad, this underwater light is the best Christmas present you ever got,” said Erin. It is an education in piscatorial behavior to watch how fish bite a jig, minnow or nightcrawler; and to analyze their reaction to live and artificial baits.
After my early success with Gulp Alive, I began to question whether live bait was obsolete. After all, I experienced remarkable results with those imitation minnows.
The Gulp Alive imitation minnows, a new product from Berkley last year, are packed in a small bucket of proprietary liquid. If a minnow or another Gulp product dries and hardens, just place it in the liquid and it will become soft again. But Berkley isn’t the only manufacturer with edible imitations of live bait.
Catfish bait is the king of imitations. Search on “catfish bait” on the Internet and you can read about baits for an hour or more. Often they have semi-glamorous names like Crave Gravy, Magic Catfish Bait, Redneck Catfish Bait Soap, Smelly Jelly, or, and I’m not making this one up, Jabon Zote Rosa Pink Laundry Soap Bar And Catfish Bait.
Some of the catfish baits are referred to fondly as “stink bait,” and for good reason. Upon opening the jar, their odor could melt the tar off a roof. I suppose it would make some sense to use the smelly stuff first and follow up with the aforementioned Pink Laundry Soap.
But catfish aren’t the only species that garner the attention of soft imitation edibles or live bait. Largemouth bass are the number one target with such products as Uncle Josh Pork Rinds. These little gems have been catching fish since the 1950s and are a wonderful use for pigskin that that is too inferior for use in footballs.
Some other manufacturers of soft imitation edibles include Atlas Mike, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Chompers, FoodSource, Snagproof, Yum and Zoom. Chompers, Snagproof and Zoom specialize in soft plastic products primarily for black bass. Atlas Mike’s imitation salmon eggs are geared for trout and salmon anglers. And, Bass Pro Shops has soft plastic products that run the gamut, from bluegill to walleye.
But two of the manufacturers, Berkley and FoodSource, have products that not only imitate something alive, but they are biodegradable. According to Berkley, Gulp Alive is made of biodegradable natural ingredients that totally dissolve in nine months or less. It contains no plastic and the scent and flavor are released faster than oil-based plastic baits.
Information from FoodSource states their products are also biodegradable and made from real food that has FDA approved food preservatives. Both Berkley and FoodSource offer a variety of fake critters from worms to leeches, plus chunks for carp and catfish.
After catching a few fish, they seemed to become wary of any presentation, be it worms, minnows or jigs tipped with a variety of soft plastics. This is especially disconcerting since the whole process was so clearly visible.
The question is, if this happens when the fish are aggressively feeding, how often do they ignore a lure in less active situations? And, the next question is, what did my “field research” prove?
My analysis was that critter imitations embedded with food or scent, generally worked better than ordinary plastics. For the brief period minnows lived in the very warm lake water, they caught about as many fish as artificial baits. However, one Gulp Alive minnow could be used repeatedly for 30 minutes whereas minnows were useless after catching one fish. And, while live nightcrawlers proved hard to beat, Berkley’s Gulp Mini-Earthworm ran a close second.
No, live bait isn’t obsolete, but the bait manufacturers are working on it.