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Berkely Gulp! Alive! on Rainy??


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Hello All, we're coming up to Rainy (Coppens), and am thinking of bringing the new Berkley Gulp! Alive! minnows and leeches. 1st, are they legal to bring to Canada, and 2nd, has anyone used this type of bait with any success??? Thanks in advance for all replies.....

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HI BREWMAN,

YEP GULP WORKS AWESOME, SOMEDAYS UFFDA PETE FISHES ONLY THAT. PLASTICS WORK WELL IN RAINY.

SINCERELY,

FISHMEISTER

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I hadn't even heard of the Gulp Alive until now so googled it and don't see why it wouldn't be legal in Canada. Like Fishmeister said I use a lot of plastics - from Berkley, Culprit, etc. My goal is to be bait free in 3 years and am pretty much there now for everything except walleyes.

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Haven't used alive yet, our rep is getting it for us here. All artificials are legal in Canada and work great too! I too want to be livebait free, but have been having trouble some days getting the 'eyes to hit plastics.

Take Care and Good Luck Fishing!

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Hey Lips,

Had a nice conversation with Uffda the otherday in regards to Gulp. I've fished Gulp for eyes off and on. I've found when there is a good bite going on I have decent success, but have found limited results when fishing a tougher bite such as you have when the fish are fattening up on hatches. My guess would be for pike and bass that they would definately work great. Certainly no secret the success you can have fishing pannies. I rigged a black smelt gulp with a 1/8 oz. black jig head the otherday on top of fish (I was determined to give it a fair shot) and could only get the eyes to peck at it. Felt as if they were probably bumping it with there nose. Caught a couple, but in all honesty was not nearly as effective for me as a jig tipped with live bait. With that being said fisherman know everyday presents a different bite. I'm personally not sure if I'm ready to cut into the amount of action on the water yet, but understand someday our hands may be forced to do just that. I have on rare occassions honestly felt some plastics were out perfoming live bait for the reasons including color selection and efficiency of fishing. In those cases I fished 4 inch pumpkin grubs which mind you were not scented. In regards to artificials in general as it seems to be on the forefront I have also had some success with black maribou jigs as light as the conditions will allow. The other thing I've definately noticed is that less pressured fish tend to snap artificals with more consistency. There is a obvious difference in BWCA eyes or Canada waters from my experience than Sand bay for example. When fishing BWCA waters I've fished many sorts of plastics with willing biters. In fact have often times been able to catch eyes on the ole dust collecters in my box also. Just my experience, but I strongly believe that fish become conditioned, and that is why often times odd color combo's in all artificials often lead to some success for a period of time. I am hoping to put an article together in regards to conditioned/pressured fish vs. remote fish in an upcoming article in the Outdoor News.

Good Fishing guys! I'm interested in others take on this also!

RD

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I used the new gulp! alive when I was up in June. I used the leeches and they were great! The action on the Alive leeches is as good as a real leech. I used them mainly with a 1/4 or 1/8 oz. jighead fished slow and did well on walleyes. got some nice ones too! I used them lindy rigging with ok results. Just like regular gulp,you can get 5,6 or even 8 fish per one leech. I think when I was there, a finesse aproach was the ticket. One thing, the gulp alive is more expensive than regular gulp (about $20.00 per bag). You do get more in one bag,it's sold by weight not 5 or 6 to a bag. Hope this helps a little.

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Quote:

My goal is to be bait free in 3 years and am pretty much there now for everything except walleyes.


Uffda,

I'm wondering why your goal is to be bait free?? Is it lack of hassle with keeping bait alive or more bang for your buck? I have not used plastics yet for anything, but I use a lot of plugs and cranks on the Canadian side for walleyes and smallies. The only time I personally see using plastics instead of bait is fishing lindys on reefs, and crawlers can be bought in bulk and are so easy to keep alive I just can't see not using them when they're legal.

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I think its the added challenge, that's why I am doing it. So I started switching up to plastics to see how it goes.

F&F, I figured you'd be out fishing today! I am gonna head back up north for some slabs and big pike after I get off work.

Take Care and Good Luck Fishing!

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FF - for a few reasons: the hassle of stopping to buy bait and then impulsively spending another $10 on stuff I don't need; not knowing if crawlers, leeches, fatheads, shiners, rainbows will work best (already have those imitations and more in artificials) and keeping whatever it is alive; trying to figure out when to set the hook on a Lindy rig on any given day - do you need to let them have it for 1 second or 10, take them immediately, etc drives me nuts (it's a short trip for me); plastics usually work as well for me as live bait and sometimes better; I already have about a 5 year supply of plastics and cranks, and have a lot learn about using cranks.

Bottom line - I just find it simpler.

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Good enough! I hear you on the hassle of bait and everything that goes with it, that's why I turning into a plug man more and more. I will have to get with it and give these gulp things a try, they would be a good idea on the Queen's side of the lake especially.

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