‘Yuck factor’ can be considered, but it’s a fact of life
Live bait is a necessary evil of bream fishing, especially in the spring when bluegill are on the beds.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, there’s a legion of fly fishermen who say casting a fly is the way to go. Go in peace brother, this story ain’t about art; it’s about putting fish in the frying pan.
For most fishermen, it’s either crickets or a live wiggler — redworm, nightcrawler, catalpa or meal worm. The cricket vs. worm argument is an old one, and not one that will be argued here today … well maybe a little.
They both have their advantages, and their disadvantages. Crickets are cheaper than worms, and they have less of the “yuck” factor. But, worms can’t jump, and if they escape their container, they are slow to make their getaway. If one or two get away, they simply die, dry up and that’s that, as yucky as it is.
Crickets will live in the boat in the garage and chirp all night until they … heck, they never shut up. And there’s this:
There are two kinds of cricket fishermen, those who have had a cricket jump in their mouths or down their shirts, and those who will have one jump in their mouths or down their shirts. It’s even worse if the wife is involved, and in a soon-to-be-turned-over boat. That said, a cricket in the mouth still beats worm guts on the hands, shirts, pants, the boat, the ice chest, sandwiches.
It’s true that when the bream aren’t bedding and are scattered across the bottom in deeper areas of the lake, worms are indeed the best bet. They just work better when bream are feeding by sense of smell.
When either will do, crickets are my choice. But what if a third option, say an artificial scent-impregnated cricket, is available?
Real vs. fake test
Last summer, among the product samples to cross my desk was a jar of soft-plastic crickets. Came from Berkley as one of the latest in their successful line of Gulp! baits, an array of lures that have natural scent and — I am guessing here — taste.
The literature suggested that the combination of the natural attractants and soft plastic (therefore, longer lasting) made them as good as or a better choice than the real thing.
Could it be true? Crickets that (1) couldn’t jump out of my hand and land God only knows where, (2) didn’t leave cricket guts on my fingers and (3) didn’t have to be changed after every bite?
I had to know. I called my ol’ buddy Lil’ Joe Watts who lives on a lake north of Canton that is well known for its big bream. We make a trip or two every spring to a few of the beds he’s located and I leave with an ice box full of slabs.
“Next spring, Joe, we gotta try these fake crickets,” I told him. “A true test, that’s what we’ll do.” … and it wasn’t even close.
Test day came the day after the full moon in May. Joe had found two loaded bream beds. I arrived with 100 crickets, $4 worth, and the jar of Gulp! crickets, which were free from the source. We fixed up identical tackle: rods, reels, 4-pound line, split-shot weights and hooks.
We set our identical bobbers at precisely the same depths. We both put on real crickets and, Bam!, both hooked up with big bluegills on first drop. Then I switched to the fake crickets.
We put our lines in again, and Bam!, both hooked up with two more for the ice chest. As he dug another cricket out, I simply adjusted my fake one and was right back in the water. A few seconds later, he plopped another live cricket about two feet from my fake one. His cork never stopped, and he quickly reeled in a fish.
I reeled up and checked my faux cricket, which looked fine, and I pitched it back in the middle of the bed. My cork bobbled once and I set the hook — nothing. Joe put on a live cricket, pitched his in and within seconds was reeling in another fish. This he did two more times before my fake one caught another fish.
“Maybe you should take that one off, put it in the jar of fluid and get a fresh one,” Joe said. I did, and, Joe still caught three more fish before I caught one.
So much for scientific experimentation.
Results in: I’m not stupid
When there are big bluegill to be caught, cleaned and fried to an unbelievably crispy taste, there was not time to waste.
I switched to real crickets and quickly began putting fish on ice. The experiment resumed an hour later, on a second bed, and with similar results. Our day ended with 50 fish on ice, 44 of which came on real crickets and six on fake. It should be noted that we fished 90 minutes with real crickets and only about 15 with fake.
I am smart enough to know there is no substitute for Mother Nature’s original crickets.
The soft plastic Gulp! crickets, which look more like roaches, will catch fish, but not as fast, at least that day, as real ones. But, they have their place. You can keep them handy in a boat to have if you ever stumble on a bream bed with no live bait.
As for the Yuck! factor … Some of the Gulp juice in the jar spilled in the pocket of my rain suit jacket. I have washed it twice.
I still can’t wear it in public.
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