Saltwater anglers long ago accepted that the Berkley line of soft plastics known as Gulp and Gulp Alive are just about as close to live bait as they will ever be able to get without having to wait in the bait line before blasting off.
Does Gulp out-fish live bait? I’ll leave that for you to decide, but I have seen it too many times with my own eyes that fish that rely heavily on their sense of smell just can’t resist the scent and flavor.
That’s why I was excited to learn that Berkley is now offering a line of Gulp and Gulp Alive panfish baits for everything from crappie to bluegill and redear. If there’s one thing some folks get squeamish about when bream fishing, it’s threading a cricket or mealworm onto a hook.
This line of panfish baits includes a 1-inch Minnow, 1-inch Leech and 1-inch Fish Fry, but the one that’s going to get the most attention in a Trace State Park Lake bream bed is the 1-inch Cricket.
“Rig these baits on a size 6 Aberdeen hook below a slip bobber,” Gulp Product Manager Chris Pitsilos advised. “Make sure there is enough line between the bobber and hook to hover the bait just above the beds, and let the lifelike appearance and action along with the Gulp scent do the work.”
The great thing about the 1-inch Cricket is that it actually looks just like a real cricket complete with every correct anatomical feature.
Couple that with the fact that the Gulp Cricket can catch a bream and continue on to the next cast, and you’re going to find that this is a bait that catches just as many bream as the real thing without any left-over, unwanted crickets that can escape into every little nook and cranny of your boat.
“I love the Cricket because I don’t have to worry about them dying, listening to them chirp or finding a place to buy them,” said Dr. Keith Jones, one of the innovators who created the original PowerBait and Gulp. “Plus, they last longer and catch way more fish than live crickets.”
Jones says that he likes to fish the 1-inch Cricket on a light-wire hook with a split-shot weight about a foot above the hook. He casts it out and drags it over bream beds just like Ranger Jeff Rosamond’s recommended technique for fishing Trace State Park Lake.
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