|
The Economical Approach to Using Live Bait
by: Troy "Mr.Bluegill" Peterson
How many times have you forgotten to get bait on the way to your fishing
destination? Or, how many times have you gone to buy bait but the bait
you wanted was either gone or dead? A simple solution that will save you
money, time and frustration is buying bait in bulk and keeping it
yourself. For about the same price as three containers of waxies (72
waxworms), you can get approximately five hundred shipped to your door
on a days notice. If you like using maggots, the deal is even better.
One thousand spikes can be shipped for about the same price as four or
five thirty-six count containers. The savings throughout the year can be
enough to fill the fuel tank once or twice if you add it up.
Waxworms, A Year Round Panfish Treat
Waxworms are probably the most versatile bait for panfishing. Most guys
think that they are only available and used during the ice fishing
season. What they don’t realize is that waxworms are available all year
and can be very effective in open water situations. Fishing with
waxworms can get a little pricey because of how fragile the bait is. On
an average day I can go through three of four dozen waxworms in only a
few hours. If I were not buying them in bulk quantities, I would go
broke. At an average price of two dollars and seventy five cents per two
dozen, in a weekend’s time I would spend twenty dollars on waxworms
alone if the fish were biting. It only took me a couple of weekends to
figure out I was wasting a lot of money on bait by purchasing individual
containers at the local bait shop. It was then that I placed my first
order through Vados Bait Express out of Minnesota.
Vados offers a full line of live bait all year long. They carry the
freshest leeches, waxworms, giant nightcrawlers, crickets, Eurolarvae,
red worms, meal worms, mousies, and freshwater shrimp. They guarantee
the bait to arrive on your doorstep just as fresh as it was when it left
the store. When your bait arrives you will notice that it is packed in
an insulated foam cooler to prevent your bait from either freezing or
roasting depending on the time of year. In Wisconsin, if I order my bait
on a Monday, it is usually on my door step by Tuesday morning in time to
have it for the afternoon bite. Over the past couple of years, I have
ordered pounds and pounds of leeches, many flats of crawlers, buckets of
waxworms, and thousands of Eurolarvae all with no problems and
outstanding service.
Once I get my bait, it is very easy to store and use for at least two or
three months. The biggest mistake that people make while storing
waxworms is putting them in the refrigerator. The fridge is too cold for
waxworms and will eventually kill them in a very short time. The perfect
temperature to keep the waxworms at is around forty to forty-three
degrees. At this temperature the waxworms should live a few months if
you don’t use them all before then. A corner in your basement is usually
a good place to keep the waxies during the cooler months. The cool air
off the basement floor and wall is just the right temperature to
maintain the integrity of the worms. Another place is along the top of
your basement wall behind the insulation. If you keep your bait in
either of these two places during the winter months, you should have no
problems with bait loss. One key point while storing your bait is to
make sure you remove all the dead worms and never mix the bait you used
with the bait that has not been touched yet. I like to put enough for
the day into a separate container like the Lindy Grub Getter which fits
nice in my pocket. After the day is done, I will add more bait to Grub
Getter if need be but never dump the unused bait into the fresh tubs
where the bulk bait is stored. If you follow those simple rules for
waxworms, you will save a ton of money and never have to worry about
finding fresh bait when you need it.
Eurolarvae, A Rainbow of Colored Live Bait
 Eurolarvae
– colored maggots – are probably the easiest bait to keep alive for many
months. The most important factor to keeping the maggots alive is
temperature. If you can keep you refrigerator at thirty-two to
thirty-three degrees the maggots will stay dormant and keep for a long,
long time. It is best to keep them in ventilated containers with dry
sawdust. Every once in a while you may have to change the sawdust and
remove the dead ones to keep the bait fresh and dry. Vados has a riddler
that looks almost like a coffee filter which separates the dead spikes
from the live ones. The live spikes crawl through the holes while the
dead ones lay on top making it very easy to get rid of the bad bait.
When you take some out to use, NEVER put them back into the bulk
container. When maggots get warm they get real active and if kept warm
for a day or two will start the process of transforming into large black
flies that have a tendency to drive my dog crazy. Make sure you have all
the bait out of your pockets at the end of the day. If not, you may have
some flying friends buzzing around your living room.
One of the easiest ways to save some money and time when purchasing bait
is to buy it in bulk. Practice and a little trial and error will have
you keeping bait alive and fresh for months on end. You will always have
bait when you need it and the quality is controlled by you and not some
guy at the gas station. Less time looking for bait and less money being
spent on bait means more time and money to spend fishing!! Vados Bait
Express can be reached by calling their toll free number at 866-584-FISH
or visit them on the web at
http://www.vadosbait.com
Good Ice'n
Mr.Bluegill
|
