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In a moment of fiscal irresponsibility, I bought a jar of Berkley Gulp! Earthworms, and then, when I opened the jar and saw what an ugly mess they had fobbed off on me, I put it on the shelf and it sat there for at least 6 months.
Then I watched one of the In'Fisherman fishing shows on TV and there was good ol' Doug Stange, pitching out those very same fake earthworms under a bobber and catching big trout.
"Well," says I, "Maybe if Mr. In'Fisherman himself is pushing the product, maybe I ought to give it a chance."
So I rigged up two identical rod/reel combos with slip bobbers and #6 aberdeen hooks, and did a side-by-side test. One rod had half of a real night crawler (about all the hook would hold), and one had the Gulp! earthworm. I fished them side by side for about 4 hours.
And, I'll be damned, they both caught fish, and they came out even. The fake worm didn't outfish the real Lumbricus Terrestris, but it didn't fall behind, either. They both caught numerous bass, a couple of big bluegills, two or three perch, and a couple of trout. I really can't say either one came out ahead.
I really didn't expect this stuff to work, but it did. It didn't beat the night crawler, but it came out the exact equal of a night crawler. I still can hardly believe it. I'll say one thing, if you think you might like to have live bait along for a backup, but you don't want to mess with buying and toting the worms, just keep a jar of these in the tackle box, and they will fill the bill.
W. E.
Note:
This is not a commercial, I have no connection with Berkley except for paying my own hard earned cash for their highly priced products.
Another note:
For the confused, these are not the Berkley plastic worms, they come in a jar and they look like they have been extruded from some powerbait-like material, although they are tougher than powerbait and don't smell like powerbait. (They don't smell any better, just different.)
Then I watched one of the In'Fisherman fishing shows on TV and there was good ol' Doug Stange, pitching out those very same fake earthworms under a bobber and catching big trout.
"Well," says I, "Maybe if Mr. In'Fisherman himself is pushing the product, maybe I ought to give it a chance."
So I rigged up two identical rod/reel combos with slip bobbers and #6 aberdeen hooks, and did a side-by-side test. One rod had half of a real night crawler (about all the hook would hold), and one had the Gulp! earthworm. I fished them side by side for about 4 hours.
And, I'll be damned, they both caught fish, and they came out even. The fake worm didn't outfish the real Lumbricus Terrestris, but it didn't fall behind, either. They both caught numerous bass, a couple of big bluegills, two or three perch, and a couple of trout. I really can't say either one came out ahead.
I really didn't expect this stuff to work, but it did. It didn't beat the night crawler, but it came out the exact equal of a night crawler. I still can hardly believe it. I'll say one thing, if you think you might like to have live bait along for a backup, but you don't want to mess with buying and toting the worms, just keep a jar of these in the tackle box, and they will fill the bill.
W. E.
Note:
This is not a commercial, I have no connection with Berkley except for paying my own hard earned cash for their highly priced products.
Another note:
For the confused, these are not the Berkley plastic worms, they come in a jar and they look like they have been extruded from some powerbait-like material, although they are tougher than powerbait and don't smell like powerbait. (They don't smell any better, just different.)