Which bait do you think is best to tip your jigs and ice flys with while ice fishing, mealworms or waxworms and why?
I use waxworms and have never tried mealworms and I would like to know if I could improve my catch rate with mealworms.
Utahbill
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Hello Utahbill I prefer waxies over the mealworms. They seem to work better when the fish are finiky ,but thats not always the case I like to have both with me just incase.The mealworms seem to be more durable and you may catch multiple fish before rebaiting .Atleast this has been my experiance.
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ive had zero success with waxworms! i havent tried them a ton, but have put them on once in a while. mealies work great. i like to pull the head off of the mealie before sticking it on my hook. (makes that white stuff ooz out, and seems to help me get more bites)
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I usually like to go with both. Some days it seems that one will work better than the other. It's all about having options.
Some reservoirs are a little more particular. At Scofield waxies have worked better for me than mealies. Just the opposite at Strawberry (although I've had the best luck with minnows).
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I prefer waxies, but there have been times when mealies were the only thing they would touch.
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I use both. Because I ended up with so many waxies I have been fishing with two of them at a time, and often I have put on a meal worm hooked through the center so that it could wiggle and then adding one or two waxies to the same hook. So far the fish have voted for this combination.
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I also use both but don't forget to try chub or perch meat where it is legal to use.
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Take some of both and go with what the fish want. Ive done well on both.
That being said I have never been outfished by any of my partners who fish mealworms while I was fishing waxies. I go with waxies every time but take a cup of mealies if I have extra cash and never fret if I don't have mealworms.
Now with that said, there are too many other factors, skill level, lure choice, presentation method, attention level, fish activity, etc. to say one was "better" than the other. I take a variety of bait and feed the fish what they want. I hate trying to force feed fish what they don't want.
You may also want to remember to match your hook size to the bait. You'll have hooking problems trying to fish big mealies on a #20 hook.
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I normally use waxies or spikes for panfish. I have had limited success with meal worms for panfish but have done well with them for trout in the past. In Montana I have used them for crappies with a ice fly and done very well when the crappies were not biting on live minnows. At Mantua last year I used spikes more than waxies for both perch and blue gill and never got skunked up there.
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I use both some times one works and then the other will and on some lakes one works better and on another lake the other works better so take both...
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I've been using Waxies for over 40 years in several different states in the Midwest and out West and have always caught fish on them. Panfish, trout, bass, catfish, and walleye. I've also caught them on crawler pieces, meal worms, fish eyes, mousies etc. Alot depends on the conditions and the bite. [cool]
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It depends on what I'm fishing for but I always take meal, wax and nightcrawlers. For kokanee, I always use waxworms, for trout mealworms are usually better but nightcrawlers are a close second depending on the size of the fish I'm catching. When worse comes to worse, I'll brake down and use the dreaded power bait[unsure]. WH2
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[size 1]"When worse comes to worse, I'll brake down and use the dreaded power bait[unsure]."[/size]
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[size 1]Curt, welcome to the dark side.[
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Kent, I thought you would get a kick out of that[
]. It is usually my last choice but it's much better than getting skunked.
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Fishing with PowerBait vertically jigging is a whole different world than fishing with it by casting it. I usually only grab the bottle of PowerBait if fishing is slow, or if I have lots of fish doing a swim by but not biting. On those occasions, I will put a small ball of it on my jig instead of (or sometimes in addition to) the traditional bait. I have found that trout will often bite it when they show little interest in other bait. They get the PB off of the hook easier than other traditional baits, and as a result I often miss more fish (because often they don't come back multiple times after the bait is gone) on it than while fishing with other baits. Fish do not swallow the hook while vertically jigging with PB any more than they do any other traditional bait (it is rare for any fish to swallow the hook when I vertically jig). At times, it seems to get them into more of a feeding frenzy, and often times after using PB for awhile I will switch back to other baits and continue getting bites. Those who have ice fished with me know that I typically have four rods rigged (often already baited) and ready to go. I am frequently changing up the rigs and/or the bait.
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I'm sold on wax worms for success, but not for how they stay on the hook. If i'm using a small hook, I like a maggot (spike). I take everything just in case and switch up often. good luck
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Good point DPDenny, spikes are another bait I forgot to mention as is salmon eggs. I'm not sure why it is but I can't seem to find spikes anywhere but Cache county, anyone seen they anywhere else? WH2
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I've never bought spike locally, but I do have a friend who orders them from wisconson. I can get you his info if you'd like. he also has some great Ice flys. send me a pm
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S&Eds had them last year, but haven't been out there this year.
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Thanks for the info guys but I got all I'll needed for a while when I went up to Porcupine last week. They even have them in the local gas station there, so figure.[
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