Gunter Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I've only fished SPs for just under a year. Started off well with a few flatties, caught with Atomic Plazos that came as a free sample with a fishing mag. Then distaster struck: I started buying Gulps, collecting all sorts of patterns and keeping them all in a nice jar with the Gulp Alive juice. As the weeks and months (admittedly mostly winter) passed by without catching anything worthwhile, I blamed myself, the season, etc for the lack of success not the Gulps - after all, most SP fishos swear by them don't they? Then all the nuisances began to pile up: leaking juice stinking out my car and my tackle bag, grubs and minnows that don't swim properly however carefully you thread them onto the jighead, poor action even when they don't rotate around their own axis, and to cap it all, most of them returning after five minutes with their tails savaged by the toadies (I'm landbased). The final straw was this week when I had my long-anticipated fishing break at beautiful Lake Durras. After successive donuts from Sunday to Thursday (other than the odd toad), more Gulp juice leakages, and non-performing pseudo-plastics, I decided last night that I was going to leave the Gulps alone today and instead take only the long-ignored odd bags of Squidgies sitting unused in my tackle box. Just putting them on the jighead was a pleasure. Quick test swim: beautiful action (they were Evil Minnow wrigglers). Twenty minutes later, two legal flatties. No pickers (except when I tried pasting some of the S-factor on later). I rest my case, no more Gulps for me: I've just chucked all the remaining ones in the bin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjc123 Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 (edited) Tend to agree in a way... I'm a fan of the Gulp Jerkshads "usually" but mostly find myself using squidgies and Z-Man plastics... Just find they catch more fish! Although the other day i pulled out a pack of 5" jerkshads that had been opened around 2 months ago but never really used and packet was kept sealed... Put one on the jig head, then cast out. After a few flicks the plastic didnt feel right... So i wound it in a the jighead was connected by a thread. The whole top of the jerkshad was ripped... This happened with the next one as well so threw them out.. Don;t know if they were just a faulty pack or if they normally do that... I catch way more fish on Z-Mans anyway so I'll stick to them for now! Cheers, Tom Edited October 26, 2012 by mack attack 79 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adkel53 Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I've gone a little the other way! After swearing by 80mm Squidgy fish in the blackgold colour for lizards (the 70mm Grasshopper coloured ones in the pro range are a close second, tied with 70mm shads in black opal) I've recently been using 5" Gulp Crazylegs in the lime tiger colour to good effect. Sometimes I cut them down to 3 or 4" in size, especially when the front becomes damaged. They still work just as well. Can only buy them in the large containers that have about 15 in them and lots of juice. Also had success on the 5" jerkshads in the same colour and in nuclear chicken. A mate swears by Gulp shrimps in the banana prawn colour - both 2" and 3" models. He has landed some ripper lizards on them. When not in use you MUST return gulps to the juice or keep them in water so that they don't dry out. As for juice leakage, I found a container made by Plano that has a rubber O ring seal. Absolutely no leakage. I have two of them and transfer all my Gulps to them along with the juice that comes in those larger bulk containers. Have not tried the Z-Man plastics. What sizes, shapes and colours do you suggest I spend my hard earned on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjc123 Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 I've gone a little the other way! After swearing by 80mm Squidgy fish in the blackgold colour for lizards (the 70mm Grasshopper coloured ones in the pro range are a close second, tied with 70mm shads in black opal) I've recently been using 5" Gulp Crazylegs in the lime tiger colour to good effect. Sometimes I cut them down to 3 or 4" in size, especially when the front becomes damaged. They still work just as well. Can only buy them in the large containers that have about 15 in them and lots of juice. Also had success on the 5" jerkshads in the same colour and in nuclear chicken. A mate swears by Gulp shrimps in the banana prawn colour - both 2" and 3" models. He has landed some ripper lizards on them. When not in use you MUST return gulps to the juice or keep them in water so that they don't dry out. As for juice leakage, I found a container made by Plano that has a rubber O ring seal. Absolutely no leakage. I have two of them and transfer all my Gulps to them along with the juice that comes in those larger bulk containers. Have not tried the Z-Man plastics. What sizes, shapes and colours do you suggest I spend my hard earned on? Hi mate, Z-Man cover pretty much anything. The three main models i use are; The 2.5" Grubz, The 3" Minnowz and the 4" Swimmerz... The Grubz are dynamite on bream, flathead, whiting, tailor and even a few school jew are caught on them. Just fish them like a normal grub or wriggler and you'll catch fish! I find the best colours to be "Watermelon Red" and "Bloodworm". The fluro pink is ok for flathead as well. The Minnowz are certainly one of the best flathead and school jew lures on the market. Z-Mans answer to squidgy fish and the likes... I like the colours; "Opening Night", "Smoky Shad" and "Pink Glow". The Swimmerz comes in 4" and 6". The 4" are great on jew, bigger flathead and even big tailor don't mind them... The 6" are really mainly for BIG jew down our way but up north they do well on big barra! My favourite colours include; "Red Shad", "Sexy Lady" and "Hitch". A 30kg jew was landed recently on a 4" in hitch... They are 10x tougher than other SP's so tailor and other toothies wont damage them... Have a look at them! They certainly work! Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashisnothereman Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Z mans are great! Swim action is awesome, they are buoyant so the tail swims really nice when the jighead sinks. Super tough, you rarely need to replace them therefore more time with a bait in the water. I've used the same plastic on several outings and it's still going. They also look more realistic. The minnows and swimmers have special slits to hide your hooks for snagless rigging as well. Also no smelly juices! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slinkymalinky Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 :074: As a few of the other long-term raiders will tell you, I swore off Gulps about 2 years ago too. All the same problems. Jewhunter received my sealed lunchbox full of the remnants of various Gulp packets and the very first time he took it fishing, the lid came off in his tackle bag It's now been christened the 'stink bucket' As for fishing, I couldn't be happier without them. To this day I have NEVER had a session where Gulps have noticeably outfished the 'non-gulps' I've been using (I do use scent with them). But interestingly enough I have had a couple of sessions where the tails I've used have outfished the Gulps of others.... but I put that down to size and style of tail NOT the Gulp formula as when it's happened I've been using a significantly different tail. As for what I now fish with... Atomic Prongs, Atomic Prongs and Atomic Prongs! (actually I use a lot of Squidgies too). "The Power of the Prong" has become a bit of a catch cry on my boat. The pearl 3" ones that are my favourite seem to have a magical ability to turn up fish and the pink/green ones are killer in dirty water. I'm also a big rap for 'Stink Factor' (Squidgy S factor). Scent vs no scent does make a significant difference... With all that said, Gulps are fantastic plastics and looking at it from the other side, work just as well as the scent applied plastics that I use... and probably a lot better than plastics with no scent... if you want to put up with the leaking juice, trouble threading tails, mummified tails on jig hooks and other bug-bears. (All these problems can be avoided but I choose not to try). Power to you!! Slinky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PRED-ATOR Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Hey mate, I no what you mean about the smell lol but i just bought these gulp storage containers which fit in my tackle box so no more mess! As for the effectiveness, i much prefer the action of more nimble plastics such as the ones above. Another one to add to your list would be the eco gear range of grubs. they are dynamite on bream. Dont discard the gulps all together tho, if there is toothy critters around put a gulp on so u wont feel as bad lol. Theres a few gulps i still swear by but i can certainly see where your coming from, luckily there are many others to choose from these days. The evil minnows u mentioned are an awesome lure, probably my favourite plastic for bream and flathead. Ive HEARD they will hook you the odd jew aswell. im yet to prove this theory correct lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 Buy a nipper pump, use the nippers and most things will have a go at them. Many of my soft plastics are in the bottom of my tackle box, just leaking away when the bag gets punctured. Some of them are about as useful as tits on a bull, or an ashtray on a motorbike, or a hip pocket in a singlet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunter Posted October 27, 2012 Author Share Posted October 27, 2012 (edited) Thanks for all the responses! I've never meant to imply that, in more capable hands than mine, Gulps won't catch fish. They probably do although my own balance sheet is greatly in favour of the non-stinkers like Atomics and Squidgies. The problem with Gulps, in my view, is that the material used, whatever it actually is (it's certainly not plastic in the conventional sense of the word), looks and feels "dead" in terms of lure action. The only way it can compensate for that is by its smell (attracting pickers) and by incorporating long thin tentacles that waft about in the water (the Crazylegs are a good example) but which (for landbased use anyway) get bitten off by the pickers in no time at all. Gulps are a bit like servo prawns: convenient, a good bet to attract a bite, but most of the time just yielding five-inch breams and toadies. I'm undecided about the s-factor issue: my experience is that it will bring back the pickers but at least you have the choice *not* to use it with Squidgies, Atomics, Z-mans, Powerbaits etc. And you get a properly swimming lure rather than a spinning protein corpse... Edited October 27, 2012 by Gunter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catchin Jack Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 Thanks for the replies guys but this is now closed, Plastics brands.....you either love em or hate em. Seeing as Pure Fishing sponsor our Catch of the Month and are the supplier of Gulps, i'd like to keep our prizes we have for you members to win every month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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