waxies and millies why?

[fish4fish]

Why are waxies and millies used mainly in winter, and the night crawler more overlooked. does the fishes appitite change when the water gets iced over, are there more larve in the water at the time? or do they just plain work better in winter, also why are they not used in the summer months near as much.
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[Chester]

Had some left over mealworms last spring. Hit my favorite flyfishing stream and thought I would try the mealies. Caught 8 browns 14-18 inches and one 20 bow in about an hour. Fastest fishing all year. They loved the mealworms.

I like mealies in the winter because they're not wet. There are some times when mealies just won't do though. I tried mealies at Sulphur Creek in Dec and they would have nothing to do with them. Swiched to crawlers and started catching fish. I use both in winter.
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[tomegun]

[green][size 2]Cause Dynamite is illegal! I used all three in the winter. I lean more to the crawlers and handgrenades[].[/size][/green]
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[hookemup]

Velveeta...mmmm, the other yellow cheese!
See ya at CCE sunday, don`t forget your crackers.
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[Kent]

I drag out my

on almost every trip out on the ice. They work just fine dropped down an ice hole.
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[Out4Trout]

[cool]Ya know, I've never tried either. I've got no velveeta in the fridge, but I think I might pick up some salmon eggs in the morning on my way up the canyon!
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[ebass]

bring all of them.
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[Coldfooter]

Pat;
Lordy what did we do before the invention of Turbo Power Rainbow Glitter Powerbait? [laugh]
Dont get me wrong, I've used it, its handy for catchin' slime rocks.
I do however often wonder if folks realize why perhaps glitter was added or why we tend to form it or cheeze products, etc... into a ball when using it?

As you know Pat its not the fishies that have change over the years but rather the mind set of a certain group of mammals that are trying to catch em. How many times have we heard, "Boy those fish are sure getting smart!!",? But the fact is their not one bit smarter today than they were 2, 20, 200, 2000 years ago. I believe to many people forget that fish do three basic things through out they lives witch are, eat, crap, and make baby fishies. I for one dont believe Fish spend alot of time trying to figure out how to avoid being eaten or what to eat, that all comes from instinct. Our job while fishing then becomes trying figure out what is drawing the fishies attention during the time period in witch we're fishing. How many times have we heard and used the phrase "Match the hatch!"? But I feel that to many people seem to equate that simple rule only with Fly fishing. They seem forget that mother nature provides for fishies, not a bottle at Walmarts marked Powerbait, etc..
I also believe that to many folk allow themselves to get trapped in the latest fades and gadgets because someone happen to catch a (hungry) fish using some new gadget and forget the old standbys witch have played direactly into the instinct of feeding fish for billions of years.
But we humans are a rather fickled bunch and the old "the grass is greener" syndrome is to often our downfall while fishing because of it.


Btw Kent []
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[Kent]

[size 1][#0000ff]"Heck, we even remember Pokee Bait." [/#0000ff][/size]
[size 1][#0000ff][/#0000ff][/size]
[size 1][#ff40ff]Yep, but we remember it differently. I remember it as a good bait at Deer Creek, because the perch would leave it alone and give one a chance to catch a rainbow. You remember it as working fine to catch the perch. I guess we need to find an old bottle of it somewhere and find out whom has the best memory.[/#ff40ff][/size]
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[Kent]

[#0000ff][size 1]"And, as I remember, Pokee Bait was sold in little bags...not bottles."[/size][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][size 1][/size][/#0000ff]
[#ff00ff][size 1]So much for my superior memory. I think they invented glass a few years later. Reminds me of that new invention they recently came out with that allows one to look right through walls. Know what they called it?[/size][/#ff00ff]
[#ff00ff][/#ff00ff]
[#ff00ff][/#ff00ff]
[#ff00ff][size 1]Windows[/size][/#ff00ff]
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[Coldfooter]

Naw Pat, my fingers would get far to sore doin' that[]
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[crossineye]

I NEVER FORGET THE BALLS OF FIRE!!! A WHITE MARABOO JIG WITH A PINK HEAD A WAXIE AND ONE EGG OVER THE TIP. THE BOW KILLER..
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[MeMeMe]

I've never got the chance to use it, but, I've heard it was pretty good stuff. Ed Rambeaued ( French Name, pronounced Rambow) was the man that made it & He wouldn't let anyone know the recipe. later on when he started to get sick, he sold the recipe with strict orders not to let the recipe be known. As far as I know the man that bought it doesnt make it any longer. Ed wanted to protect the recipe so much he wouldnt even tell his best Friend or his wife Marian what it was before he died.
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[Kent]

When I was a kid growing up in Payson, we would make it up to Payson Reservoir on a regular basis to go fishing. One one trip there was a family catching lots of fish when the rest of us were catching few it any. I went over and talked to them, and found out that they were using Pautzke's Balls of Fire salmon eggs. We tried our own plain salmon eggs and they wouldn't work. Since that time that is the only brand that I buy. I don't fish with them very often, but when I do, one of my favorite ways is to use an extremely small gold hook (probably about a size 14) and a single salmon egg.
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[fisherman]

Good old Pokie Bait. It worked pretty good! I still have acouple bottles of the Pokie Necter and it still works good.

Ed's and his partner Stan Campbell patented the recipe for "Ed's Pokie Bait". Ed died and Stan kept making it untill he passed away. Stan's son still makes it for his family. Last I heard it wasn't being sold to the public[].

Stan showed me his photo album of all his fish from Deer Creek taken on Pokie Bait. Most were in the teens and low twenty pound range, back in the good old days. I didn't believe it untill I saw it.

[MeMeMe]

I've only heard of the pokee bait. A friend of mines Father was a real good friend of Ed's & she told me the story numerous times. She & her father used to go to Ed & Marions all the time. According to my friend, Ed & her father were always fishing. She just visited Marion at Christmas. Maybe You knew him, Mr Humphries? he's long since passed
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[iconoclasticPaul]

Worms make excellent table fare all year round, BUT as for the winter, it can be a trying challenge to keep the worm container from freezing on the ice. Get some sort of a insulated container which should be sufficent for a couple hours.

Did you ever try threading a frozen worm? Ever get a dirt/sod "hockey puck" fall out of your worm container?[][laugh]

Mealies and waxies are just fine at any sub freezing temps.
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[PDS]

I have used all three through the ice and have done better with wax worms than the other two combined. Although it seems that at Strawberry, they like the meal worms better. I was fishing at East Canyon a couple of years ago and had fish coming though on the finder only about 15 feet down. I had a piece of crawler on the jig and reeled up to intercept. I was in my ice tent and could see down into the water quite a ways. I could see my jig and one fish swam right up to it, sucked it in, then immediately spit it back out and swam away. I reeled it up and replaced it with a wax worm. I dropped it back down the hole to 15' and when the next group came through on the finder, I looked down the hole again. A fish came over, stopped next to the jig. I lifted the line just a bit and it inhaled the jig. I jerked, and missed. The fish followed it up a ways and inhaled it as it fell back down. Maybe it was just a coincidence that the first fish didn't like the crawler, or feel of the jig, or whatever. But I've been hooked on them since. I usually carry all three even now, but find most of my success on the waxies.

I have tried the cheeses, salmon eggs, power bait and the like and they work at times. I even went through a phase of catching live stone flies and dace (minnows) out of the Weber and taking them ice fishing. I never caught a single fish on the stone flies, but did very well on the dace. This was back before you could get the assortment of frozen fish from the local retailer. Waxies still work the best for me on the lakes. Although, if you really want a chance at a big brown on the Weber, catch a few dace out of the river and pop them on the head. Thread one on a hook and pitch it into one of the deep holes that you always knew contained a big fish. It doesn't always work, but the size of the fish you catch makes up for it. I can tell you that dace work 10 times better than sculpin. If you are a whitefish fan, try the stone flies.

Sorry, got of the subject a bit, but there's my two cents worth.
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[Kayote]

A couple other forgotten trout baits I remember are mini marshmallows and raw hamburger. I caught a lot of trout on them in my youth. Of course, these generation X trout must have high dollar jigs tipped with the latest Wallyworld goo and sprayed with fish attractant and only bite if you have a flasher and power auger. I'll bet if you could find a way to hook Silver Cup fish pellets you would kill the hatchery trout. That's what they've eaten most of their lives. Hmmm.........

Good Fishing, Kayote
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[Kent]

Kayote, We're among friends, did you put the marshmallow on first or second?
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