Berkley Gulp! Sinking Minnow Review
I’ll admit it. I’m a fair weather fisherman. I’m not the kind of guy to spend early morning or long hours in the boat. I don’t match up to the serious guys, but…I do like to fish. I give credit to the serious fisherman…if you invest the time you’ll learn and get success…they deserve the results. I often listen to fishing advice and like most, have far more lures than I need or ever use.
For once though, it’s me who can speak with experience and make a recommendation. I got turned on to the “Gulp!” bait by Berkley. I’ve been using these baits for the past three years and testify that they are fun to throw and drum up regular action. Specifically, I use the 4” Sinking Minnow in a Pumpkinseed color. This color seems to disappear off the store racks and when I find them, I’ll buy them to stock my tackle-box. I marry the bait up with a 1/0 Gamakatsu offset shank worm. I do not use weight.
I said that this bait is fun to throw. It sinks very slowly and responds to the slightest twitch of the pole tip. It is fun to try to simulate the movement of a struggling minnow. Bass love it! When you bury the hook barb in the body of the worm, it is virtually weedless. I throw into lily pads with confidence…land it on a pad and often as I pull it off, I get slammed!
Just this past weekend I invited my son to join me with some friends as we fished a small pond in northern Illinois. My son hasn’t fished in quite awhile and was bemoaning how fishing had become boring to him…he said he had no luck. I fixed him up with my bait and sure enough…even my “unlucky fisherman of a son” had a fun and productive morning with the smallies.
I’m not a fishing pro and I know I don’t write with the authority…but for a regular guy like me…this is the bait. All I need is my pole, and a pack of baits and hooks in my pocket…traveling light and easy.
A great bait to work ponds with weed or work shorelines and docks from a boat.
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September 14, 2009 at 5:58 pm | Carl H. Martens
Tis true! I don’t know if its been bad luck or just me, but I haven’t had much success fishing in recent years. As soon as we switched my bait to the Berkley Gulp Sinking Minnow I was getting hits and having some fun. It reminded me of how much fun fishing can be. It was a great memory to share with my father. Thanks Berkley!
Advice: reel in very slowly and make this bait dance…the slower your retrieve, the more hits you’ll get.
September 14, 2009 at 5:59 pm | Jeff Jackson
This is great to know! It’s been a while since I’ve done any fishing, but I’ll certainly remember this.
.-= Jeff Jackson´s last blog ..st-nicholas-fire-truck-8-23-09-9.jpg =-.
September 15, 2009 at 5:33 am | Brian Richterkessing
I am not a pro either but can attest to the effectiveness of plastic baits as I have been using them for the past 38 years. A little challenging at first trying to understand the difference between the pick up versus bumping the bait through structure/cover and when to set the hook. Once understood fishing heavy cover no longer was a challenge nor was I loosing all of my expensive baits. As I gained confidence in this type of bait, like Don I was able to leave my luggage behind, an oversized tackle box with more lures than I could use in a life time, and travel much lighter. This type of bait has been around in one form/manufacturer or another for some time and is equally effective on Northern Pike in the cabbage beds of Northern Region Lakes.
Have fun, travel light catch fish!
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September 15, 2009 at 10:59 pm | Rang Saeed
I love fishing, and whenever I’m fishing for large mouth bass, this is usually the bait i grab. Although sometimes i do use lizards, but am not as lucky.
April 22, 2010 at 10:48 am | Anthony
I’m going fishing in Lake Guntersville this weekend!
July 23, 2011 at 1:10 pm | Adam Rechkemmer
Great review, but just wanted to let you know that you have a bad URL to the berkley site as it yields a “Page Not Found” placeholder page.