How do you store your gulp?

[Dx life Rx fishing]

I am going through all my gear to see what I need to get at the upcoming fishing shows. Any opened packs or jars of gulp I have always seem to dry up considerably. What is your best method for storing opened packs? Also, do you ever combine the packs to have more juice and just make it simpler to store.

 

[pequa1]

Lep will undoubtedly chime in (hopefully.) I have not bought bait in over a decade, except for a bucket or two of clam bellies, using Gulp exclusively for fluke and weaks. What blues I have caught were on Gulp or livelining. I bought several of these Amazon.com : Plano Liqua Bait Storage Bottle and Bait Grabber : Fishing Bait Storage : Sports & Outdoors
and find them perfect for keeping in my little kayak bag or in my boat tackle bags. They don't leak like the original containers. I find that the original Gulp alive seems better for catching than the Gulp in the bags, and I also acquired some of those "rejuvenating" bottles of Gulp juice that stinks about the same. I mix pink and white and chartreuse grubs, (Gulp "Alive" and from bags), curly tails and shrimp and never have any "bled" into another and obviously mix their juices as well.

Edited to add: Mainly fishing from my yak, and a half dozen times a season from boats, and rarely more than a mile out from the inlet, I use "smaller" Gulp, never exceeding 5" and on bucktails. the container above will hold more than I need for the day and just in case I bring an unopened bag or two to supplement. some of the Gulp Alive still catching fish is at least a half dozen years old.

 

[Leprechaun]

I'm at work now, and therefore have no access to my fishing shi . . , umm, gear. But I will put up a post later tonite to show what I use to store my GULP! baits. Pretty nifty stuff!

 

[Flukinit]

I usually use the cashew containers from costco. Nice big opening to get your hand in and they don't leak. I do add them to the container but usually keep 6" grubs with the same do the same with shrimp and mullets.

 

[Chinacat]

I usually use the cashew containers from costco. Nice big opening to get your hand in and they don't leak. I do add them to the container but usually keep 6" grubs with the same do the same with shrimp and mullets.

That's a great use for those containers which are a good size
I'm going to use that idea

Do you notice if the fish notice or like cashews better than say peanuts, walnuts, or any other nut?
Sorry, couldn't resist.....

 

[movetheboat]

I use this made by plano......also no longer will i mix bait with gulp on the same hook....the gulp gets contaminated and turns the juice black.....my best results this year were with salmon and pink shine 6 inch grubs on a chicken rig

 

[Double Trouble]

I have been using Snapware containers the plastic ones Snapware is a brand they are air and water tight.I have the same ones on the boat for the last 5 or 6 years now and they never leak.I use the 2 cup size but they make all sizes.You can get them online or most supermarkets have them.I get them in Stop and Shop.

www.snapware.com/catalog/storage/plastic-storage

 

[pequa1]

I use this made by plano......also no longer will i mix bait with gulp on the same hook....the gulp gets contaminated and turns the juice black.....my best results this year were with salmon and pink shine 6 inch grubs on a chicken rig

forgot to mention that as an added plus you can open these with one hand and they come with a tweezer type tool to pluck the baits out with even less mess.

 

[Leprechaun]

I too highly recommend Snapware cannisters. They make a ton of different versions, these are the ones I use:

The Back Story: Over the years I have gone through a bunch of different GULP!-carrying containers. Started with the original GULP! low-pro factory bottles, which leaked when even slightly tilted. Terrible containers back then. Still are. Some things never change.

Then I segued to the big plastic bottles from Costco's bulk candy and nuts - like my good friend Joe/Flukinit shows above. All of the ones I tried leaked like hell, even with the covers screwed down tightly, making a mess of my below-deck storage. This is due, I suppose, to the heavy bouncing around that we take offshore on "those" days. Having GULP! fluid fermenting in the boat (especially in a below deck storage area) is NOT something I like to sniff, after a few days of the boat laying at the dock in August. Phewww!

Then I went to the little Plano bottles, like pequa1 and movetheboat use. Better, but still a pain in the butt to screw and unscrew that cap, and still had dripping from the cap onto my nice clean deck (and clothes) whilst fishing out the bait I wanted. I really dislike the screw on and off thing when my hands are wet with water or GULP! juice. Not ergonomic at all.

So two Winters ago I was speaking about this with my good friend and long-time fluking buddy Capt. Mike of "The Captain's Table" charter boat. Let's just say Mike "knows stuff." Lots of stuff. Anyway, he had found these Snapware cannisters at Walmart (I THINK he said Walmart) and highly recommended them.

Not being in love with any of the other options I had tried to date, I went over there, but never could locate the exact model that Mike liked. So an Amazon search was performed by my better half and sure enough, available there in several sizes. I immediately ordered in the 11 cup and 4 cup sizes.

They are very nice indeed. They feature a hinged, single clip flip-top, with a nice wide mouth, and a silicone sealing ring which while not 100% effective, is easily right around 95%. I can live with that. If you hold them upside down they will eventually bleed a few drops, so I never do that, not that I've ever needed to. Heck, they certainly leak WAAAY less than the Costco candy containers, with their dopey waxed paper top insert/gasket.

Two solid seasons now and they've been great, I'm very satisfied. I never again have to deal with the endless screw/unscrew nonsense while changing baits - which happens frequently where I fish, due to the ridockulous amounts of bait-mangling ling in the Spring and the pin seabass and other undesirable critters wrecking my baits all Summer. Just flip 'er open and snap 'er closed. Perfecto!

For my requisite parameters, they are as good as there is out there - as far as I've been able to discover, anyway. I highly recommend Snapware.

 

[Dx life Rx fishing]

Thanks for the replies. I have to head to Walmart later this morning so I will look into those.

 

[Rick67]

Nothing to do with storage but if you want to stiffen them up a bit. Freeze them once or twice. Still will have same action but won’t be as whimsy and easily torn.

 

[pequa1]

Interesting (freezing.) From a kayaking standpoint, what is your go-to storage? (I can twist open and close a Plano Liquid bait container one-handed by holding it against my foot and those Snapwares would probably take up too much limited space in my Skimmer, even though I approach yakfishing in real "bare bones" style.)

 

[Double Trouble]

The problem with the Plano containers is they are over priced and they leak.

 

[Leprechaun]

Agreed!

 

[pequa1]

The problem with the Plano containers is they are over priced and they leak.

Huh, Maybe newer ones ? Have had mine for years, and even used in a small kayak bag, never had one leak. Won't disagree on the price, always bought them years back on two for ones, 50% off, etc.

 

[Rick67]

Interesting (freezing.) From a kayaking standpoint, what is your go-to storage? (I can twist open and close a Plano Liquid bait container one-handed by holding it against my foot and those Snapwares would probably take up too much limited space in my Skimmer, even though I approach yakfishing in real "bare bones" style.)

I use the elongated containers the large gulp come in with the screw on cap.
Yep freeze. When they became super soft a few years ago and everyone was complaining. Mine that I had in the garage over the winter became stiff. I had one container unused for two years that was almost hard to put a hook through. I thought it was age stiffening it up. Found info on the composition the showed it would get stiffer if kept below freezing. It works.

US20090196849A1 - Fishing Lure Formulations - Google Patents

The invention is directed to compositions comprising at least one water-soluble long-chain polyhydroxy polymer for making soft, biodegradable, artificial fishing lures that may readily be removed from a mold in their frozen state, to methods for making such fishing lures, and to the resultant...

patents.google.com

0017]
[It was found in testing for shelf life of the lures that successive freeze/thaw cycles create lures that continue to get harder and stiffer. This hardness-stiffness eventually draws the molecules so tight that syneresis of liquids occurs and the fish lure becomes unacceptable; that is, increased hydrogen bonding initiates severe syneresis (weeping), which changes the physical properties of the lures unacceptably.]

 

[pequa1]

"0017]
[It was found in testing for shelf life of the lures that successive freeze/thaw cycles create lures that continue to get harder and stiffer. This hardness-stiffness eventually draws the molecules so tight that syneresis of liquids occurs and the fish lure becomes unacceptable; that is, increased hydrogen bonding initiates severe syneresis (weeping), which changes the physical properties of the lures unacceptably.] "

am I misinterpreting or does this mean after some successive freezes they become useless as bait ?

 

[captmike28]

While I do have many decades of experience in the Saltwater fishing game on LI, there is no doubt that Lep is my "go to" guy (and probably is for many others too) for anything related to the species we all pursue. So, when I was able to show him a better way to store Gulp baits I was very proud to see him adopt my direction.

Actually, I stumbled upon the Snapware containers when asking my wife if she had any leakproof containers she used for storing various liquid food products. She originally purchased a few sizes and shapes at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and I recall Lep telling me he bought his on line, I think through Amazon.. I'm not sure if they are available at Walmart but they are pretty easy to find.

I too really appreciate the much tighter seal, snap close lid, and wide opening for easy access to the bait of choice. One more big plus that is not really practical when compared to any screw lid container. When I finish a drift and want to run back to start again, I can take my leader with the gulp adorned hook on it put it back in the wide mouth container and snap the lid closed. In fact, the mouth is so wide I can even put my entire rig, bucktail, teasers and all in the Gulp soup!. When we are ready to start fishing again my baits are thoroughly marinated and ready to go. Many times the difference between catching and watching the guy next to you slam them is a small detail like this!

This DD from a couple of years ago is a testament to my last statement!!

 

[captmike28]

One last observation. If I am correct, the photos Lep posted were taken on his kitchen table. Trust me when I say nobody's wife would allow them anywhere near the kitchen table with a leaky jar of Gulp Juice!!!

 

[pequa1]

Do the snapware containers come with a lower center of gravity? Wider than high. Thinking kayaking