Northwest Fishing Reports

Can Power Bait go bad? I could not find an expiration date on the package. I have different worms ,Crawdads,and leeches. Do they always stay good. Do they get funky and drive fish away?Thanks...

As long as it doesnt harden up it should be good

I don't think it can foul like regular bait can as long as you keep water from getting in it. It does dry out and become brittle though, especially if the bag/lid isn't closed properly. I have some mini nuggets in "worm" flavor that are probably about 10 years old now. I need just one or two to catch my first perch and then it's perch meat/eyes the rest of the way. I keep the lid on tight, the jar out of the sun and in a cool area, should last me another 10 years.

Thanks Gents.

If it tastes funny - it's still good

That reminds me of an old saying....If it smells like fish ,eat what you wish.If it smells like cologne, leave it alone....Muahahaha....If this gets taken off I fully understand...

I keep all paste baits, soft plastics, and scents in zip lock plastic bags (with as much air squeezed out of the bag as possible) and stored in my garage fridge. Even so, if it looks different, smells funny, or changes texture I toss it out and replace it.

For trout, if I'm driving to E WA looking for some hot fishing and in so doing spending a couple hundred bucks on fuel, food, campsite or if the gal is along, a room, I'll bust a 5 spot for a fresh jar. A fresh jar always smells better than last years jar but the fish'll eat either... ;)~

Just one more question if you all know. Is it legal to chum with powerbait? If said lake allows chumming of course.

It would be legal, but I would not encourage it.

Although if chumming is legal you could probably put it inside of some pantyhose and tie it to your anchor line and lower it down with the anchor to ad scent to the area around your boat.

HHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMM........... idea.... is it chumming if we smear our anchor or bottom of a cartopper boat with the old power bait.......???? ;)~

LOLOL....i dont know....i have been known to smear a lil smelly jelly on my DR ball....DOG

I too use smelly jelly on my DR balls and Dodger if in use. I also rub some in my hands to take away human scent.I would put it in sheer fabric and make scent balls. I do this alot when trolling in the salt. Just drag behind the boat.

It's a go then, old power bait is going on the bottom on the car topper boat from now on! LMAO Smellie jelly and WD goes on all of my salmon gear! Yeah Buddy! Fish On!

sorry to stray a little off-topic, but my chiropractor was telling me the other day that he takes the power bait worms or berkely gulp baits and then pokes a pinhole in a fish oil vitamin gelcap and squeezes a little oil on for scent. ever heard of such a thing? sounds like a good idea, maybe pretty inexpensive too.

another question, again sorry for kind of hijacking your thread, but does using a scent/attractor like smelly jelly count as bait when fishing a lake with bait restrictions? for example, if i smear some smelly jelly on a rubber jig or a spoon, do i now fall under bait regulations?

I read that one years ago, regs stated no scents to be used on selective gear fisheries, sorry,,,, unless it has changed,,, should be easy one to find under definitions section of regs though.

isn't that fish oil cod liver oil or some such, sounds worth a shot if ya got the supplements any way....

racfish wrote:I too use smelly jelly on my DR balls and Dodger if in use. I also rub some in my hands to take away human scent.I would put it in sheer fabric and make scent balls. I do this alot when trolling in the salt. Just drag behind the boat.

I tried putting scent on my cannon balls before, but don't like how greasy and nasty they are afterward, makes for crappy storage. As for smearing it on my hands NO THANK YOU, that stuff is nasty and I like to eat and drink on the boat. I just wear latex gloves if I am dealing with fresh bait or applying scent (to keep my smell off).

TroutCowboy wrote:sorry to stray a little off-topic, but my chiropractor was telling me the other day that he takes the power bait worms or berkely gulp baits and then pokes a pinhole in a fish oil vitamin gelcap and squeezes a little oil on for scent. ever heard of such a thing? sounds like a good idea, maybe pretty inexpensive too.

another question, again sorry for kind of hijacking your thread, but does using a scent/attractor like smelly jelly count as bait when fishing a lake with bait restrictions? for example, if i smear some smelly jelly on a rubber jig or a spoon, do i now fall under bait regulations?

Question 1: I don't think it would work because oil is not water soluble, all that would happen is it would all just come right off the lure and float on the surface as soon as your gear hit the water. Think of pouring olive oil into a pot of water, this would not be the desired result for scent dispersion.

Question 2: Yes, scent qualifies as bait. Under selective gear restrictions and bait restrictions scent may not be used, nor can you use pre-scented artificial worms such as gulp/alive/etc.

TroutCowboy wrote:sorry to stray a little off-topic, but my chiropractor was telling me the other day that he takes the power bait worms or berkely gulp baits and then pokes a pinhole in a fish oil vitamin gelcap and squeezes a little oil on for scent. ever heard of such a thing? sounds like a good idea, maybe pretty inexpensive too.

another question, again sorry for kind of hijacking your thread, but does using a scent/attractor like smelly jelly count as bait when fishing a lake with bait restrictions? for example, if i smear some smelly jelly on a rubber jig or a spoon, do i now fall under bait regulations?

Yes, if you spread any scent on your lure, by Washington Law, you are now fishing with Bait and must follow the Bait rules for trout.

Anglinarcher wrote:

TroutCowboy wrote:sorry to stray a little off-topic, but my chiropractor was telling me the other day that he takes the power bait worms or berkely gulp baits and then pokes a pinhole in a fish oil vitamin gelcap and squeezes a little oil on for scent. ever heard of such a thing? sounds like a good idea, maybe pretty inexpensive too.

another question, again sorry for kind of hijacking your thread, but does using a scent/attractor like smelly jelly count as bait when fishing a lake with bait restrictions? for example, if i smear some smelly jelly on a rubber jig or a spoon, do i now fall under bait regulations?

Yes, if you spread any scent on your lure, by Washington Law, you are now fishing with Bait and must follow the Bait rules for trout.

+1.