Fake maggot question?

[flightliner]

I love using fake baits, particularly casters , sweetcorn and maggots. In recant seasons I've had big Bream, Tench and a near three pound roach when using them. I only use the floating kind in order that I can critically balance them with either the hooks own weight or a little rig putty.
They all work well if they are used with plenty of the real things as a carpet of loose offerings that give the fish confidence to feed with some abandon enabling the false bait to be taken like the naturals all around it.
On two waters I fish these artificials are all I place on my hook most times out.
They are good in the sense that it stops small fish from ragging them as they do a natural one like maggot , also there's a tiny kind of black snail similar to a grain of hemp that can rag a maggot be it dead or alive.I can't speak about crays but if they were about Artificials would be strongly considered.
In short I have a lot of confidence in them.

 

[rayner]

I use fake caster/maggot regular when fishing up in the water for silver fish. Roach and Ide don't seem to care too much if competing with others up in the water. They snatch the bait so quickly they don't have time to inspect the bait.
Never had a fish fishing deep though they are more picky when they have time to have a look.

 

[Brianw999]

My fake hemp sinks. In fact, before commercial fakes came on the market I used to use an old electrical cable sliced at an angle. It was a black cable with a white inner layer. Take out the copper wire, chop it into small 45 degree slices and hook it up the shank of a 14 or 16 fine wire round bend hook. Absolutely deadly, I regularly hauled out netfuls of good quality roach and dace on the Thames and river Lea. When it came to bites I found that the bigger fish gave a longer, smoother more confident bite compared to the shorter, stabbing bites of the smaller fish.
It’s been some time since I fished a river and even longer since I fished hemp on the hook but I intend to revisit the experience when the new season opens this year.

 

[108831]

One relevant question,do you fish hair rigged take neat,meaning there is a good chance of fishing the length of your hooklength off bottom,or do you add weight to said hooklink by way of tungsten putty,or rig weights etc???

 

[mikench]

Does anyone regularly glug their fake maggots and corn and if so with what and does it make a difference. I now regularly use krill powder on my maggots and F1 liquid on my meat and micros and remain convinced/deluded that it does make a difference.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

I have experimented with fake maggot and caster when playing with critically balanced rigs, but not too often.

Where I did use them, a lot, was when practicing speed fishing with a short whip as I didn't have to bother with re-baiting so could get into a really good rhythm.
Fake baits were not allowed in the actual matches but in practice they were a boon.

 

[stillwater blue]

Does anyone regularly glug their fake maggots and corn and if so with what and does it make a difference. I now regularly use krill powder on my maggots and F1 liquid on my meat and micros and remain convinced/deluded that it does make a difference.

I've used boilie flavourings and commercial glugs to flavour fake baits and noticed no difference, having said that In France I caught nothing but grass carp on fake maize flavoured with a fruity blend so perhaps flavouring can put certain species off or be massively attractive to certain species . I even tried the glow in the dark stuff and again no difference but I have caught with unflavoured regular fake corn cast to a feature at night with no freebies at all and more than once.

 

[stillwater blue]

One relevant question,do you fish hair rigged take neat,meaning there is a good chance of fishing the length of your hooklength off bottom,or do you add weight to said hooklink by way of tungsten putty,or rig weights etc???

You can buy sinking fake baits.

However if you use a large enough hook the buoyant fake baits will pop up the length of the hair. If I remember correctly a n°1 shot pinched on the hair was sufficient to balance single grain on fake corn or hemp. Oh, I used to catch more on a single grain on fake corn rather than a stack.

 

[108831]

Thanks,I've got sinking fake maggots and casters,but it seems everyone is actually catching on the floating ones...

 

[Weirdoh]

Caught Chub on fake red maggot and wasnt feeding with maggot this particular time because I wanted to see a positive take not one that was owed to the fish already having eaten some maggot already.
I keep a few and occassionally use them to secure worm on barbless hooks and they work well....but could be owed to the worm.
Not overly confident using them.

 

[David Gane]

I’m no biologist but i’ve always wondered about the effect of plastic fake baits on the fish that ingest them. They are not digestible and don’t degrade even over the long term. Obviously they aren’t intended to be fed or to get into the environment but common sense says that they will do from time to time. Most people will have seen stories in the press recently about the large quantities of plastic waste found in the stomachs of ocean-going fish. Are we doing the same to freshwater fish?

 

[103841]

the fake bait I use stays on the hair or hook, if it was to be swallowed by the fish I’d stop using immediately.

 

[108831]

They would pass it out in their poop...

 

[theartist]

I’m no biologist but i’ve always wondered about the effect of plastic fake baits on the fish that ingest them. They are not digestible and don’t degrade even over the long term. Obviously they aren’t intended to be fed or to get into the environment but common sense says that they will do from time to time. Most people will have seen stories in the press recently about the large quantities of plastic waste found in the stomachs of ocean-going fish. Are we doing the same to freshwater fish?

Some sea species, like flounder for example have a penchant for eating bright plastic things, its long been a trick to whack some coloured beads on a rig for them. Yet if you have a fish tank and put anything fake in it you can watch the fish suck in a spit it out often many times, same thing goes in aquariums swims and many a hook up on a fake bait either comes in conjunction with a 'natural' or a result of the fish spitting out, because of this is there an argument that fake baits work better on a hair?

I'd be surprised if much if any fake bait was ingested by coarse fish but if anyone's gutted some and can say to the contrary I'll stand corrected. Most if not all fake baits stay on the hook well and maybe that's their biggest atribute. Even when it biologically breaks down it would be a miniscule plastic presence compared to just general bottles and plastic bags

 

[sam vimes]

If a fish actually gets to ingest a fake bait, the angler using it has really ballsed up. To all intents and purposes, it's a non-issue that isn't worth worrying about.

 

[Philip]

A non issue that takes fish welfare too far in my opinion.

 

[The Sogster]

Personally I don't think fake/ plastic baits can harm the intended quarry provided they can pass it easily if it comes off for whatever reason.

However I have been told that some fisheries are banning these baits because in the event of a break/ crack off they are a permanently live rig and can affect not just fish but birds and other fauna.

Think tangled in a tree for example.

How do people feel about this?

 

[Philip]

Its a reasonable point although the same could apply to line tangled in a tree which could snare wildlife.

Lets face it ..the only fully safe option would be to ban angling altogether so maybe its not a thread we want to be pulling on.

 

[The Sogster]

I agree Philip, however the fake bait will remain active for many more months than a natural bait. Think of a rig with large teflon coated hooks and high breaking strain hooklengths as is seen in some specimen fishing applications often the hooklength is 15 to 25lb or more for stiffness. This is likely to be effective for years compared to a natural maggot on a size 18 fine wire to 1lb 6oz line which will probably deteriorate much quicker and the bait will cease to be effective even sooner.

 

[metalmicky1944]

How would you feel if you went downstairs on Sunday morning for your breakfast and sat on the plate were two plastic fried eggs accompanying three rashers of plastic bacon, two foam sausages and a balsa wood tomato. YUM YUM :hungry:
That's what the fish you enjoy catching feels like when you are to mean to buy a pint of real maggots.
Tight Lines
Mike