Fake maggot question?

[108831]

Fake maggot question,doh....


Hi guys,just want to ask how people hair rig fake maggot/casters and why they think it works so well...

 

[Lark]

I have an MAP Hooklink box with one side full of rigs made up with fake maggots and casters.
I've got them 'D' rigged, conventional hair rigged, mag-aligner rigged and conventionally hooked, popped-up and critically balanced.
I've also got them on braid, fluorocarbon and mono hooklengths in a pretty wide range of breaking strains and hook sizes from 10 to 18. I have some up to 3ft long that I keep stored on Preston rig spools.
I've used them on method feeders, cage feeders, wagglers, straight leads, bolt rigs, running rigs and maggot feeders and on the pole.
Only ever had one bite on them... River Kennet, September 2015, 6oz brown trout.
They look brilliant and I know people that have had plenty of joy with them.... Not me though.

 

[mikench]

Not me though.

Me neither! Never had a bite with a fake maggot or caster regardless as to how it was presented. I have totally given up on them.

 

[103841]

I spent a session on my favourite Rudd lake last Summer catching Rudd on a single fake maggot, such was the competetition I reckon they would have impaled themselves on a bare hook. Funny thing is, I still loose fed real maggots!

 

[Ray Roberts]

Take maggot qjestion?

I had a bit of an experiment a few years ago. I tried fake maggots and fake corn. On two different rods and compared them to natural baits. I used a maggot feeder, I think it was a Drennen one, the brown plastic kind that has a length of tube that you run the line through. For the purpose of the experiment I used two short hook lengths. The first was attached to a swivel and connected with a loop, semi fixed at the front of the feeder. The other was again connected by a loop but helicopter style about 8 inches up the mainline. I put fake maggots on one and real on the other. The corn rig was similar but I modified a wire mesh cage feeder by fixing a piece of the old fashioned ridged rig tube to the feeder and attaching a piece of silicone tubing to semi fix the swivel I again used a helicopter rig for the other hook link but this time trapped the swivel with rubber beads on the ridged tube. This was about as safe as I could make the rigs. The hook lengths were of a lower breaking strain and neither were fixed.

Anyway, I found that carp and tench showed a noticeable preference for fake bait. Roach and perch showed a marked preference for the natural baits. I fished these rigs for the entire day alternating the hook lengths. There wasn’t really a noticeable difference to the catch rate when the hook link positions were swapped. I also tried hair rigging the baits, this did seem to improve the hook up rate as you would expect.

I concluded that the most likely reason the fake baits worked for the carp and tench so well is that they survived the onslaught of the smaller fish while the naturals were obliterated. The water was fairly prolific and the fish were feeding/competing for the bait. It may have been a different result on a slower day when the fish weren’t biting so freely.

 

[The fishing coach]

Many of my tench and a few of my barbel come out to fake maggots or casters each season, mainly on the leger and usually over a bed of dead flavoured maggots and hemp.
The plastic baits defeat crayfish and small perch but are less than effective for roach and chub.

 

[Lark]

Many of my tench and a few of my barbel come out to fake maggots or casters each season, mainly on the leger and usually over a bed of dead flavoured maggots and hemp.
The plastic baits defeat crayfish and small perch but are less than effective for roach and chub.

This was one of the main reasons I persisted with fake casters for barbel fishing. They resisted the crays and the smaller fish and the fact that, even if I say so myself, the set-up looked really good and very realistic.
But even presented below a good size feeder filled with casters and hemp, still no barbel or chub takes.

 

[Keith M]

Re: Take maggot qjestion?

The only times that I’ve caught fish on fake maggots or fake caster is when I’ve been loose feeding live ones at the same time and shoal fish are fighting to get at my bait and my loose feed.

When I’ve tried fake maggots or caster without feeding live freebies at the same time then bites are almost non-existent apart from the odd fish with suicidal tendencies.
I don’t think you can beat real maggots and caster and live ones at that.

It may be different over deepish soft silt where the fish are burying their heads in soft silt searching for their food but I don’t really have much confidence in using artificials especially on slower and more naturally stocked waters.



Keith

 

[mikench]

I have no confidence in them at all . I have only used them in desperation and to no good effect.


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[xenon]

Never even tried them, nor do I intend to-how can plastic even approach a natural bait in terms of attractiveness smell wise? Might as well use paper instead of breadflake.

 

[108831]

I've had little interest in them either,but there is a fella who fished the lake I'm fishing and he uses rubber casters on a helicopter rigs with a feeder,catches a lot of tench,carp and odd BIG roach,I think maggot must work too,if your rig is right and correctly placed.


Many thanks for repairing my threads title whoever you were lol,it occurred after my auto correct tablet destroyed it.

 

[Ray Roberts]

I've had little interest in them either,but there is a fella who fished the lake I'm fishing and he uses rubber casters on a helicopter rigs with a feeder,catches a lot of tench,carp and odd BIG roach,I think maggot must work too,if your rig is right and correctly placed.


Many thanks for repairing my threads title whoever you were lol,it occurred after my auto correct tablet destroyed it.

If your natural bait is mullered by small fish then at least you have some bait in the water with artificial baits. There’s no reason you can’t flavour an artificial bait. If I were to do a lot of fishing with artificials then I would flavour it and my feed. I have used "The Source" as a bait flavour with meat and corn and I’m pretty sure if you punctured the artificial corn and then kept it in a sealed container with some flavour that your catch rates would Soar, ditto maggots or caster. Try some pineapple or aniseed flavour. Also short hook links with hair rigs may be worth a try.


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[stillwater blue]

Hi guys,just want to ask how people hair rig fake maggot/casters and why they think it works so well...

Back in my carp fishing days I had loads of success fishing the mag aligner over spodded dead maggot catching tench, bream and carp but never caught any silvers. I think fake maggots work because of the way these species feed on small baits, they not picking up individual food items but rather moving over the baited area and sucking multiple food items up at once and occasionally something sucks up the fake maggot. I honestly don't believe carp, tench or bream could single out the fake maggot in a heavily baited area presuming the bait is accurately cast

 

[john step]

Back in my carp fishing days I had loads of success fishing the mag aligner over spodded dead maggot catching tench, bream and carp but never caught any silvers. I think fake maggots work because of the way these species feed on small baits, they not picking up individual food items but rather moving over the baited area and sucking multiple food items up at once and occasionally something sucks up the fake maggot. I honestly don't believe carp, tench and bream can single out the fake maggot in a heavily baited area presuming the bait is accurately cast

I think you are spot on. I think carp/tench/bream suck everything in and reject the inedible bits. When the inedible fake bait is ejected the bolt effect takes over.

Fake baits are very useful when used in conjunction with other real bait. For instance fake corn to top off a boilie to negate the weight of a hook and give a bright signal beacon.
Fake maggot as a hook aligner or to supplement real ones to give slow fall.

I almost always use an Avid fake corn hairstop rig hook on boilies. The hook part is buried in the bait and is very secure. No fiddling by reggies will dislodge the hair stop.

The most useful artificial bait I use are the fake pedigree chum mixers for surface fishing. There is a little hole for a split shot which ensures the hook is uppermost and out of the carps vision.

 

[Philip]

I have tried as an experiment a few times switching over to a rubber maggot when the fish have been on the bite and each time its literally like the swim goes dead until I put a real maggot back on.

It shot my confidence in them totally. I am not doubting they work on some occasions but I want it to work on all occasions so I'll stick to real bait.

The only occasion I can imagine i will now consider a fake bait is if there is allot of bait stripping small fish mixed with the odd big one in a competitive feeding situation where the fact the fake bait stays on the hook longer may give the big one a better chance to get to it.

 

[trotter2]

Quite a few years ago my son showed an interest in having a bash at fishing ,so I took him to a local lake that was stocked with rainbow trout and Brown trout, you could use fly of bait on the venue. Anyway to cut a long story short I set him up with a waggler set up and introduced some loose feed around his float. It was not long before he caught his first fish followed by another and another. A couple if weeks prier I got some plastic maggots they were free stuck on the front cover of a magazine. Anyway he asked if he could try them,I replied they would be a wast of time. But he wanted to try them anyway he did and to my total amazement he caught fish after fish on the rubber maggots.
This got me thinking about using them on the river,so a few days later introducing loose feed real maggots and using a rubber maggot on the hook I give it a go.
It could not have been more different I got very few bites on rubber maggots and the bites I got were so fast you could not hit them. So I think it could depend on what your fishing for.

 

[S-Kippy]

I have used them and with some success....although in conjunction with live bait . My experiences seem to mirror others.....tench and carp will have them but roach etc wont. I've not tried them for barbel but tbh I could put anything on the hook when barbel fishing and I still wouldnt catch.

They are by no means my go to option but I carry them simply for those occasions when I want to use maggot and the bait would get mullered if it wasnt fake. Im planning a tench session next week and one rod will definately be a grub feeder with rubber casters/maggots.

Fake sweetcorn is something else again. I cannot catch on that no matter what I do...just doesnt work for me.

 

[Brianw999]

The only fake bait that I ever caught on is a plastic hemp seed under a stick float rig feeding boiled hemp. In fact, at times the fish were almost climbing up the rod on it.
When you get silver fish going on hemp their feeding turns into a frenzy. I well remember one session on the River Lea where all I needed to do was swing my arm as if I were feeding hemp to get the fish turning looking for it.
I only use fake hemp on the hook because it’s too fiddly putting the real seed on the hook. Maggots and worms rely on movement and odour and are easier to hook so I stick to the real thing for hookbait.

 

[steve2]

One thing struck me when reading this post it’s just how we now look at boilies as being not fake bait but real bait.
Boilies must go through much more of a manufacturing process than any other fake bait.
When you put them together why flies and lures you could say that fake baits are now the most used baits in fishing.

 

[theartist]

The only fake bait that I ever caught on is a plastic hemp seed under a stick float rig feeding boiled hemp. In fact, at times the fish were almost climbing up the rod on it.
When you get silver fish going on hemp their feeding turns into a frenzy. I well remember one session on the River Lea where all I needed to do was swing my arm as if I were feeding hemp to get the fish turning looking for it.
I only use fake hemp on the hook because it’s too fiddly putting the real seed on the hook. Maggots and worms rely on movement and odour and are easier to hook so I stick to the real thing for hookbait.

Do you use floating or sinking fake hemp? I've tried the latter and found it to be poor compared to the real thing, I always put it down to it being too black compared to the real thing but if others are having success maybe I need a finer wire hook.