Freezing Maggots

ji1234 · May 7, 2005

Could anybody help me please by telling me how long to freeze maggots for use as hookbait and how long they will be of use if kept in the fridge afterwards.

paul williams 2 · May 7, 2005

Freeze them for at least 24hrs......the larger the amount the longer they need otherwise the centre core will survive.....i would only keep them in the fridge for a short while, and if on extended fishing trip keep them cool and shaded otherwise they will detiorate fast.......but at times dead mags can be better than live ones for baiting up, but personally i nearly always used live ones on the hook because i could do more with them, eg make them bouyant, flavour them, etc

ji1234 · May 7, 2005

Thank you Paul

swordsy · May 7, 2005

try stunning the maggots, put them in a plastic bag with a little bit of flavour and remove all the air by squeezing really tight, now put them in the fridge and leave them there for 2 or 3 days. when you get them out they will look dead but not deteriorate, after a few hours some may recover but most stay dormant.

Fishing Gimp · May 7, 2005

Personally i freeze them for at least 4 days to ensure they are all frozen because they are quite resilient and tend not to keep them more than a month as they still seem to turn brown even when frozen.

NottmDon · May 7, 2005

All of the above methods work. I did read, but have never tried it myself, that when the dead maggots go brown and mushy, as they do after a while in the sunshine, that they are even deadlier as a bait. Anyone else heard of that one?

Also when freezing to kill em off you can wet the inside of the freezer bag with a little flavouring, I like scopex for this, when thawed the mags suck up the flavour. One thing you MUST do is to riddle the mags first so no sawdust or maize is on them when you freeze em.

Merv Harrison · May 7, 2005

I understand Don that removing them from the freezer, opening the bag, closing it again and refreezing causes them to go brown, apparently used by Archie Braddock, and he claims it is a deadly bait for carp.

Mark Hodson · May 8, 2005

I have found that the older and smellier the maggots, alive or dead, the better they seem to be for baiting up and attracting, apart from in the winter months when the fish seem to prefer a fresher bait. I now defrost my dead maggots 24 hrs before fishing and leave them in a bait box with a little monster crab flavour and garlic. They stink horrible but outfish anything else on their day.

ji1234 · May 8, 2005

Thank you gentlemen I will give these a try in time for the match on Saturday.

NottmDon · May 8, 2005

Thanks Merv and Mark I may well give smelly dead uns a go. Incidently I saw in a carp mag the other day that a bait company are selling frozen dead mags by mail order, betcha they dont come cheap!

ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one) · May 8, 2005

ji1234
---why do you particularly want to freeze them

ji1234 · May 8, 2005

Adrian used this method when I fished with him so I thought I would give it a go.

Cakey · May 8, 2005

brill when fried............no joking

ji1234 · May 8, 2005

At this rate I will be eating them after the fry up if the food at Tesco's is no good

Bob Roberts · May 9, 2005

Go to braddocksbaits.co.uk and you will find all you need to know about flavouring maggots, dead maggots, double deads, gassing and popping up deads.

And then you can learn the techniques for enhancing other baits from bread to meat, pellets, pastes, particles, groundbaits, worms and much more.

There's a mine of information on baits and it's all given freely.

Freezing Maggots

ji1234

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paul williams 2

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swordsy

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Fishing Gimp

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NottmDon

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Merv Harrison

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Mark Hodson

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ji1234

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ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)

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Bob Roberts

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