Mark Hodson

An interesting read Mark.
I hope you do -do another article on the customers views and rants etc, that will be really interesting.
You say that some of the maggots were fed on fish carcasses. Did you ever get any feedback on if these maggots gave an advantage over any other type of fed maggot?

Didn't get any feed back at all tell you the truth Baz, but most of the customers would be none the wiser about what their maggots were bred on unless they actualy asked. The fish bred bait did have a very distinctive smell though, more pungent and gave off a sharper smelling amonia.
On the odd occasion we had any old bait that was dyed and couldn't be turned for casters we used to sell it off for 50p a pint. When it was bought it would be just on the turn and not in the best condition and intended purely for mass baiting. The amount of customers that bought them and said they had a great day using them was amazing. I'm sure that the bait's condition had nothing to do with it though it was the fact as the bait was cheaper they bought more and were more likely to pile the bait in or be feeding more regularly, which is what they should off been doing week in and week out to get the best results.

You are probably right on that Mark.
It's nothing new but it does remind us to try flavouring maggots ourselves. What you said made me think of fishmeal flavoured maggots.
I once had a look in the cellars of a tackle shop, on how they kept their maggotts, and the turning process for casters. It looked very simiar to what you did in your article.
To be honest, I was amazed at the amount of time and effort it takes to keep maggots properly. I am sure it is something that most anglers give little thought to.

Mark.
Why is it that coloured maggots are hard to turn into casters?

The dye, especially if their reds or flouro's (more commonly known as disco's) causes a lot of the maggots to dye, about an extra 10 % more than whites, maggots breathe, and sweat through their skin and the dye can stop this killing them if they take on too much. (the dye is added to the feed before they are taken off, thats why if you squash a maggot you'll see their insides are the same colour as they have been dyed as well, especially evident with reds).
So when you are turning the bait, you come to riddle them to take the turning casters off while they are still a light colour and get them in airtight bags or containers to keep them fresh.If you use dyed bait you get two major problems, on the handriddles you end up with the freshly turned casters and the dead maggots that are killed by the dye, sorting the skins out by hand is immpossible due to the time constraints, customers want a pint of neat casters, they don't want casters with some skins in. The second problem is that dyed bait gives you an immediately dark caster, people like light coloured caster, firstly because they look fresh and also they have the choice then to give them some air and darken them to their own preference.

Its all about presentation and having the best looking, freshest bait you can, a shop's reputation, especially if you have a lot of match anglers, is dependant on the quality of your bait.

I have no problem myself with turning dyed bait for casters for my own personal use as I know they may look dark but they are fresh and I don't mind the odd skin being in there. Customers when they are paying ?2.50 or more for a pint of caster naturally want a good bait and who can blame them, thats why whites are always used.

Thanks Mark.
I once asked in a number of tackle shops if they would show me their maggot/caster set up.
Only one took the time to show me around, (Daves of Middlewhich) It is the furthest of all the tackle shop to where I live, but that is the one I use all the time, simply because as you have said, they have something called a cutomer care relationship.

Very interesting article Mark. When I was younger and caving hard I fancied working in the up and coming Out Door Centres taking people caving. However, for all the same reason you gave for working in a tackle shop not being as attractive as it seems were equally true for working in an Out Door Centre and like you said it doesn't pay the mortgage. Interesting point Mark about the owner not being a fisherman, how many electricians, plumbers and joiners leave their employers to start up their own businesses to find out its not that easy getting their customers to pay up on time etc?
Mark in your opinion, would you say that there's a decline in the sale of live baits compared to that sold in the 70's & 80's?
With all the prep work I can now see why selling live bait via mail order would be problematic, but with the decline of the local fishing tackle shop, who ever cracks that one may be on to a winner?
Once again Mark I enjoyed your article.

John, because the fisheries and methods that dominated in the 70's and 80's have changed, so have the bait sales. The demise of rivers as the anglers no.1 venue and being replaced by the commercial water has seen live bait sales reduce dramatically. However, I, like many anglers will not go fishing for any species apart from pike or zander without at least half a pint of maggots and a few worms in the bag just in case. The humble maggot or worm will always catch you a fish when every pellet, boilie or paste has bee ignored.

Hi! Mark. Your article brought back lots of memories for me as we had our own tackle shop for 14 years in the 60s & 70s when casters was all the rage.My husband sometimes had to get up in the middle of the night to riddle them off before they went to far. You have to catch them just right or you had moaning customers.As you said you don't have much time to go fishing yourself and with us both fishing we could hardly ever go together.We too have also had maggots crawling up the fridge walls when the compreser burht out in the night