The bad one
Well-known member
Reading the thread “Another one bites the dust” (Steve2) and the comments made so far by the posters on it. We are clearly in some areas heading for a crisis in bait and bits of tackle “local tackle shops did/does carry. This is being mirrored in my area too, the last local tackle shop is up for sale as a going concern after 50 years of trading. Retirement being the case here of the second generation of the family owners.
It's all very well saying well you can buy the stuff you need on the internet and that's right up to a point, but when it comes to live good quality bait, maggots/casters, it's a different matter.
I'm not aware of anybody on the net being able to supply the quality of bait that my local tackle shop has supplied for 50 years.
And here is the crux of the oncoming problem as I see it - How with a tackle shop closing down on at least a monthly basis are we going to obtain it?
I see only one of two options here, you travel many miles to source it in a fast diminishing market, or you breed your own.
Travelling for it is if you have your own transport and the motivation to do it fine, but will stop the young, none car owners and older people from obtaining it, perhaps making it more likely the impromptu spur of the moment fishing trip down the canal, stillwater or river for a bag of silvers less likely. Perhaps another nail in the coffin of people going fishing or taking it up?
Breeding your own has it's problems, not least how many know how to do it? I have some idea from friends that have done it in the past but wouldn't claim to any sort of expert in it.
So with this in mind, it might well within a decade be something we all need to learn if we want to continue using maggots and casters as bait for silver fish.
So I start the debate here for those that know how to, to share their knowledge!
Lets be having it!
It's all very well saying well you can buy the stuff you need on the internet and that's right up to a point, but when it comes to live good quality bait, maggots/casters, it's a different matter.
I'm not aware of anybody on the net being able to supply the quality of bait that my local tackle shop has supplied for 50 years.
And here is the crux of the oncoming problem as I see it - How with a tackle shop closing down on at least a monthly basis are we going to obtain it?
I see only one of two options here, you travel many miles to source it in a fast diminishing market, or you breed your own.
Travelling for it is if you have your own transport and the motivation to do it fine, but will stop the young, none car owners and older people from obtaining it, perhaps making it more likely the impromptu spur of the moment fishing trip down the canal, stillwater or river for a bag of silvers less likely. Perhaps another nail in the coffin of people going fishing or taking it up?
Breeding your own has it's problems, not least how many know how to do it? I have some idea from friends that have done it in the past but wouldn't claim to any sort of expert in it.
So with this in mind, it might well within a decade be something we all need to learn if we want to continue using maggots and casters as bait for silver fish.
So I start the debate here for those that know how to, to share their knowledge!
Lets be having it!
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