Keeping maggots

Where I live in London, there is nowhere really local to buy maggots. My nearest tackle shop (that sells good maggots) is a ten mile round trip. With maggots costing £3.40 a pint and the cost of fuel it is not really practical to make the trip the day before I go fishing every time. Buying them on the way is not an option as the tackle shops are all closed at 06:00 in the morning. I have been caught out a few times by getting to a fishery mid-week only to discover they are out of maggots. Recently I have been buying two or three pints at a time which is more than enough for me to use on three, four or even five trips to the bank.

The maggots are kept in the fridge at 5ºC. I usually riddle them every two or three days and change the bedding. This works fine and the maggots seem nice a healthy. I have been using wheat bran but it is not the easiest material to separate from the maggots as it 'riddles' through a maggot sieve and is too coarse to use anything finer. My usual method is to keep the sieve moving as I pour the maggots in and most of the maggots stay in the riddle and most of the bedding falls through. I then set the riddle down on a second bowl and let the maggots do their thing, while I am picking out the maggots that fell through with the bedding, by hand.

Okay, it works but I am sure there must be a better way. What bedding do you guys use, and how do you separate it from the maggots when changing it?

Ralph.

I store my maggots at 2 degrees Celsius and put a **** ton of sawdust with them and cover them with a pair of tights instead of a lid and i never need to change the bedding

I freeze mine and take out as many as I want for a trip on the morning, thaw them in the water when I get there. Totally hassle free.

Freezing would be the answer for me, but are there times where it is preferable to use live maggots?

Call me a cynic, but is the use of live maggots a myth kept alive by the bait trade?

Ralph.

If faced with the same problems then I’d be using maize meal and then use a pinkie riddle as the maggots wouldn’t drip through that so quickly and the maize meal will still flow through,I'd riddle them every day too

One or two fisheries that I use will reserve maggots for you if you pay for them when ordering by phone.

The rule of thumb that I was told years ago by a breeder wasthat fresh maggots will last approx. 1,100 degree hours . . . . So in your case I’d be using a cool box to keep them in from point of purchase to getting home. . . but then I am rather OCD when it comes to my baits

Dead or Alive? I dunno if live are better, I do very well on deads and I notice that Des Shipp in his Think Fishing E Video Mag thingy uses them so they are good enough for me.

All I can really suggest is try them an see what you think. I don't use maggots at this time of year because I get bitted out especially by tiny perch that have invariably swallowed the hook down to their 4rse. I use meat, pellet and sweetcorn now.

Live maggots for the hook and dead for feed in my perfect world

Keep them at 3 and leave the lids off! Don't put to many in a container, so spread them out in containers keeping them in thin layers per container.

I never bother with maize or shavings etc unless they sweat which is usualy in winter and I have a few pints in there.
They look pretty much dead if you keep them cold enough but they soon liven up once out the fridge. The cold slows their metabolism right down so they don't shrink as fast and they often last me for 6wks or more in winter.

Don't forget to freeze your maggots before you fridge them, it will speed up the cooling as hot maggots can take over 24hrs to cool down in a fridge and even then they can still sweat up.

Rule of thumb I use is
Fresh from the tackle shop - freeze for 10mins
Hot and sweaty from a warm car - freeze for 20mins

Just remember to set a timer ffs otherwise you'll forget and you'll be left with the dilemma the next day whether to get fresh ones as you're not sure of they are dead or will come round

The rule of thumb if that happens is,
You don't get new ones and the maggots don't revive so you're be left with deads
Or you get fresh ones and the frozen ones you've taken along as feed are all fine and alive by the time you get fishing

Sod's law

Thanks for all the advice. I will try freezing a few maggots and see how I get on with them. Maize flower does seem to be the better option for bedding and I will get some of that.

I don't have a dedicated bait fridge so I am not sure I fancy open boxes of maggots in the main fridge. Maggots are only stored there 'under licence' and only if they are double bagged. The licence will be revoked if one maggot manages to escape!

Ralph

theartist said:

Don't forget to freeze your maggots before you fridge them, it will speed up the cooling as hot maggots can take over 24hrs to cool down in a fridge and even then they can still sweat up.

Rule of thumb I use is
Fresh from the tackle shop - freeze for 10mins
Hot and sweaty from a warm car - freeze for 20mins

Just remember to set a timer ffs otherwise you'll forget and you'll be left with the dilemma the next day whether to get fresh ones as you're not sure of they are dead or will come round

The rule of thumb if that happens is,
You don't get new ones and the maggots don't revive so you're be left with deads
Or you get fresh ones and the frozen ones you've taken along as feed are all fine and alive by the time you get fishing

Sod's law

Click to expand...

Thanks! That is a good tip, I will certainly be giving that a go.

Ralph