What colour maggots

Kevan Martin · Nov 28, 2003

Hi all,

After fishing a club match on the river last Sunday it got me wondering about the colour of maggots that we use. OK I drew in a bad area but managed to put a few a fish together for nowhere.

I prefer to use reds on the rivers this time of year, why I don't know. During the summer months I tend to favour using bronze, again I dont know why.

What do you guys use?

Terry Comerford · Nov 28, 2003

With each pint of bronze I mix in a handful of reds and swap occasionally to a red on the hook.
All year round.

Dave Slater · Nov 28, 2003

I like yellow maggots on stillwaters. Tench seem particularly fond of these. On the rivers I generally use either white or bronze in the summer and autumn and red in the winter. Roach seem particularly fond of red maggots.

William Spencer · Nov 28, 2003

good thread.
when i fished matches i'd always take reds,whites,bronze and yellows.each one according to literacy should catch different fish.bronze and casters the roach bait par excellence-not so i found out.i caught the majority of my fish and still do to red maggots.
just however fish see is still a mystery.some say they see colour,others black and white.one theory is that they see through the infra-red spectrum(this one i don't buy)like on the film predator.
the human eye is made up of millions of optic nerves of red blue and green.the red nerves outnumber the others by three to one.anybody had the colour blind test?you know what i'm trying to illustrate then.
the human eye will always pick up red first.
remember that good old black and white tv?watching snooker?the red balls where more prominent than the other colours(apart from black).i'm not saying that fish see like we do but as aforementioned my best results have fallen to a red bait.
maggots,worms,source boilies a lovely reddy brown,sweetcorn,the good old mepps perch spinners with the red hairs,red groundbaits.
once again kevan cracking thread will be good to read other anglers views.

Stephen Mc Cormack · Nov 28, 2003

Always have mixed white and red maggots almost always red maggot on the hook never seem to get anything with white on the hook, also now more confident with red on and I think this makes a difference too.

jason fisher · Nov 28, 2003

if im fishing magott on rivers i always take reds and whites, because you can't get proper bronze any more.

reds for perch and roach, the bigger ones.
whites for everything.
i switch frequently between the 2 colours, generally i'll catch a few on one colour then when it goes through without getting a confident bite i'll change.
till they get finnicky on the other colour.
then change back.
all the time i am feeding both colours, usually you'll get a good fish the first run through on a colour change.
the other thing i do is feed a few casters on each run through, but not fish them for 2 or 3 hours. then onto caster for a string of good fish.
still feeding the same mix of all 3 all the time.

goff dyer · Nov 28, 2003

Whites and Reds down here Wales, the missus got me some flouro pink ones never seen them before.
We fished this little lake and the Rudd it the holy crap out of them, they certainly loved them that day.

Budgie Burgess · Nov 29, 2003

Much the same as William says.One thing though when waters are heavily match fished I think fish can be come preocupied on what is going in.Look at the Warickshire Avon in the 70,s with caster then after that Bronze maggot?

Even though I generally prefer red on the hook I have found that the Fluorescent orange pinkies fished two on a size 20 are a great winter roach bait in coloured water.

kyle kitchen · Nov 29, 2003

i use mainly reds but the odd time i use bronze aswell

Wolfman Woody · Nov 29, 2003

Places round here call the Flourescent ones 'Discos'. Useful to have a few mixed in with your reds on hard days. Also you get disco pinkies, great for small fish on very hard freezing days when a gudgeon or two can win a match.

Peter Jacobs · Nov 30, 2003

I totally agree with Jeff regarding 'disco' maggot and pinkie. Both are excellent colours for either hard-fished venues, or difficult conditions and can often induce a bite when the more normal colours fail.

I remember that there was a movement some time back to have these banned from some Midlands venues as people believed that they gave an unfair advantage to the few that sould get them at the time. Fortunately, availability became far more widespread and the effort failed.

That said, I have not found a tackle shop around here that either stock them, or are prepared to order small quantities.

Now that I have reloacated back to the UK I am hoping to get back into fishing a few local matches. Whilst I remain a confirmed River Angler I find that I really do miss the competitive element from time to time.

Robert Pearson · Apr 14, 2004

i use about 6 pints of bronze and 1 pint reds when i fish the river ure at north bridge and about six pints of hemp

mel Crighton · Apr 14, 2004

been today with mixed red yellow blue green white orange casters fished the feeder close to the far margin reds on the hook loads small pasties and tench a good day as it happens
the Venue ........private

JaMsTeR · Aug 7, 2004

i use a mixture of red and bronze. always works well for me.

Budgie Burgess · Aug 8, 2004

Anyone ever caught on the blue ones though!

Peter Jacobs · Aug 9, 2004

Budgie,
Despite many different experiments with both blue and green maggot none of my match club ever had much success with these baits. However, remember that these trials were done in Norway.

We had far superior results with "disco" maggot and pinkies in yellow, orange and flouro-red.

For some reason I cannot seem to get disco maggots where I live in Wiltshire.

Phil M · Aug 9, 2004

Only use bronze,whites and reds, never had any luck with other colours.
On canal matches though I alway take some home bred sour bran specials.

Fill a jam jar to the brim with a mixture of bran and milk, add a spoonful of brown demera sugar.
Place the jar in the shed and after 3 or 4 days you will have 20/30 tiny white maggots feeding on the now curdled, mixture.

Allow these to develop to large size and you have a days supply for the hook, of snow white, sour bran specials, that no big canal roach or bream can resist.

Budgie Burgess · Aug 9, 2004

Yeagh same here Peter.Really rate the fluro orange"Disco" pinkies i the winter for roach in coloured water.

john conway · Aug 9, 2004

Robert, if you are using 7 pints of maggots and 6 pints of hemp, do you load up the swim first? How often are you casting, I?m assuming you are using a feeder, but you could also be talking loose feeding with stick or waggler?
Finally how much does that little lot cost you?

Clikfire · Aug 9, 2004

I'm boring compared to all you lot, I just use whites. They seem to catch anything thats going and I am not convinced that fish see in colour anyway. I think its the wrigling that does the trick. Although I would be interested in trying worm coloured maggots just to see!

What colour maggots

Kevan Martin

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Terry Comerford

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Dave Slater

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William Spencer

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Stephen Mc Cormack

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