Dead maggots

[S-Kippy]

Is there a particular way of doing these ?

I normally just freeze them but the last lot I did were next to useless.....little more than skins. I've never had them go like this before and I must have done something wrong. They looked awful and I really had to sort through them to find any worthy of the hook.

Am I missing something or am I doing something wrong ?

 

[john step]

Thats what I do. Just bag them, expel the air and put in the freezer. I have used them after defrosting and then re freezing. They look awful but I doubt the fish mind. They still catch.
If you think about how tench and carp will sift their mouth and taste buds through all sorts of evil smelling muck on the bottom its apparent they wont mind old skins of maggots.
It makes me smile when I read of the advice from experts about having the freshest of maggots and sieving the groundbait to within an inch of its life to then go and watch carp etc grubbing about in the foulest silt you that would stink your hands with should you get any on them.

Howls of protest to follow??

 

[tigger]

Am I missing something or am I doing something wrong ?

I reckon, the thing your doing wrong is using dead maggots.

Only time i'd use dead maggots would be if I had nothing else.

Deffo agree with John regarding not having to use the freshest of bait though. I prefer maggots that have been hardened off in the fridge for a few days or even several weeks during the winter. Fresh ones just stretch out and die very quickly in cold water.

 

[S-Kippy]

I'm using dead uns for a reason. The bottom is very hard and rocky....live ones would disappear in seconds.

 

[nottskev]

If you freeze them, it's best to keep them in water when you're using them, like casters. They degrade very quickly exposed to air.
An alternative which doesn't make them stretch and keeps them plump: Tie a small amount - say 1/4 pt - in a tied poly bag, put the bag in a dish or bowl with an inch of warm water. Add water from a boiled kettle gradually, raising the temperature over a few minutes. Find some way to keep the bag pressed down - it will want to float. Over the time, the maggots speed up, slow down, stop moving expire. Raise the temperature too quickly and they blanche and lose condition. It's a faff but you get a de luxe dead maggot.

 

[rob48]

Don't put lively active maggots straight in the freezer. It's best to have them in the fridge for twelve hours or so to slow them down, then bag them, freeze, and immerse in water to thaw.

 

[RMNDIL]

Riddle them, bag them up tight and bung in the freezer. When defrosting ALWAYS defrost in water and KEEP them in water. Air will make them go black and like mush

 

[peterjg]

Buy some of those clippy boxes, half fill with filtered water, add liquid flavour, add live maggots until nearly full, put on lid and shake then freeze. When next going fishing remove them in time so that they thaw out. Keep them in the water or they will slowly darken in colour. Catch fish!

 

[markcw]

Save faffing about, buy them ready frozen . ?

 

[mikench]

Willy Worms sell dead maggots! It seems strange to me that such a disgusting thing as a maggot has a value dead or alive. I’m not convinced about dead maggots but they are better, just, than none at all.

 

[S-Kippy]

Save faffing about, buy them ready frozen . ?

I did...once. They were absolutely rank and unuseable. I complained and got me money back. It must be something I did with this particular batch, never had a problem before.

 

[S-Kippy]

Willy Worms sell dead maggots! It seems strange to me that such a disgusting thing as a maggot has a value dead or alive. I’m not convinced about dead maggots but they are better, just, than none at all.

Dead maggots do not crawl off and disappear into the bottom so you can put a carpet of bait down and fish over it. Neither do they attract "bits" anything like as much as a wriggly live one. Casters work in the same way but are more expensive if you are looking to put a decent sized bed of bait down. The fish dont care that they're dead.

A lot of ts stock them now and they wouldn't if there was no demand for them and there would be no demand if they didn't work....which they do.

 

[markcw]

I did...once. They were absolutely rank and unuseable. I complained and got me money back. It must be something I did with this particular batch, never had a problem before.

I got some when I was in Devon as a back up bait, they were in a sealed bag, I paid the same as a pint of live maggots,
Decent maggots,

 

[nottskev]

Save faffing about, buy them ready frozen . ?

From some of the stuff I've seen, some tackleshops bag up and freeze low-grade bait. Do your own and you know what you're getting.

 

[tigger]

Maggots crawling into the substrate is a myth, unless it's a layer of leaves or big gaps inbetween stones. Even then, for the bigggest part the maggots can't go under the stones unless theres a hollow.. They can't crawl into the substrate as they have no purchase to enable them to burrow. That includes soft sand .

I know this for certain as i've watched them in a fish tanks with various substrates from sand to small pebbles. They don't live very long either, and they soon die and just lie there. Same applies to worms also, most of them can't burrow under anything unless theres an opening they can get purchase on.

I've also taken note of the fishes reactions to both dead and living maggots and worms. The living maggots and worms are much preferred and the dead ones are only eaten when there are no more living ones and the fish get less picky through hunger. Very often, the dead ones will be left to become full of fungus and rot, so in a tank they need removing before that occurs.

 

[nottskev]

And yet, I fish a couple of places where deads beat live maggots hands down as a hookbait and in a feeder. And I didn't start off believing that, the opposite - it seemed like a crazy idea. I tried them sceptically when there was a trend for them starting, and was quite surprised by the results. In addition, deads sandwich neatly with minimal groundbait in an open end feeder, and pack into a small ball of groundbait without breaking it up and don't fold over to stop the hook point going in, as can happen with lives . They're not an everyday bait for me, but an excellent bait in the right place.

 

[mikench]

If I choose to use maggots as a hook bait I’ll stick to live ones. I will put dead maggots and castors into my gb mix on occasion.

 

[Keith M]

I have only ever used dead maggots mixed in a groundbait and when I’ve been catching Bream on a silty bottom; which I rarely do nowerdays (I’m not that keen on catching bream anyway); normally I would much rather use freshly turned caster (which also don’t disappear into soft silt); or regularly feed live maggots than use stinky dead maggots skins. and I’ve never knowingly left a dead maggot on my hook; in fact a sudden lack of bites is a sure indicator to me that my hook maggot has become lifeless and needs changing.

On the average commercial; which is usually full of f1’s and other Carp and Bream all stirring up and colouring the water I’m sure it wouldn’t make much of a difference and I would be much more confident if I had to use lifeless dead maggots in this type of water; but on the type of venues that I usually fish; live maggots give me a lot more confidence.

I’m probably wrong (I often am ) but when I have dead maggots; even the birds on my garden bird table seem to leave them alone more often than not

Keith

 

[peterjg]

Sorry Tigger but we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. Live maggots can and do disappear into the bottom silt, I have seen this on more than a few occasions. Dead maggots work both when trotted or legered. As Nottskev said they work in a similar way to casters and tend not to attract the tiddlers as much as live maggots. Having said all that I still prefer to use bread!

 

[tigger]

Sorry Tigger but we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. Live maggots can and do disappear into the bottom silt, I have seen this on more than a few occasions. Dead maggots work both when trotted or legered. As Nottskev said they work in a similar way to casters and tend not to attract the tiddlers as much as live maggots. Having said all that I still prefer to use bread!

No need to be sorry peterjg, if you think maggots can burrow into the ground thats your opinion.
You say silt though, so they may well just sink into genuine silt as it's like a thick layer of wet dust. Even dead maggots will sink into silt, or be covered by it in any undercurrent.