Everything you need to know about maggots and how to fish with them
The maggots is without the most popular choice for bait amongst anglers. Regardless of colour or type, manufacturers easily sell thousands of gallons of the bait during peak fishing months.
Knowing how to properly use them as your bait is one of the key factors in ensuring that your fishing trips are as fruitful as ever, so because of this, we’ve written this article in the hopes of presenting the key information you need regarding maggots.
So, without further adieu, here are the main things you need to know about maggots and fishing practices with them.
How maggots are grown and manufactured
Maggots come naturally from eggs laid down by blow flies. These specific species of flies lay their eggs down on dead animal carcasses or decaying meat and fish. With great ability to smell potential grounds for laying eggs, blowflies have no problems scattering them across different areas.
If we’re talking about commercial maggots produced in a factory setting, then of course, the whole process is a bit different. These companies usually purchase dead animal carcasses of pigs, cows, sheep, etc. from slaughterhouses to provide feeding opportunities for their maggots.
The typical growing time for a single maggots to reach its maximum size is typically around 5 days, depending on the conditions in climate that they’re growing in. Just as it stops growing, the maggot becomes suitable for angling use.
Another pro tip for maggot use that not enough people talk about is their storage. If kept in cool conditions, maggots can stay alive up to a week. So, if you’re stacking up before your fishing trip, this is good to know if you won’t be using them immediately.
Even lower temperatures can help maggots survive for up to a month, however, many experts argue that their bait potential at that stage is a bit compromised.
Taking care of your maggots
When you buy a set of maggots from your local tackle shop, they’ll typically come in a container filled with sawdust or a similar material. This is typically enough to ensure that they’re clean and have a proper place to be in.
However, it’s important to note that not all angling shops sell them this way. If that’s the case for you, then you might want to ensure a proper container for them. Simply riddle them a couple of times, and fill your container with sawdust.
To take your maggots to the next level, you might want to add some flavor enhancers to attract more fish when you’re angling. They usually come in liquid or powder. Give some time (at least 20 minutes or so) for the flavor to be absorbed by the maggots.
Congratulations, you got yourself a proper self of bait and you’re ready so set off fishing.
How to fish maggots
It’s typical for maggots to be used either in bunches or as single worms. In order to properly hook them up to your set up, attach your maggots by the thick end through the middle.
If you want to use two of them at the same, attach one through the thick end of the hook and then leave the other one on the pointy end.
For use in bunches, maggots can be a great asset to your groundbait. You can either incorporate them into your fish mix that you're planning to use live, or have them killed with boiling water.
By staying a bit in the water they will become thinner and easier to incorporate in your bait.
Finally, there’s the amount of maggots to consider for your fishing trip. This largely depends on the time of water you're fishing in. Stillwater will require less since the bait will pretty much be in the same place, whereas flowing water might mean a gallon of maggots for a single trip.
All in all
In this article we’ve discussed the essentials of maggots. They are a wonderful piece of bait to include into your arsenal and with these tips and info, we’re sure you’ll have a successful fishing trip.