10 reasons maggots are awesome

1. ANY FISH ANYWHERE Maggots are pretty much the only bait that any fish of any size will eat, whether it’s a small gudgeon or one of the biggest carp in the country. Take a pint of maggots and some light tackle for a session and you’ll very rarely blank. 2. LOOK FOR SIGNS OF FRESHNESS A quick look at your maggots will quickly let you know how fresh they are. You should be able to see a black mark on the body of each grub – this is actually its stomach and contains the remains of its last feed. As the maggot gets older, the spot will reduce in size until it disappears altogether. At this point the maggot will start to pupate and turn into a caster. Therefore the larger the black mark, the fresher the maggot. 3. DEAD GOOD FOR THE MARGINS Not only do maggots make an excellent live bait, they are also highly effective when dead. Dead maggots are a great bait for margin carp or fishing on the Method feeder. To prepare them, put the maggots in a large bowl and add cold water until they’re just covered. Then slowly pour boiling water on the maggots while stirring. Once they are all dead, add more cold water to prevent them scalding. Drain and seal in a plastic bag. 6. COATS OF MANY COLOURS Maggots are most commonly available in four colours – white, red, bronze and yellow. A few shops offer blue and green maggots known as ‘discos’ but these are produced in far less quantities. It’s actually very difficult to surface-colour maggots. Rhodamine is used to make red maggots and this is put on the meat that maggots feed upon. Yellow maggots are coloured using anatto, a food dye used in the production of butter. 7. BASIC LIFEFORMS They have no legs, but their front ends have mouths with hooks that help them grab at decaying flesh and other delectable food items. Despite their endless appetites, however, they lack a sophisticated digestive system. So as they move through a corpse or rotten food, they secrete fluid containing digestive enzymes to help them dissolve their foul meal. 8. DARK SIDE They always crawl away from light which is why they go through a riddle quickly.

4. SILENT WITNESS Not only are they are excellent fishing bait, they can also help solve crimes! Forensic entomologists can estimate the time of death in a murder case by studying the age of the maggots present on the body. 5. ADD SOME FLAVOUR Maggots can be flavoured for extra pulling power with either liquid or powdered products. When you are adding a liquid additive, riddle your baits first to remove any maize, dead maggots or sawdust, and sprinkle on the desired amount of flavouring as per packet instructions. Don’t overload the flavour as you will only do more harm than good. And you could potentially kill the maggots that you need to keep alive. If you choose to flavour your maggots with a powder, you will also need to riddle the baits and then add the flavouring. You can add quite a lot of powder flavour and a couple of great ones to try are Brasem (great for bream) and turmeric (great for roach and chub). 9. MAKE THEM FLOAT It is possible to make maggots float which enables you to fish them popped-up above a weed bed or even offer a bunch of wriggling maggots on the surface. All you need is a spare bait box and a spare lid. First, cut a large square in the bait box lid large enough for you to get your hand in. Tip enough water into the bait box to cover the base – you only need to cover it with a couple of millimetres of water. Now add a handful of maggots and let them wriggle around in the water for 20-30 minutes. Their survival instinct forces them to take on board enough air to ensure they don’t drown, therefore the maggots become buoyant and they will now float in your swim. 10. GOOD BREEDING Maggots can be bred on any number of carcasses from cattle and sheep to chickens and fish, and indeed where they are bred will affect what they are like. Maggots bred on beef tend to have tougher skins while those bred on fish can be softer and more watery. Most of the grubs that you get from tackle shops these days are bred on either fish or chicken carcasses.