Going "maggot free"?

[Robert P]

It's an interesting subject once you get in to it, but then I suppose we'd have to cover meat farming, dairy farming etc. With my workplace being on a farm complex and the other half being a farmer's daughter I probably don't want to think about any of that too much.
I sometimes juggle with the rights and wrongs of coarse fishing* - catch and release. But then I tell myself that the waterways wouldn't be in the same condition, and the aquatic life wouldn't be as abundant if it wasn't for the custodianism of anglers and the financial contribution of the rod licence.
We are, after all, all animals in the food chain and hunting, fishing and consuming is in our blood. We just need to be more sustainable with how we approach all of it.

*Trout fishing not so much as we eat what I catch - although C&R is becoming more and more common at stocked venues, which to me is slightly perplexing.

[Tony.J.Newman]

I.R.M I well remember our trips to Hainault Forest with buckets of livebait. First there was the journey on the Central Line then the seemingly endless walk to the lake!

[Duckett]

The very fact that we can discuss these issues without invoking the wrath of a deity tells me what a healthy pursuit fishing can be for those who are open minded, willing to learn and to change their opinion.

It’s the nature of life that we make, consciously or unconsciously, ethical compromises all of the time. The people who like to lie to themselves that they don’t do this are the ones who end up burning “witches” at the stake, lynching people with a different coloured skin and stoning those whose lifestyle they “disapprove” of. Nasty, dangerous people. Give me the honest compromiser every time.

Phil (a bundle of contradictions)

[Peter Wilde]

A thoughtful discussion of this tricky subject. We cannot know the answer as it is impossible to find what it is like to be another kind or organism.
I am with those who as they get older are less inclined to use any maggots or worms. There are lots of options for doing without - and no evidence that results will always suffer - there are some days and circumstances when bread, for example, is just the best bait. It scores very highly for convenience, too!

[Marmelade]

A thoughtful discussion of this tricky subject. We cannot know the answer as it is impossible to find what it is like to be another kind or organism.
I am with those who as they get older are less inclined to use any maggots or worms. There are lots of options for doing without - and no evidence that results will always suffer - there are some days and circumstances when bread, for example, is just the best bait. It scores very highly for convenience, too!

Peter, just out of interest how do you go about baiting a swim you`re using bread on? My great uncle used to fish bread only but just off the wall at the local dam. He fished about 2 metres out and could feed bits easily. How about further out?

[Kev D]

The very fact that we can discuss these issues without invoking the wrath of a deity tells me what a healthy pursuit fishing can be for those who are open minded, willing to learn and to change their opinion.

It’s the nature of life that we make, consciously or unconsciously, ethical compromises all of the time. The people who like to lie to themselves that they don’t do this are the ones who end up burning “witches” at the stake, lynching people with a different coloured skin and stoning those whose lifestyle they “disapprove” of. Nasty, dangerous people. Give me the honest compromiser every time.

Phil (a bundle of contradictions)

Very true. Between extremist protagonists are the moderates the compromisers ,the voices of balence or just the plain disinterested.
These are the folk who provide the greatest barrier to either faction and must be eliminated or forced to choose sides before the power struggle can begin in earnest .
I f l was forced to use nothing but bread as bait l would probably give up fishing in boredom but l am nevertheless in awe of the way some folk can work magic with a loaf.On the other hand ,l rarely use livebaits or eat freshwater fish but l would defend my right to do so even if l don't exercise it.
I guess come the Revolution both sides'll have me up against the wall wearing a blindfold.

[Willsmodger]

I would use maggots if they were more selective. How to attract a barbel when the bait has been scoffed by what seems like the entire world's population of bleak or minnows is a problem.

I've only been match fishing a couple of times, predictably hopeless, but while I understand the need to attract fish of any size, I'd prefer to sit it out for something that will pull back. If I blank, then I blank. My best barbel came from two grains of strawberry flavoured sweetcorn. A couple of beautiful river roach to punched bread. Pellets of various concoctions have also caught a few, and for some reason strawberry boilies are irresistible to Severn chub.

There are plenty of baits that catch fish before I get to maggots.

[Peter Wilde]

A thoughtful discussion of this tricky subject. We cannot know the answer as it is impossible to find what it is like to be another kind or organism.
I am with those who as they get older are less inclined to use any maggots or worms. There are lots of options for doing without - and no evidence that results will always suffer - there are some days and circumstances when bread, for example, is just the best bait. It scores very highly for convenience, too!

Peter, just out of interest how do you go about baiting a swim you`re using bread on? My great uncle used to fish bread only but just off the wall at the local dam. He fished about 2 metres out and could feed bits easily. How about further out?

Depends. Margin floater fishing for carp - just spread a few bits of crust on the top and wait and see. Bottom fishing further out - mash some bread up with a bit of water and throw out in small balls. Or as cloud bait, get some fine breadcrumb and again, throw out in balls after damping it slightly. In rivers for winter chub - often with a swimfeeder, or by thrown-in balls of mashed bread (but made more solidly so they sink fast). Nothing new here, it's all in the old books surely?

[Dom Andrew]

If one is religious, then I suppose one could always go to the confessional after every fishing trip to have one's sins forgiven.
Or, what about enriching the local shrink even more, and book a few sessions.

Joking aside, I use barbless hooks, and and don't like to dwell too much on how the fish feels about it.
It must hurt. In one video I've seen, I think it was 'A Passion for Angling', a carp is hooked, and you can see the carp suddenly jump up from the shock of being hooked. The jump is like one big shudder.

Dom.

[Kev D]

Of all the country interests l have or have had in my life ,freshwater fishing is the one that l would have the hardest time defending on moral grounds.
It's an amazingly unselective form of hunting with undersized and out of season fish being caught alongside legitimate quarry. Some anglers even deliberately target spawn laden fish in search of records ,and the fishing mags shamefully print the pictures while the EA turn a blind eye to the offence.
Choosing to use or reject live baits is a personal decision that doesn't really affect the intrinsics of sport.
In the UK there is a tendency to wrinkle our noses at those who fish for the pot. Yet that comes close to an honest expression of the hunting and survival instinct.
Angling greats like Walker and Stone stuffed specimen fish, FredTaylor wrote a cook book for them. Long before then anything from pike down to ,yes, sticklebacks were considered edible.
Far off , dark,unenlightened days. Thankfully we have risen above such barbarism to the point where we now only stick hooks in fish for fun.

" He nailed my head to the coffee table . But he was very nice about it. Very appologetic."