Going "maggot free"?

[Marmelade]

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."

Everything done has it`s downside. Even walking through a field can unnerve sheep and cattle and lead to some human fatalities. If you sit at home, your life might be meaningless, or you may have arts that reflect the true nature of life. Hook selection is critical for the well being of fish. Size 20 barbless for maggot and 10 barbless for large fish is in my experience easy and causes no problems whatsoever. When I arrived in Japan they had large carp statues outside the train station. I was ever so excited. "They like carp here, that`s good". Turns out they were for the pot. Is that unenlightened?. People have no idea what it means. Enlightened will happily do more.

[Marmelade]

I will say a carp in the supermarket is one bloody, messy looking thing. I can`t understand why anyone would choose that over clean looking food. I liked the Alaskan salmon, oysters, shrimp, octopus and squid myself.

We would collect and eat Tanpopo though (dandelion). There are some real benefits to foods ignored these days. Research them and you might be surprised.

[Robert P]

This thread was never meant to be about the ethics of either using "live" bait, nor the ethics of catch and release freshwater angling itself. There are many arguments for and against angling, except the ones for angling seem to be based more on factual and scientific points rather than "it hurts" Vs "no it doesn't". The information is out there if you dig, certainly enough for me to have a clear conscience about how I fish.

Regarding actual live bait, If I had a pike rod and a keepsack (I don't) I would have no qualms about live baiting to catch the buggers that keep ruining my roach fishing sessions. It's four times in three sessions! Every decent chub/barbel/bream on the feeder has ended up being a bite-off/jack pike.

[Marmelade]

This thread was never meant to be about the ethics of either using "live" bait, nor the ethics of catch and release freshwater angling itself. There are many arguments for and against angling, except the ones for angling seem to be based more on factual and scientific points rather than "it hurts" Vs "no it doesn't". The information is out there if you dig, certainly enough for me to have a clear conscience about how I fish.

Regarding actual live bait, If I had a pike rod and a keepsack (I don't) I would have no qualms about live baiting to catch the buggers that keep ruining my roach fishing sessions. It's four times in three sessions! Every decent chub/barbel/bream on the feeder has ended up being a bite-off/jack pike.

This thread has progressed. There is no science intelligent enough to say or show anything. I`ve never had a pike problem, I`d just choose a different swim.

[Marmelade]

Science flows to the point of "we get paid to be less or more than now"...finished.

[Robert P]

This thread has progressed. There is no science intelligent enough to say or show anything. I`ve never had a pike problem, I`d just choose a different swim.

My point is that if people want to discuss the ethics of our sport then I am sure a dedicated thread would provide better discussion, rather than going off topic on a bait forum.

Three sessions, three different swims, miles apart.

[Marmelade]

This thread has progressed. There is no science intelligent enough to say or show anything. I`ve never had a pike problem, I`d just choose a different swim.

My point is that if people want to discuss the ethics of our sport then I am sure a dedicated thread would provide better discussion, rather than going off topic on a bait forum.

Three sessions, three different swims, miles apart.

Some guy here had a crucian that held onto two maggots, then released them at the net. So we can have all kinds of things happening ^^. Bait, approach, it`s all the same.

[Kev D]

This thread was never meant to be about the ethics of either using "live" bait, nor the ethics of catch and release freshwater angling itself. There are many arguments for and against angling, except the ones for angling seem to be based more on factual and scientific points rather than "it hurts" Vs "no it doesn't". The information is out there if you dig, certainly enough for me to have a clear conscience about how I fish.

Regarding actual live bait, If I had a pike rod and a keepsack (I don't) I would have no qualms about live baiting to catch the buggers that keep ruining my roach fishing sessions. It's four times in three sessions! Every decent chub/barbel/bream on the feeder has ended up being a bite-off/jack pike.

I know from your original thread-starting post that your reasons for going maggot free have little to do with percieved ethics and more to do with the sort of fishing you favour.
True, the thread has moved-on a bit with some saying they don't like sacrificing living baits in the name of sport but l don't think anyone is judging anyone else.

Well l am ; but only the folk who seriously think a pregnant fish is a trophy catch.

Apart from that bit, there may have been the bulge of a tongue in my cheek when l wrote the greater part of my last post.
I don't really think it has gone too far off topic . You gave your reasons for going maggot free and others gave theirs ,which brought up the topic of personal ethics.
It does sound like spare rod for pike is in order!

[Lime&Flint]

In my return to general coarse fishing (with a break of many years, only fly fishing or using artificial lures), I haven't yet used any form of live bait; maggots, worms or derivatives of either. Partly because I've been able to catch on bread, corn and hemp and also because I don't want to have to drive to a tackle shop and keep maggots in my fridge etc. I like the worms in my garden to keep on helping with the plants and veg patch, rather than pressing them into service on a hook.

If the aim is to enjoy being on the bank and have a few larger fish rather than loads of tiddlers (some of the tiddlers that take bread balls are small enough thanks!), then do I really need to worry about missing out on the deadliness of casters or the instant success of maggots?

I haven't even fully explored the number of different beans and pulses out there, or whatever flavoured pastes and pellets could be rustled up in the kitchen (without stinking it out and incurring the not inconsiderable wrath of SWMBO).

If I'm heading to the river for roach and dace etc I would struggle to leave home without a pint of red maggots. However I will be trying stewed wheat this year and a few other ideas. Also for perch fishing tactics, maggots are fantastic to get the small silver fish going which should bring in the stripes to investigate.

[Wanderer]

Its opened up a right

"CAN OF WORMS"

if you ask me.....