Dead Maggots on Rivers?

[ExeAngler]

Morning,

After a session this Sunday I have had rather a lot of maggots left over. Seemed a shame and waste, (in these hard times), to throw away good bait. So I have frozen them as Dead Maggots. Now, I have found them good on a local stillwater for Bream and Perch but I intend to be doing a lot of river fishing this winter, (once the weed dies back). Anyone had much success with them on running water? be it, float, ledger, feeder or free line? Regards ExeAngler.

[EricW]

I use them sometimes when I don't have live ones to hand. I've used them for trotting and caught plenty of small fish on them and often use them in a bait dropper when laying on with worms for perch. The fish I've caught often regurgitate plenty of them. I stick any leftover live ones that are getting old or am not going to be able to use before they turn in the freezer for emergencies but personally I would always choose live maggots. Deads will lay there until they are found, live ones will disperse and disappear from view quite quickly in my experience so you can choose which suits what you want the best. When the fishing is hard, I like live ones so I can keep a steady trickle falling through the water without building up a huge pile of the things on the bottom.

[Mr B]

I let em go in the grass.
The birds will eat some and those that survive do a fantastic job, if only we understood half of it. All part of the echo system.
I read a post recently about putting them in a plastic bag and extracting all the air from it.. they will then go into a sort of lockdown and live for a week and come back to life! Amazing! born survivors, were would we be without them… and we still pay for them … and encourage Maggot farms..

Ok, my views, and they will differ from many.


Mr B

[Pallenpool]

I let em go in the grass.
The birds will eat some and those that survive do a fantastic job, if only we understood half of it. All part of the echo system.
I read a post recently about putting them in a plastic bag and extracting all the air from it.. they will then go into a sort of lockdown and live for a week and come back to life! Amazing! born survivors, were would we be without them… and we still pay for them … and encourage Maggot farms..

Ok, my views, and they will differ from many.


Mr B

Absolutely agree with you sir. A refreshing viewpoint.