Almost all species of freshwater fish like maggots .
Disadvantages:
Keeping them in the fridge might upset your other half .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
There are three main types of maggot that anglers use in coarse fishing today. They come from the Bluebottle (Calliphoria vicini), the Greenbottle (Lucilia caesar) and the common Housefly (Musca domestica Linnaeus). All three have slightly different characteristics. Then there's a fourth type of maggot that only hardened anglers use, these are known as "Gozzers". I will talk about gozzers, how to get them etc., later in the review, but for now lets have a look at the breeding habbits of flies.
Life cycle of a fly ==============
First an adult female lays its eggs onto some decomposing meat/fish. The eggs then hatch out after a few days, these are now baby maggots. The maggots then feed on the meat until they are large and fat, at this point they stop feeding and quite quickly turn into casters (this only takes a few days or so). The casters (pupa) then remain dormant for a further few days and then out from the shell of the caster emerges a fully grown fly, although not mature enough to start breeding. Then the life cycle repeats ad infinitum.
This is the most common fly that is used in production of maggots. They breed very efficiently and produce loads of large maggots that have a quite tough skin. This makes them ideal for general use, wether they are used as loose feed or as a hookbait.
The Greenbottle fly also produces a high quality maggot however they are smaller in size to that of the Bluebottle. This makes them ideal for loose feed and hookbait too, when shy feeding fish will not take ordinary maggots since they associate large quantities of large maggots with a hook, they will readily take the smaller offerings presented to them. These maggots are commonly called "Pinkies", why I haven't a clue since it bears no similarity to the colour of the maggot itself.
The Housefly produces a maggot that is very similar to that of the Greenbottle, both in size and colour. However these maggots are a lot softer, and if you squeeze them gently they will almost certainly burst so great care should be taken if you intend on using these as a hookbait. They are more commonly known as "Squatts". A typical Housefly will lay approx. 150 eggs at a time, and will do this on several occasions during its life. So you can see that they really are "little breeders".
Which end's which? =================
If you look closely at a maggot you will notice that it has two rather different ends, one being pointed and the other rather blunt. The pointed end is the maggots head, it uses this both for eating, and with the aid of several hook like legs, for walking too. It extends its body forward, hooks whatever is underneath it, and drags and compresses its body to enable it to move. On the rear of the maggot you will notice three black dots, one a little smaller than the other two. The smaller one is the grubs anus, and if you intend on hooking a maggot this is the place you should nick your hook through (the anus). The body of the maggot is very similar to that of a caterpillar. It has several segments that makes up the body, which as I said earlier, helps it to move around by compressing and stretching.
Are they harmful? ==============
Well the answer to this is yes and no. If you intend on picking up maggots and using them then they're probably not harmful to you in any way. However since the average maggot contains over 350,000 bacteria I wouldn't suggest that you keep them in your sandwich box. Back in the 1980's you could have said that bronze maggots were very harmful to your health, this was because the dye used, ChrysiodineR, was found to cause cancer. This was replaced with a far more suitable non-toxic dye, and since then safer dyes have been used. If you intend on warming your maggots up on a cold winters morning, to make them wriggle more, you can put them in your mouth, If you have a cold be careful since it only takes one hard cough or sneeze to alow you to swallow them. (They've never done me any harm though....lol)
Cost =====
Way back in the 1980's you could purchase a pint of maggots for around £1, but today you should expect to pay in the region of £4 to £5 per pint. So they aren't too expensive, but if you fancy making your own "Gozzers" which are very soft, milky white and the best maggot bar none I'll tell you how to do it a little later.
Storage =======
Since maggots turn into casters at an alarming rate you need to prolong how long they remain as maggots. This is quite simple but you will need an understanding partner.....or another fridge. By placing your bait container, with air-holes in the lid, into your fridge the maggots metabolism slows down. This will prolong the life of your maggots for up to two or even three weeks. Just make sure that you check your box every other day and remove any dead grubs from your container.
Breeding your own Gozzers ======================
The equipment you will need is as follows;
Pigs heart or Sheeps heart 1 large bucket 1 small bucket Newspaper Large cloth (to fit over the large bucket) Bran Soft brown sugar Riddle
Take the heart and cut it quite deeply several times, from the top to the bottom. Now remove any congealed blood from the centre of the heart. With this done you should now place the heart into the small bucket and take it outside, preferably the bottom of the garden. Now you should leave it there for somewhere in the region of half a day to one whole day. When you go back you should notice lots of little white specs, these are the eggs. Now you should gently wrap the heart in some old newspaper and place it back into the small bucket. This in tern should be placed in the larger bucket and the cloth fastened around the top. (The second, larger bucket, is used to insulate the eggs from extreme temperatures of cold at night and heat during the day). This should now be taken to a shady part of your garden and left for a couple of days. If all goes well when you return to inspect your eggs you should notice lots of small maggots. This is the time that they start to feed so you should place the heart, with the newspaper still on into one of your buckets that you have placed some bran and some soft brown sugar in, you can add a little cream off the top of a pint of milk to the heart later if you wish. Now replace the cloth and leave them in the cool for about five days. When you return you should notice that the maggots have grown big and juicy, if they haven't then it's probably due to it being a little cold for them so more time will be needed for them to mature. When they are fully mature you will notice that they have stopped feeding, so you should now seperate them from all the mess and place them into a clean container with fresh bran and sugar inside. You should keep them quite cool from now on. The bran and sugar will toughen up their skins a little so that they won't explode when you try and use them as a hookbait. They should now be left for about 24 hours in a cool spot. Now It's time to riddle the maggots, this will seperate all of the bran and sugar from the grubs, their skin will be slightly tougher but they will be full of lovely sweet juice. They can now be placed into a bait container, with a lid that has holes in, now even more bran should be used to top up the container. This lot of bran helps absorb any moisture thus preventing the maggots from sweating. Now place the container in a fridge and keep it there until you intend on using them.
All of the effort is well worth while because you end up with a superior bait compared to any purchased one. It's a bit like comparing a free range chicken to a battery hen, they are both poultry but one tastes so much better than the other.
Colours =======
OK when you go into any tackle shop you will see maggots with a variety of differing colours. This is due to them eating dyed food. The colours themselves do serve a purpose, on some days red maggots will out perform all of the others, and yet on another day it will be bronze ones. So by purchasing a pint of mixed (all the same type of maggot, but with different colours) you should be able to find the one that works best for you on any given day.
Other uses ==========
I know that this review is supposed to be just about maggots and thier use in fishing, but I must tell you about the wonderful things that these little grubs do. I'm talking about their use in hospitals. When certain wounds become severely infected, to such a point that amputation may be a cause of action, these little grubs are used. They are grown in sterile conditions in laboratories, then applied to open wounds and a breathable membrane placed over the top. The grubs then go to work, by eating all the desiesed flesh and puss. They are changed at regular intervals because several courses of these little critters are needed to clean such bad wounds. The maggots do not eat any living (good) flesh so you can rest assured they won't find them burrowing through your body. And yes they do use this method in the NHS.
Well I hope you've found this information useful, and I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I have writing it. If there's anything that you think I've missed please let me know.
(+) Cheap to do when done correctly, good results. (-) FEAR FACTOR - You will look silly if you do it without results. Difficult to carry a large amount.
