The maggot must be the most popular bait used by anglers. The most common colours used are white, red and bronze but other colours are available such as blue, yellow, green and flouro. A lucrative business for maggot breeders as thousands of gallons per week are sold in the summer months.
Maggots are produced from eggs that have been laid by the blue bottle fly (Calliphora vomitoria) (also known as the blow-fly - the name blow-fly comes from an older English term for meat that had eggs laid on it, which was said to be fly blown. The first association of the term “blow” with flies was used by William Shakespeare in his plays Loves Labour Lost, The Tempest, and Antony and Cleopatra). The blue bottle fly lays its eggs on decaying meat, fish, poultry or other animal or bird. They have the ability to smell meat from distances of 5 miles (7 kilometers away). The commercial maggot farms will breed their maggots on dead carcases of cows, sheep, pigs etc available from the knackers yard. The life cycle of a blue bottle from fly to egg to maggot to pupae, depending on temperature, is approximately 10 to 20 days. The maggot will attain it's maximum size within about 3 to 5 days. Once it has reached its maximum size it stops feeding and will crawl away to a dry place where it can burrow into soil or similar matter to pupate into a tough brown cocoon (caster). It is when it has reached its maximum size and stops feeding that the maggot is ready for use by the angler as bait. It will show a black feed sack in the middle of its body (this also shows the angler that the maggot is fresh). If the maggot is kept cool it will be in best condition for about 4 or 5 days after coming off the feed. If kept in very low temperatures the maggots metabolic rate slows down and they can be kept for longer periods of up to 4 or 5 weeks, although personally I don't think they are as good at this age. After this time the maggot will start to shrink and the body start to become harder. This is the period it changes into the pupae (caster). The pupae then hatches into a blue bottle, the adults emerge to mate, beginning the cycle again.

Care of your maggots
When you buy your maggots from a fishing tackle shop they will be in sawdust, maize flour or other such medium. Some tackle shops sell them cleaned but not all do. In either case it is best if you clean them yourself. Do this by first riddling them. Then put them in a container of clean sawdust or maize flour for half an hour or so. This helps clean off any of the grease from the maggots body and also any excess dye used for the colouring. Riddle them again and put them back into a container of clean maize flour (this keeps them softer than sawdust) then put them into a fridge at low temperature until you are ready to use them. If they are straight off the feed you can soften them further by adding a slice of bread soaked in milk to the container. WARNING ... make sure the bread has drained and is not dripping with milk; maggots when wet can climb vertically and escape form out of any container. On the day of your fishing trip just check to see if they need another riddle and fresh maize.
You can flavour maggots to give them an added fish attractant. Do this with either a powder or liquid flavouring. If using a powdered maggot flavouring add it to the maize before you put the maggots in the fridge. Using a liquid flavouring it is best to use an atomizer and spray the maggots. This can also be done on the bankside as you are fishing but spray them about 20 minutes before use to allow the maggots body time to absorb the flavouring.. If you have a large amount of maggots to store split them up into smaller containers or shallower trays before placing in the fridge. Maggots crawling over each other generate heat and you may find if you have a large amount of maggots in one tub that they will generate so much heat that they will die.

Fishing with Maggots
Maggots can be used singly or in pairs or bunched. To use a maggot singularly, hook it thro the 'thick' end. If you find you are missing bites you can try hooking it though the 'thin' end, or through the middle 'handlebar' style. To use double maggot you can hook both at the 'thick' end or hook one 'thick' end and the other 'thin' end.
If the fish are feeding on the top of the water you can get your maggots to float: place some maggots in a bait tub with a little water and replace the lid (make sure there are holes in the lid). Being in water the maggots will take in more oxygen and start to float.
Maggots are also great to add to your groundbait. You can also kill maggots by scalding them with boiling water. They become stretched and thin and are ideal for adding to your groundbait. Also the scalded maggot can be used as hook bait. The amount of maggot you will needed for a fishing session depends on where and when you will be fishing. On a stillwater you could get away with using a pint of maggots; on a fast flowing river you may need a gallon or more.

To find where to buy maggots in your area check out Local Fishing Tackle and Bait Shops

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