How has the fishing been so far?

[Jeremiah T. Bagwell]

Can someone post a picture of what you all call maggots? I know what I call a maggot and all of our local tackle stores carry something very similar. It is called a wax worm. They are used for smaller species such as bream and crappie.

 

So to answer the other question, yes we have bream here. A lot of them to be precise.

 

I went bass fishing yesterday and it completely wore me out. The wind was 15-25 mph all day long. So I had to work to keep the boat in position. Bass will often school up during the summer near wind blown, main lake points. What this means is you either stay directly in the wind or you don't catch a lot. After 8 hours of fighting the wind, I just wanted to go home and take a little rest. It didn't help that I lost a nice bass just as I was heading back to the boat ramp. It was a good 4 1/2 - 5 pounder. It was only hooked by the rear treble. For those that haven't fished for bass, they are known for their explosive jumps. This is often the time when the will throw the hook out of their mouths. I call it the "arial hook remover." That is exactly what happened to the big one yesterday. At least that was the only big one I have lost so far this year. The rest have all been landed.

 

 

JT Bagwell

[singy]

A maggot is simple the lava of the blue bottle or house fly.

 

Stick some rotten meat somwhere, let the flies get to is, once the eggs hatch....

 

Bingo

 

Maggots

 

 

[ 11. July 2003, 04:39 PM: Message edited by: singy ]

[Jeremiah T. Bagwell]

Yeah,

That is exactly what our "Wax Worms" look like. They are a favorite for parents that want to take their kids to catch a lot of bream.

 

They cost about $1.00 for 24 of them.

 

JT Bagwell

[badexcuseforanangler]

Wow looks like we have found something that is actually cheaper in the UK than America !

At least be get a few hundred maggots for a few quid

[The Flying Tench]

It's fascinating how things are so different between UK and USA, particularly in the size of hooks and strength of line. Yet we're not so different from Europe, which makes me think it must be the fish rather than just angling culture.

 

Is it that they don't have small roach and perch? Or just that the bigger fish are so good that no-one bothers with them?

[Newt]

JT - maggots used in the UK are lots smaller than wax worms and are very simply the little critters you get when flys "blow" a piece of meat. Not sure you could use them on a hook much larger than about a #16 and mostly they use even smaller ones.

 

And the UK Bream is a completely different critter than our sunfish. I got bit by the same thing when I first heard them talking about catching 10lb Bream. Theirs is more similar to a shad on steroids. And AKA "snotty" since they are great producers of slime. Enough that a net used to land a bream or two is tough to clean after the fishing trip.

[Peter Waller]

Interesting comment from the US as to what constitutes a small hook. Back in the sixties, as far as the Broads were concerned, a size 10 was small, we normally fished size 8 but more likely a size 6. I always remember an old timer moaning about the Midlands holiday-makers and their fine tackle, complaining that they would ruin the Broadland fishing. Strangely enough it did go downhill! The theory being that they fished for fish long before they even had time time to breed. He might have been right. At one time, the 60's, the Midland rivers were very heavily match fished and they eventually went down-hill big time. Only now, since matches are far less popular, have they come back on form. Coincidence or not?