Larger alternative to maggots

[Newt]

Maggots are outstanding bait for many fish both large and small. Nasty at times though since if left alone you get lots of huge flies. Not fun to raise at home because of their diet.

 

As an alternative and especially if you are targeting larger fish and want to use larger hooks, how about mealworms?

 

Yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor

Dark mealworm, Tenebrio obscurus

(Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)

 

 

and a close-up with structural detail

 

 

Dead easy to raise and breed with the added advantage that when the things turn to adults, they don't fly so you can keep them around to lay eggs (ah ha, new batch of mealworms) and then politely die.

 

Great article for rasiing and breeding them

Here and another one Here or just google for 'raising mealworms' if you want more.

[j_s]

I mentioned these on another forum but all the responses I got were that they were not impressed with them.

But saying that I will try them this year.

[Newt]

LOL - I've gotten the same sort of response in the past but when I tried to pin folks down to specifics, it usually turned out they'd never tried them but just knew they wouldn't work.

 

I don't have many of the species that UK coarse anglers target so I can't be positive about using them over there but they certainly work well on many different fish over here.

[Sheepy]

Cant see why they wouldnt work. Could be another project for summer

[Steve Burke]

I have tried mealworms and indeed caught on them. Mine came from the local pet shop, but were very expensive compared with maggots. However, I never knew you could breed them easily.

[j_s]

Steve, did you find they produced better specimens or more bites etc?

[Dick Dastardly]

Shops used to have Wax worms in small red tubs for sale but as all ready said they were quite expensive.Never tried them but should have as a hookbait in conjunction with maggots I suppose.Will keep my eye out for some this season.

[Newt]

The wax worms are certainly lots harder to raise and the adults can fly so if you mess up, you got a house full.

 

Think I'll stick to mealworms meself.

[Steve Burke]

j_s:

Steve, did you find they produced better specimens or more bites etc?

They were the only animal bait I tried on that trip so I can't make comparisons. However, the chub certainly liked them!

[Andy Macfarlane]

I used to keep an Iguana and that was fed from time to time with mealworms. I used them a few times for trout but like Steve said, they wern't cheap so it wasn't something I repeated often.

They did work alright though.