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Maggots


Jeffwill

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Has anyone successfully bred their own maggots to a shop standard. Any tips regarding types of meat, getting the "right type of fly" to lay eggs, nurturing the little wrigglers and dying them, e.g. red.

 

I will try anything once (well almost anything!) and have just started my first breeding attempt. I have made a box, drilled some holes in the top and after being outside 5 days, the first eggs have been laid. I think the meat was too fresh to begin with. I also rubbed a bit of red food powder dye in some cuts I made into the meat.

 

Regarding a meat supply, has anyone tried road kill. A form of recycling too though not for the squeamish!

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Has anyone successfully bred their own maggots to a shop standard. Any tips regarding types of meat, getting the "right type of fly" to lay eggs, nurturing the little wrigglers and dying them, e.g. red.

 

I will try anything once (well almost anything!) and have just started my first breeding attempt. I have made a box, drilled some holes in the top and after being outside 5 days, the first eggs have been laid. I think the meat was too fresh to begin with. I also rubbed a bit of red food powder dye in some cuts I made into the meat.

 

Regarding a meat supply, has anyone tried road kill. A form of recycling too though not for the squeamish!

 

Hi Jeff, I thought I'd seen an old thread about this, I was right.

 

http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/breed-m...ggots&st=10

 

I echo the first few posts. Health and Safety issues, (and keeping on good terms with the neighbours), are things to consider.

 

I used to breed my own many, many years ago, (hence the forum name :) ), but it was a right pain, and I only did enough for hookbait.

I used to go to the local 'Hide and Skin' for loose feed maggots, give the guy a packet of fags, and collect what you wanted. (The amount used to depend on how many buckets full we could carry!)

If fishing a match on the Trent in those days you'd need at the very least a half gallon, more often a full one! Breeding them in that amount on a regular basis, was nigh on impossible for me.

 

Yes we did use road kill. Sometimes we would arrive late at the venue, because we had stopped to pick up that many rabbits on the way.

 

I wouldn't bother mate. The regulations covering it are numerous, and the fines for breaking them can be steep.

 

John.

Angling is more than just catching fish, if it wasn't it would just be called 'catching'......... John

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Has anyone successfully bred their own maggots to a shop standard.

 

 

I just tried this myself with great success. However, it can really get 'Rank' so if your in a neighbourhood you may want to reconsider. I have 5 acres out in the middle of the Mojave Desert so it's a lot easier for me not to offend anyone. Maybe the odd Rattlesnake...

 

I found the easiest meat to use was chicken liver. Buy about a pound of so. The best maggotts are supposed to come from the Blue bottle fly... this fly is the only common fly that lays it's eggs at night. the maggotts are bigger than green bottles, house flies etc.

Get a biscuit tin... punch some 3/4" holes in the lid, place your chicken liver in the tin and place it outside for a few nights. Tape the lid onto the tin so it can't be opened by racoons or cats etc... make sure to cover it during the day or you'll not get the bigger maggots.

Check it after 2 or 3 nights (may take longer in colder temperatures) The eggs are easy to spot. Once you see the eggs, cover them with about four inches of sawdust or corn meal... put the biscuit tin inside a plastic bag so no more flies can lay their eggs. check it everyday and after about 3 or 4 days (could be longer). you should see a fine membrane sitting on top of the sawdust. this is all that is left of the chicken liver. Remove it. Riddle the maggots into fresh sawdust or corn meal to clean them, you may want to do this a couple of times. If you want to, you can place some soft brown sugar and some cream (from the top of a pint of milk) in the tin with the maggots and the fresh sawdust or corn meal. This helps clean them up and makes em fat and juicy.

If you wish for different colours, just put food colouring into the chicken liver when you start out. It's what the maggots eat that gives them the colour.

 

Once you get your maggots clean, separate them into 'Sessiion' sized bait containers and place in the fridge. the key to keeping them for a while is temperature. 34 -36 degress is about perfect.. and you can keep them for quite a while. I have successfully kept them for up to 6 weeks. If you do keep them that long though, make sure you clean them a couple of times before you use them for fishing. You want to get that ammonia smell off. You can wash them in cold water or just riddle the with fresh sawdust or corn meal. Make sure to check the containers once in a while, if you see condensation building up in them... give em a wipe with a paper towel... maggots need to be dry.

 

The Gozzers I got were Big and Juicy and it seemed that the fish held them a bit longer in their mouths than store bought ones. I don't know if this was because of the brown sugar or what but it did give me a little more time to strike.

 

It really can get 'stinky' so be careful of your neighbours.

Hope this helps mate...

 

Rob J

Palm Springs Ca.

Edited by Rob J

Show me someone who thinks they know everything...

I'll show you a fool...

 

 

Leave the area you fish... cleaner than it was before you got there !!!!

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Seem to remember in my childhood that my grandad used to breed his own on liver (he was a butcher). As far as i remember they were bl@@dy great things. My father used to take this a step further. He would leave 2 lots of meat to get blown. He would put one in an onion bag then take it to the local lake and tie it in an overhanging tree. When the bait was ready at home he would go and fish under the tree with a gentle trickle of maggots feeding for him. Seem to remember he caught well. Difficult to do nowadays with most lakes full of anglers.

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Has anyone successfully bred their own maggots to a shop standard. Any tips regarding types of meat, getting the "right type of fly" to lay eggs, nurturing the little wrigglers and dying them, e.g. red.

 

I will try anything once (well almost anything!) and have just started my first breeding attempt. I have made a box, drilled some holes in the top and after being outside 5 days, the first eggs have been laid. I think the meat was too fresh to begin with. I also rubbed a bit of red food powder dye in some cuts I made into the meat.

 

Regarding a meat supply, has anyone tried road kill. A form of recycling too though not for the squeamish!

 

You're sick!

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i know a fella who breeds his own maggots who is a member of a pigeon club, apparently when they aren't winning to many races they aren't worth there weight in seed and head for the wheelie bin,

 

if you have a pigeon club local might be a worth asking for any deceased birds to save them going to waste

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are the amounts you get from breeding your own seriously worthwhile?

 

 

You can vary the quantity... just by putting out several tins at the same time. I would start out small at first and see if it's something you find worthwhile.

The quality, however is a different thing... the Gozzers I got were big and juicy, no comparison to store bought. They were almost the same size as waxworms (Bee Moth larvae)...

It worked for me, but I don't have any neighbours to speak of and don't risk offending anyone.

 

Rob J

Palm Springs Ca.

Edited by Rob J

Show me someone who thinks they know everything...

I'll show you a fool...

 

 

Leave the area you fish... cleaner than it was before you got there !!!!

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The chap I go fishing with forgot about some groundbait he mixed in a bag in the garage,and that quickly became a bag of maggots, his stinkbag has that much dirt and grime in the bottom that there are worms living in it :yucky:

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