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Sand and maggots

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 12:45 am
by Slumption
I'm reading an old book at the moment 'Roach, Rudd and Bream fishing' it's a reprint of a 100 year old book. Anyway this book and several others reference keeping maggots in sand. Has anyone tried this? the book goes on to say they will last far longer than if kept this way. I have had squats supplied in sand but normally I've used them within a day of getting them.

Re: Sand and maggots

Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 1:18 am
by Aitch
Squatts were historically kept in the red foundry sand and maggots usually in sawdaust... more latterly just naked in a tub and the lad in the shop asks if you want sawdust or maize meal... but I've bever heard of them being sold in sand

Re: Sand and maggots

Posted: Wed May 02, 2018 1:10 am
by Slumption
I've had squatts supplied in brick dust / sand but this is the only time I have seen it. The Frank Oates bait book discusses preparing maggots by putting them into a container of sand then shining a light on them so they burrow in. The sand is then riddled off after a few days. In the 'Roach, Rudd and Bream fishing book' the author is breeding maggots and then storing them in large pickle jars filled with damp sharp sand, he says this is to to scour the skin and then keep them. I would presume given the books age this was because they didn't have a fridge. I might try it and see what happens!

Re: Sand and maggots

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2018 4:29 pm
by Troydog
I always keep my maggots in bread crumb. This stops them sweating in the fridge and when I riddle them off I use the crumb in my ground bait.

Re: Sand and maggots

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2018 10:34 pm
by Chubman
i use bran flake as it stops them sweating, maize goes into lumps in the fridge

Re: Sand and maggots

Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2018 4:17 pm
by Slumption
I use rough bran and keep them in a big open box when their in the garage.

Re: Sand and maggots

Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2018 4:31 pm
by Olly
I kept them in France in a fridge - they came with a little sawdust so I added about the same amount of maize meal. They would keep for 2 weeks. I would take off a half-pint from the litre in the box to use. €8.00 per litre or about £3.75 per pint. I removed the lumps and replaced with fresh meal every 3-4 days.

Strangely they were not the going bait - but bread was - esp. punched. Up to 10+ bream excluding skimmers in a couple of hours or so.

It was hot!

Re: Sand and maggots

Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:58 am
by Chubman
I use porridge oats as maise go's a bit lumpy,

Re: Sand and maggots

Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 1:22 pm
by MWithell
Slightly off topic, but do people find that maggots don't keep so long these days? I don't use them often but I find that a week later most of them are casters. I don't add any extra sawdust/bran etc. Does that help, or am I just being sold elderly maggots?

Re: Sand and maggots

Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 1:23 pm
by John Milford
Slumption wrote: Wed May 02, 2018 1:10 am I've had squatts supplied in brick dust / sand but this is the only time I have seen it. The Frank Oates bait book discusses preparing maggots by putting them into a container of sand then shining a light on them so they burrow in. The sand is then riddled off after a few days. In the 'Roach, Rudd and Bream fishing book' the author is breeding maggots and then storing them in large pickle jars filled with damp sharp sand, he says this is to to scour the skin and then keep them. I would presume given the books age this was because they didn't have a fridge. I might try it and see what happens!
Keeping maggots in damp sand makes perfect sense in the days prior to everyone having refrigerators.

The slow evaporation of the moisture in the sand would have provided quite effective cooling.

(I remember my old nan keeping her bottles of milk in a galvanised bucket of water in a shady spot by her back door step before she had a fridge. That would have been around 1959).