Natural Baits

Natural Baits

What are they?

Basically when anyone mentions using 'naturals' for Carp they are generally talking about three baits, these include worms, maggots and the recently much publicised Caster.

All of these baits are easily obtained from nearly all tackle shops.

About Maggot Baits:-

Storing maggots for long periods is next to impossible due to the the maggots life cycle, sooner rather than later the maggots will turn into casters and then flies. You can resist this cycle for a short period of time by keeping the maggots in a fridge. So you really need to use the maggots on the day of purchase or soon after.

The big advantage with using these natural baits is that the Carp will probably seen so many of them, especially if they are in a water that see's a lot of pressure from pleasure and match anglers. The only problem is with natural bait is that Carp loves them, but so does just about every thing that swims! As their are normally allot of nuisance fish at the waters that I fish I generally only use natural baits for stalking Carp in the margins.

You can freeze maggots and this will preserve them but it will also kill them at the same time. This can be one of the most effective uses of maggots for Carp; because the maggot does not crawl away and dig itself into silt; it will just lie enticingly on the lake bed. Because the maggots do not move little fish do not find them attractive, and also maggots adopt a tougher skin when they have been frozen, this means that any attention from little fish will not damage the hook baits itself.

Using Maggot Hook Baits:-

Using maggot hookbaits can be effective and many people have taken lakes apart using some of these methods during winter. The trouble with using maggots as a hookbait you can never be sure whether the hookbait is in tact or not, this will niggle at your confidence in the method.

Maggots can be hooked in the orthodox fashion but most people who use them prefer to use other methods when targeting carp. If you have a fine diameter baiting needle then you can hair rig the maggots, but be ultra careful to not split them open. Another point worth mentioning is ton make sure the hair is of a low diameter as well to cause as little damage to the baits as possible. Use a small strong carp hook, a size 10 or lower for this method.

Another deadly effective method to fish maggot on the hook is to use a rig called the "Medusa Rig". This rig involves a normal hair rig using mono or braid and then a small cork ball threaded onto the hair. The next step is to make sure you have all of your maggots close to hand, then get some super glue and dab it onto a section of the cork ball and then proceed to place individual maggots "head up" onto the cork ball; continue to do this until the whole cork ball is covered in maggots. This hassle results in popped up maggots, particularly effective fishing other a bed of dead maggots during the winter!