Rat tail maggots

beer enigma

Just reminded of this as came on Gardeners World tonight.

Used to use these years ago and got out out of the habit. They are basically larvae with tails that live in water and provide a great fresh water bait.

Fill a bucket full with nettles and pour on water....give it a couple of weeks and you will see these critters swimming around. Bucket stinks to hell, so not near the house but a great bait.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat-tailed_maggot

This time of year you will see a lot of them. They find drier / hotter places to pupate.
I am a dairy farmer, and they love milking parlours (plenty of water and organic matter), so in this weather, every milking when I hose down the walls and floors of the parlour, I end up hosing away plenty of them.
So if you know any dairy farmers, they could probably get you loads.

beer enigma

Deleted User wrote: »

This time of year you will see a lot of them. They find drier / hotter places to pupate.
I am a dairy farmer, and they love milking parlours (plenty of water and organic matter), so in this weather, every milking when I hose down the walls and floors of the parlour, I end up hosing away plenty of them.
So if you know any dairy farmers, they could probably get you loads.

Thanks I wasn't aware of that, because of the tail and the fact that they don't 'drown' they can be a great weapon in coarse fishing