Can't remember the last time I used an 8 or a 6 other than meat fishing, my usual hook if I'm boilie or pellet fishing is a 10.
I have never really understood the logic behind using loads of maggots on one hook but can't argue that it does catch fish, I think it has more to do with triggering an aggression response rather than a feeding response.
I was brought up with a fly rod where you try to match the hatch. When I came to coarse fishing as a teenager it seemed logical to me that if you were feeding individual bait items, ie maggots in a feeder, then your bait should also be a single maggot and for that you need a small hook.
I know some people have a problem with smaller hooks but with modern forged hooks the fact is that once it has a hold it is unlikely to open up. I have landed loads of barbel up to 6 or 7 lb on a 22 in the past though these days I can't see to tie those.
Having said all that, if you do want to fish multiple maggots, which, to continue the fly fishing metaphor, would be the equivalent of tying on a big tinsel concoction when the fish are feeding on daphnia, you could do as I do and thread them onto a bit of thin line with a sewing needle, you then tie the lot onto the loop of a hair with a simple granny knot. If you wanted to you could make a fresh one for each cast and just swap the hook-length out using a quick link adaptor.
I have tried all sorts of methods for fishing multiple maggots, including glueing them individually onto a boilie to make one big seething Medusa head (which is not as difficult or time consuming as you may imagine) but by far the most effective is the method I have outlined above, you can also add floating artificials onto the hair to make a balanced bait but we are getting a bit 'riggy' now.
