Hooking Maggots for Barbel

[Kenneth Oliver]

Struggling with this one a little. How do you hook yours?

Maggot clip? hair? threaded onto a separate piece of cotton and wrapped around the hook? Madusas Head on a cork ball?

I have been hooking directly onto a size 10/12 hook but it looks a little barbaric and presentation is a bit naff.

What works best for you?

 

[Neil Blood]

Stick them directly on the hook, keep it simple

 

[John Care]

I've tried threading them onto bait floss and then tying that to a tiny hair rigged ring. Bloody fiddly though, I think the best option is to stick a bunch of them on a size 10. I suppose a grazing barbel isn't going to be too fussed anyway.

 

[Jon Frisby]

If its a 12, 14 or 16. Thread the first one up like a caster. The next 1 or 2 maggots, nick on. Ideally cove the shank right up to the knot.

 

[David Craine]

I use a fine wire maggot clip, made from jewellers wire. A bit fiddly to make but works very well.
Having said that , I have had good results by using a wide gape size 16 hook, tied hair rig style to a size 8 or ten with the maggots on the size 16. You can thread a good number of maggots on the 16 , if barbless are the rule, after threading on the maggots, a smll flat piece of rubber band on the 16 keeps the maggots from wriggling off.

David.

 

[Tom Casey]

Straight on the hook , head and tail them alternately .

 

[Keith Humphreys]

Straight on the hook, size 14 with 3 or 4 maggots, no need for any complicated rigs, just make sure your rig is strong enough. I use a combi rig comprising of 12lb flouro with 4" of 17lb Power Pro

 

[Richard Isaacs]

Real maggots just fill out the hook. Imitation maggots on a hair

 

[Graham Elliott]

What David said but I straighten a size 16 fine wire hook with it threaded on a hair below a size 10

 

[Andrew Burt]

If its a 12, 14 or 16. Thread the first one up like a caster. The next 1 or 2 maggots, nick on. Ideally cove the shank right up to the knot.

100% the way, the only comments I would suggest is I sometimes thread an artificial maggot up the shank instead of a live one and use fresh maggots.

 

[Sam Lloyd]

Sizes 12-20 super spades depending on how many maggots you want to present. Hooklength for Barbel would be something like 0.19 or 0.21 Preston reflo, starting at 1m and lengthen if you’re struggling for bites, and shorten if you are missing them (more likely to be Dace or Chub than Barbel in this scenario) Hook them through the thick end if you’re using one or two, or the thin end if you’re using three or more (helps keep the hook point exposed).

 

[Julian Griffiths]

What David said but I straighten a size 16 fine wire hook with it threaded on a hair below a size 10

Graham you showed me this on one of our barbel days! Brilliant little idea!

If using mini boilies I do the same with slightly larger hook etc

 

[Ian Woods]

I just cram them onto a 14s superspade, usually about 14 or 15 maggs, but still get pestered with smaller species than the ones i'm after .....

 

[David Maddison]

I've tried maggot clips and I prefer to simply put the maggots on the hook.
Hook pattern is important imo and so long as you are not fishing over gravel I prefer a straight point and eye with a palomar knot to the hook.

 

[Julian Griffiths]

I couldn't be faffed doing what the carping lads do with bait floss & threading them on etc. I have used a small straightened hook hair rigged in the past, & that deterred the small stuff.

Just can't find a decent braid that's thin/supple enough these days. I loved (I think it was called) the Drennan micro braid.

Any thoughts on a decent braid for thin diameter & suppleness guys?

I'm a bit out of touch on what's available now on braided hooklengths etc.

 

[Tim Marks]

I couldn't be faffed doing what the carping lads do with bait floss & threading them on etc. I have used a small straightened hook hair rigged in the past, & that deterred the small stuff.

Just can't find a decent braid that's thin/supple enough these days. I loved (I think it was called) the Drennan micro braid.

Any thoughts on a decent braid for thin diameter & suppleness guys?

I'm a bit out of touch on what's available now on braided hooklengths etc.

If it is for hairs/threading baits what about fly tieing thread ? All different diameters, colours and materials - some are Kevlar (allegedly) and very strong.

I’ve got some very thin braid sold years ago by a company called Big Fish Adventure (the bloke behind it was called Howard Barkley). I think it is 6 and 10lb.

I’ve also got some old spools of light 10/15lb coated braid (Camfusion etc etc) the inner of those is pretty fine.

For modern stuff (combi rigs) I use Korda supernatural (18lb) or Gardner Trickster heavy (25lb I think).

 

[Julian Griffiths]

If it is for hairs/threading baits what about fly tieing thread ? All different diameters, colours and materials - some are Kevlar (allegedly) and very strong.

I’ve got some very thin braid sold years ago by a company called Big Fish Adventure (the bloke behind it was called Howard Barkley). I think it is 6 and 10lb.

I’ve also got some old spools of light 10/15lb coated braid (Camfusion etc etc) the inner of those is pretty fine.

For modern stuff (combi rigs) I use Korda supernatural (18lb) or Gardner Trickster heavy (25lb I think).

I thought about popping over to the local fly fluff shop to see what's available there. I see they do quite a thin dia mono is it called froghair or something? I just need to head out and see what's available.

I use to use fox hair braid just for whipping lightweight stuff on, could easily just use cotton thread I guess if I were that desperate

 

[Tim Marks]

I thought about popping over to the local fly fluff shop to see what's available there. I see they do quite a thin dia mono is it called froghair or something? I just need to head out and see what's available.

I use to use fox hair braid just for whipping lightweight stuff on, could easily just use cotton thread I guess if I were that desperate

Frog hair is just ano brand that claims to be thin for its breaking strain. I would choose Stroft in preference or one of the match coarse fishing hooklinks eg N-gauge.

 

[Terry Simner]

Just a thought .....Abrasion resistance is directly proportional to the diameter of any given line (the thicker, the better/tougher). Combine that fact (and it is a fact) with another fact that, thin lines tend to stretch less than thin lines, then I reckon that you have to realistically weight up what advantage a thin line might (just might) give you, against the inherent weaknesses of relatively thin lines.

 

[Joe Winstanley]

Usually superglue 3-4 to a hair and also put a couple on the hook. It works a treat for me.

Maggot clips are unnecessary and cumbersome imo.