Thread: How do I keep my maggots from floating

I have read that maggots are good for feeding the swim because they sink. Well, mine float. I tried them frozen and dead...the floated. I tried nice healty ones...they floated. I am thinking of making a few PVA bags with maggots and a few pebbles to take them to the bottom. Then if they float it won't matter much because they will be floating up from the bottom. But when I toss them out they just swim around on the top of the water and drift with the wind.

I d use something besides maggots-ooh.And a small lead sinker.

Originally Posted by BULLFROG-1

I d use something besides maggots-ooh.And a small lead sinker.

I want to use them as chum, but they don't sink. They just float away.

inject some lead in them.

stick a hook in em and thow em out!!

Originally Posted by Cartman

... when I toss them out they just swim around on the top of the water and drift with the wind.

I've been chumming with maggots for about 15 years and have never had this happen.

Remind me again how you got them. Did you buy them or grow your own? If you grew them, what kind of flies are they? Bluebottles (the kind I use), greenbottles and house flies all sink. If you grew them yourself, maybe you have something else. Can you post a pic of some of them?

Here's something else to consider: what bedding are you storing them in? I use yellow corn meal. Among other things, the corn meal helps to "degrease" the maggots. Anything that small with grease on it will tend to float.

P.S. I saw your post on "Maggotdrowning". groundhog gives some advice similar to mine.

Originally Posted by deathb4disco

I've been chumming with maggots for about 15 years and have never had this happen.

Remind me again how you got them. Did you buy them or grow your own? If you grew them, what kind of flies are they? Bluebottles (the kind I use), greenbottles and house flies all sink. If you grew them yourself, maybe you have something else. Can you post a pic of some of them?

Here's something else to consider: what bedding are you storing them in? I use yellow corn meal. Among other things, the corn meal helps to "degrease" the maggots. Anything that small with grease on it will tend to float.

P.S. I saw your post on "Maggotdrowning". groundhog gives some advice similar to mine.

I agree with DBD. I've been using maggots most of my life and i've never had any that floated. Are you sure you're not using waxworms? Those will float.

Originally Posted by chaunc

I agree with DBD. I've been using maggots most of my life and i've never had any that floated. Are you sure you're not using waxworms? Those will float.

Hi Chaunc. I am sure I am not using waxworms. I grew the maggots myself, and I know what they came out of. I also grow waxworms, but I wonder if I will ever go back after the success I am having with maggots.

I let them dry out, and now my maggots don't float anymore. I was keeping them pretty moist, and I guess they soaked up the water making them float. Now they make great chum.

Originally Posted by deathb4disco

I've been chumming with maggots for about 15 years and have never had this happen.

Remind me again how you got them. Did you buy them or grow your own? If you grew them, what kind of flies are they? Bluebottles (the kind I use), greenbottles and house flies all sink. If you grew them yourself, maybe you have something else. Can you post a pic of some of them?

Here's something else to consider: what bedding are you storing them in? I use yellow corn meal. Among other things, the corn meal helps to "degrease" the maggots. Anything that small with grease on it will tend to float.

P.S. I saw your post on "Maggotdrowning". groundhog gives some advice similar to mine.

Yep, I keep them in cornmeal. I think I know what I have been doing wrong. First of all, I've mostly been growing them in fish (ground up bluegill). Then I think I have been keeping them too moist. I didn't want them to dry out so I started keeping a little flat piece of sponge in the container with them. So I took some out and let them dry in the sun. Didn't seem to hurt them. I made three pva bags with maggots, cornmeal (I figured it would smell like maggots), and a little rock. Maybe it worked or maybe I would have caught them anyway. They didn't float to the surface, and the water was only about three feet in one spot, and five feet in another.