when i was fishing maggotts from ashurst breighleys mohmar the maggotts where bigger u could get a 16 carbon feeder in them easy . i found cleaning them off and putting them in a cool consistant temp around 8/10 degrees in the dark in damp wood dust .they stayed the same size of the maggott as the werent racing from high heat .thurs iwood pick out early turning specimens these would be mu hookers ...... top tip black casters just before they turn become very light in weight so with the weight of the burried hook still fall slower than the loose fed as the older the roach and bream the wiser it becomes 90 times out of a hundred first put in with the plumb black caster on the money
I’ve been thinking about doing this. Thank you for showing how to get casters it seemed complicated but you have given me confidence to start doing my own
Nice video as usual, thanks Jon. Seeing the cat in the video reminds me of my attempts to go the whole hog and breed my own maggots. I can still see our old cat sat in the middle of the kitchen floor with a half eaten chicken breast covered in maggots...! Best wishes Rob.
Top information on caster care. Learnt some good tips to making them last longer in tip top condition. Thanks taking the time to share your knowledge. All the best Pete tight lines 🎣
Great video Jon, it's good to finally see someone show how to create and store casters, when fishing caster in the past I have had my best silvers to light coloured casters over a light bed of the dark ones
Great video Jon. Amazing what you can learn about how to produce casters from the humble maggot. I will certainly put your methods to the test especially the keeping in water one for Commercials. Thanks
This is fine if u have the time and your a pro angler and get through alot of bait. id like to do it put its not worth the effort tbh. For a few quid once a week i go fishing its cheaper and less hassle to just got to tackle shop. I like the effort you got to though and you know there as fresh as can be. 👍
Great vid! I've been doing my own for a while, some useful tips for me in there though. Can I ask what size mesh riddle you use? Takes forever for my maggots to pass through.
Hi Jon. Different question to your brill item. Which camera do you use on your sessions as I’m thinking of getting one and there’s lots of different reviews but always been impressed with your clips. Cheers patrick
If you can guarantee quality casters and a local shop's nearby then definitely. What I was getting at more with the ratio was don't ever expect to get 3pts from 3pts. You might get near to that amount, but the last 1/2pt might also take a bit longer to turn.
I sometimes think about turning my own casters but my local tackle shop does such a good job with them. Maggots are £3 a pint, casters £4 so I'm better off just ordering casters from the pros than paying my for 3 pints of maggots to get 2 pints of casters.
If you can guarantee quality casters and a local shop's nearby then definitely. What I was getting at more with the ratio was don't ever expect to get 3pts from 3pts. You might get near to that amount, but the last 1/2pt might also take a bit longer to turn.
Another funny story 😊:- It was probably in the mid 1980's that I had "this idea" = ....using squats in groundbait was a universally recognised method to attract & hold bream, & keep them hunting about in your peg without overfeeding them (cos squats are so small). My local tackle dealer was Dave Burr, of "Banks & Burr" in Rugby. He's a superb tackle & bait dealer, and produces 1st class quality everything, including brill casters! He was/is that consciousness of his quality bait, & about meeting orders, he got stressed out about it, and spent many an evening/night down in his bait cellar riddling casters & making sure that the bait was perfect! Plus he was a mate also, and we were team mates in a few matches too. So, I had no qualms about going into his shop & asking, "Dave, would you produce 4 pints of squat or pinkie casters for me, for collection next Friday??" ...... I must have caught him at an overworked stressful time because, God almighty, the steam came out of his ears!! He thought that I was taking the p*ss!! I feared for my safety & thought I'd be banned from the shop for life!! 😂.....I was soon forgiven though, after I remembered just how much work goes into producing top class casters (let alone squat or pinkie casters 😊) . I still don't know how good squat or pinkie casters would be in groundbait feed though, cos I didn't have the time to produce them myself. I had a fishing wife widow, and 3 fishing orphan daughters, & didn't want to push my luck further 😂😂
I've caught on squatt casters! Had some big white squatts once on a red hot day that were castering as I fished and ended up catching on them really well. I had 9lb on the GUC at Weedon that day, including a big perch on... corn!
Thanks for sharing. I use a lot of black bags but always make sure they’re not ones with that horrible plastic chemical smell like some cheap bin bags have 👍
GREAT VID JON, if you want to make the floaters sink, pump them in a pellet pump, you will be surprised how many sink, depending on how far they have turned, I do this with great success.
Yes I've done that in the past and even did an article on it 8-10 years ago in Match Fishing mag. Not tried pumping them for years but sure it'd still work.
I use hamster bedding but I put it through a food mixer first, like when you liquidise bread and then riddle it, turns out nice. Just don’t let the Mrs catch you :-)
Reminded me of Frank Barlow , he had a big barrel of water in the yard he would keep gallons of casters in it and just scooped out as much as he needed for his Trent matches , they absolutely stank but he always caught on them .
I have turned casters for years to throw in for the Chub and Barbel of the Yorkshire rivers. Used to start with a gallon of maggots straight from the farm then riddle them off to remove the odd fish bone and skins. Fresh sawdust is a must which i dampened with an atomiser spray bottle. I preferred ice cube bags to place in the fridge & usually it was 2 riddles of the bait each day but occasionally 3. By the end of the week you had around 7 to 8 pints of casters and together with a similar amount of hemp was enough for the weekend.
@@dandyer8351 Some of Yorkshires rivers ie Swale and the Nidd are solid with Chub and Barbel and you need to feed plenty to realise what can be caught Most Barbel i have had in a day was 31 on the Swale but i have had large catches including Chub on a regular basis for 35 plus years.
Another awesome video John... have always bought casters and complained about their quality ... no excuse now and Its not as complicated as I though ... thanks 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
This vid couldn’t have come at better time. Thanks John as my local tackle shop never have casters when u visit there. I think he takes orders for match fisherman well so I’ve heard. Anyway need them now as me local park lake is doing tench already but love castors more than any other bait. So now I’ll have some thanks again all the best Jon.
I hope Jon doesn't mind me sticking my nose it, especially bcos I'm old enough to be his dad, & I almost agree with everything he says.... But you can't make a silk purse from a pigs ear (meaning = the best casters will always come from the best reared maggots). Ian Heaps had the best casters I've seen, but he came nowhere in that particular match. In total contrast, cos I'd got 3 daughters under 14 months old, was working my arse off & couldn't prepare my own bait, & I've had the shittiest casters from a tackle shop that I was pissed off to buy. And I caught unbelievably. ... not that I'm advocating using shìte bait. Also, my mate John "L" bought his bait at lunchtime & left it in his car boot on a hot day during the 1980 ''s . His bait was long dead when he arrived at his match peg hours later... he won the match by miles, despite the dead squatts and pinkies put in groundbait ..... it surprised him, cos he told me. Things don't surprise anglers so much. 😊
The "old stories" (& perhaps a few new ones) that defy logic are the most interesting Jon .... cos it shows that when we think that we've got fishing figured out, we HAVEN'T, & we'll still be learning when we're finally buried 6ft under the daisies , still wearing our smelly wellies 😉 ..... 😂 lol ❤
Fantastic video mate thanks for this. I recently opened a tackle shop and this video has been the most helpful by far in terms of learning how to produce quality bait. Tight lines!
Yes you can but I'd personally only do it for carp. I pop them in containers/bottles of water and freeze the whole lot. The water will tend to go black though and the casters will go soft, but the carp don't mind.
Hi Jon thanks for the video you have inspired me to have a go at doing my own casters going to try turning a single pint 1st but if all goes well will be doing more fingers crossed
Great video Jon. Is it also possible to put some oil over dry casters when you bring them to the bank? So that they won't go darker anymore in the sun? Instead of using water?
Don't think so I used to do gallon a week used saw dust from college did like john did put though maggot and pinkie riddles kept sawdust in air tight tubs