Maggots and Casters
By Alex Clayton · Updated 23 October 2026
Anglers in the UK have fished with maggots for at least 600 years, and until the 1960s most of them called them gentles. They are still the bait most coarse sessions start with.
Maggots for fishing are fly larvae, sold by the pint in tackle shops, and they catch almost every coarse species, from canal roach to commercial carp. Casters are maggots that have turned into chrysalises. They sink, they lie still, and they tend to pick out the bigger roach, perch, bream and chub.
Most poor sessions on maggots have nothing to do with colour. They come down to stale, sweaty bait that was kept too warm or packed too tight. Below: the four baits on the shop counter, which to use when, how to store maggots and how long they last, making your own casters, hooking and feeding, and buying.
Maggots, Pinkies, Squatts and Casters: What Each One Is
A pint of maggots, a pint of pinkies and a pint of squatts come from three different flies. They are not three grades of the same grub, and each one does a different job in the swim.
The standard maggot is typically the larva of the bluebottle. It is the biggest of the three and the one most anglers mean when they say “maggots”. On a bait farm it takes about a week to grow to full size.
Pinkies and squatts are the smaller options. Pinkies are typically greenbottle larvae, a step down in size, and they suit canals and cold water when bites are shy. Squatts are typically housefly larvae and the smallest of the lot, used in clear water, in winter and mixed into groundbait.
Casters are not a separate species. A caster is the chrysalis stage every maggot reaches before it hatches into a fly. It starts pale and then forms a hard brown shell, much as a caterpillar forms a chrysalis. In warm conditions the whole cycle from egg to fly takes roughly two weeks, which is why bait left somewhere warm changes so quickly.
Maggots carry their own freshness check. A fresh maggot shows a small dark speck under the skin, the remains of its last meal. That speck fades after two or three days, so maggots with a clear dark spot are the newest in the shop.
The table puts pinkies and squatts alongside the two baits most people start on.
| Bait | Fly | Size | Best used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maggot | Bluebottle (typically) | Largest | All-round bait; bigger fish on canals |
| Pinkie | Greenbottle (typically) | Medium | Canals, shy bites, cold water |
| Squatt | Housefly (typically) | Smallest | Clear water, winter, mixed into groundbait |
| Caster | Chrysalis of any maggot | About maggot size | Picking out better roach, perch, bream and chub |
The practical difference for casters fishing is movement. A maggot wriggles and draws interest from every fish in the swim. A caster sinks and lies still, and the fish that take it tend to be the bigger ones.
Which to Use: Maggots or Casters by Species, Season and Water
You have a swim boiling with small fish. Every maggot gets stripped before it settles, and the better fish never get a look in. That is the moment to change bait, not to fiddle with your hooklength.
Maggots for fishing are the choice when you want bites from anything, and silver fish respond well to them. The catch, as Korda’s Elliot Gray points out, is that nearly every fish eats them, so on waters full of small or nuisance fish they get wasted fast.
Casters sort out the better fish. They work for roach and skimmers and tend to pick out larger roach, perch, bream and chub, which puts them near the top of the best baits for roach. On canals, the Canal & River Trust suggests large maggots on the hook mainly when you are after bigger fish such as chub, perch, tench or bream.
Size down when bites get finicky. Pinkies suit canals and shy-biting fish, and switching from maggots to pinkies can turn missed bites into fish. Squatts belong in clear water and winter, usually fed in groundbait.
Wind changes the picture. Gray advises against loose maggots on deep lakes in a strong wind, because they sink slowly and scatter away from your hook.
| Situation | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Mixed silver fish, summer | Maggots | Fast bites from most species |
| Better roach, perch, bream | Casters | More selective |
| Canal, shy bites | Pinkies | Smaller mouthful |
| Clear water, winter | Squatts or pinkies | Small, little and often |
| Swim full of nuisance fish | Casters (or worms) | Fewer small fish take them |
| Deep lake, strong wind | Maggots in a feeder | Loose maggots scatter |
On Windermere I reach for casters rather than maggots when I want the bream or the better perch instead of a run of small fish. If small fish are still a nuisance, worms are the other obvious switch.
If you only buy one bait for a first session, buy maggots. Add a pint of casters once you want to target the bigger fish.
How to Store Maggots and How Long They Last
Keep them cold, dry and uncrowded. In a fridge, in a lidded box with dry maize meal or sawdust, maggots keep about a week, and Angling Times puts it at over a week if they were fresh when you bought them.
How long do maggots last at the outside? One supplier claims at least two weeks when chilled to 1 to 2°C, but that is a supplier’s claim, not a promise. Plan on a week and count anything longer as a bonus. This is how to store maggots to reach that week:
- Fridge, lid on, box upright. If a household fridge is not an option, a cool garage floor is the next best place.
- Dry bedding. Add maize meal or sawdust. Gray recommends maize flour because it absorbs moisture and ammonia.
- Do not overpack. Keep the lid vents clear. Tightly packed maggots generate heat and sweat, which makes the bait damp and speeds up the turn into casters.
- Riddle every day or two. Sieve out skins, dead maggots and any casters.
- Chill them in transit. In summer, carry the box in an insulated bag with an ice pack.
When a pint goes wrong, one of three things is usually to blame. Heat speeds them up, so the fix is the fridge and a cool bag. Damp makes them sweat, and wet maggots float and are hard to use with PVA, so swap in fresh dry meal. Crowding does both at once, so split a big batch across two boxes.
Use a sealed bait box. The fridge is shared territory, and not everyone in the house will see a lidless tub of maggots as good news.
Casters need a different routine. They keep about 4 to 5 days in the fridge in an airtight bag, opened for 5 to 10 minutes each day to let them breathe. Making them is covered next.
For other baits, see the full bait preparation and storage guide. For maggots, the rule is cold, dry, uncrowded and riddled every day or two.
Casters: How to Make Your Own and Stop Them Floating
The pint of maggots that started turning in your fridge is not wasted. Those pale, stiff ones are the start of a bait that catches bigger fish.
Making casters comes down to riddling at the right time. This routine follows the Canal & River Trust’s method:
- Start when they turn. Once some maggots go pale and stiff, tip the batch onto a riddle.
- Let the live ones go through. Live maggots crawl down through the mesh. The casters stay on top.
- Repeat two or three times a day. Maggots turn at different rates, so collect the casters as they appear rather than in one go.
- Bag and chill. Put the casters in a bag in the fridge with a sheet of damp kitchen towel.
- Let them breathe. Open the bag for 5 to 10 minutes each day.
Do not skip the damp towel. Casters float when they dry out, and sitting in sunlight on the bank dries them. Floating casters are no use as loose feed because they will not reach the bottom where you want the fish feeding, although the Canal & River Trust notes that a floater is fine on the hook.
Keep your bait tub shaded and the casters damp through the session. If you suspect some have dried, drop a handful into a tub of water, skim off any that float and use the ones that sink.
Homemade casters suit anglers who have spare maggots, a fridge and a session coming up within a few days, which is when casters fishing pays off. Skip it if you fish rarely. Casters only keep about 4 to 5 days, as covered in the storage section above, and a forgotten bag will be past its best long before your next trip.
Hooking and Feeding Maggots and Casters
A burst maggot on the hook or a run of missed bites usually traces back to how the bait was hooked or fed. Two small hooking habits and a steady feeding rhythm fix most of it.
Hooking
- Maggots: hook through the blunt end, the flat, thicker end. Throw away any maggot that leaks fluid and put on a fresh one.
- Match the hook to the bait. A hook that is too big for a maggot or pinkie stops it behaving like a free offering. If bites are shy, size down to pinkies on a smaller hook.
- Casters: methods differ. Some anglers nick the hook through the pointed end, while others bury the hook inside the caster. Try both and see which gives you more bites on your water.
Feeding
Casters work best over a bed. Feed a bed at the start of the session, then top up about every 10 minutes. Feeding too often can draw fish up in the water, away from your hook bait on the bottom.
Maggots suit little-and-often loose feeding: a small pinch at a steady rhythm keeps fish searching. In winter and clear water, squatts and pinkies are often mixed into groundbait so the feed reaches the bottom.
On deep lakes in a strong wind, loose maggots sink slowly and drift off the spot. A feeder solves that by carrying them straight to your hook bait. The full method is in the maggot feeder fishing guide.
In my experience feeder fishing for bream on Windermere, a feeder of maggots keeps the feed tight on one spot where loose offerings would spread out. That matters with a shoaling fish you want to hold in one place.
When each approach wins for maggots fishing:
- Maggots in a feeder: deep water, wind, and feed concentrated around a static hook bait.
- Loose-fed casters: shallower or calmer water, when you want to build a swim slowly and pick out the better fish.
Buying Maggots: Colours, Quantities and Where to Get Them
The UK has fewer than a dozen maggot farms today, against about 50 in the 1970s. Freshness is worth chasing, so buy from a busy tackle shop where the bait turns over quickly.
Maggots are sold by the pint, and half pints are common. Half a pint is often enough for a short session. For a full day, take a pint or two.
White, red and mixed are the standard colours, and red maggots are the most popular. Jonathan Longden’s advice in Angling Times is not to overthink colour: fresh bait and good storage matter more. Start with white and add red once you are confident.
Most anglers buy from tackle shops. The Canal & River Trust also reports about 40 maggot vending machines in eastern England, so ask locally.
Prices vary by shop and region, so check with your local tackle shop. Some fisheries also set their own bait rules, so read the ticket or ask the fishery before you travel. Worms, pellets and other options are covered in our bait guides.
If you are unsure, buy a pint of white or mixed maggots and keep half of it back in the fridge.
Frequently asked questions
How long do maggots last in the fridge?
Maggots last about a week in the fridge, kept in a lidded box with dry maize meal or sawdust. Fresh maggots that are stored well can keep for over a week. Riddle them every day or two to remove skins, dead maggots and casters, and keep the box uncrowded so the bait does not sweat and turn early.
Do maggots need to be kept in the fridge?
A fridge is the best place for maggots, with the lid on and the box upright. If that is not an option, a cool garage floor is the next best place. On trips in warm weather, carry the box in an insulated bag with an ice pack so the maggots do not turn into casters before you fish.
What is the difference between pinkies and squatts?
Pinkies are typically greenbottle larvae, while squatts are typically housefly larvae and smaller still. Pinkies suit canals and shy bites, and switching to them can help when you are missing bites on maggots. Squatts are the smallest of the three and are used in clear water, in winter and mixed into groundbait. See the comparison table above for all four baits side by side.
Are red maggots better than white?
Red maggots are the most popular colour, but popularity does not make them better. Fresh bait and good storage matter more than colour, according to Angling Times. If you are starting out, use white or mixed maggots, and add red once you are confident in the rest of your approach.
How long do casters last?
Casters last about 4 to 5 days in the fridge. Keep them in an airtight bag with a sheet of damp kitchen towel and open the bag for 5 to 10 minutes each day to let them breathe. On the bank, keep them damp and out of the sun, because dried casters float and will not stay on the bottom.