Live Bait Choices for Lake Simcoe

Maggots are bred for anglers on special farms using waste meat products and are sold by all good fishing tackle shops. They are usually sold in pints or half pints in maize meal or bran to keep them dry and kept in plastic bait boxes with air holes in the lid to allow them to breathe. Don’t overfill your bait boxes as without enough air the maggots will sweat and become useless. As a rough rule of thumb use a bait box of at least twice the capacity of the amount of maggots you want to buy so if you want to buy a pint take at least a two pint box. You can tell how fresh a maggot is by the size of the dark feed spot in its body, the larger it is the fresher the maggot.They must be kept cold to slow down their natural development into chrysalis’ and ultimately flies so if possible always keep them in a fridge where they will last up to three weeks. If not a cold garage floor will do but they won’t last more than a week or so in warm weather. Fresh maggots are very active and soft to the touch and are better for most types of fishing, the only exception being in icy cold water where they tend to stretch and lose their liveliness. In cold water tougher older maggots are often better as they seem to be more hardy.

Wax Worms (Waxies)

An often overlooked bait for icefishing,  wax worms can be found at select tackle shops around lake simcoe. Waxworms are the larval form of a bee or moth and are longer and meatier than maggots.Tiny jigs tipped with maggots or waxworms is the most common rigging method, with Marmooskas by HT Enterprises and Genz Worms by Lindy Little Joe being two popular choices. Small Jigging Rapalas, jigging spoons and tube jigs tipped with a maggot or two are great search baits for active fish. Some days the fish seem to like the look and smell of hooks crammed full of maggots or wax worms, and other times they like just one lively creepy crawlie, so experiment a bit.

Yes, you read correctly. Using a perch eye from a freshly caught fish can help you catch more perch! The texture, transparency, smell and size are all great characteristics of a deadly bait. If you can stomach the process of removing an eye from a perch, give it a try. However, I wouldn't suggest this method around young children or your significant other.