I'm one of the Northerners that has caught more bigger fish than tiddlers on maggots, And the same since moving to Oxford.I live down sarf (Hampshire) and maggots are £3.50 per pint. Fortunately there are other better alternatives: bread, wheat, hemp, pasta, etc. Maybe Northerners use maggots cos they like tiddler snatching?
Had a 15lb carp ,a 12lb carp and a 6.8lb tench on maggots, everyone else struggled.Totally confused (nothing new there!). If I use maggots I catch smaller than average roach but if I use bread, wheat, hemp, etc the roach are bigger - but just to confuse things further I caught my PB roach of 2lbs 8ozs on a maggot. Maggots are for cold weather and tiddler snatching?
I can remember when tackle dealers took pride in their maggots. My local tackle dealer (long since departed) used to show you how good his bait was before putting the lid on your box.We have the same issue where I live Phil,we used to have a glut of tackle shops selling maggots,now we have two locally,both selling sh1t maggot that comes straight from the bait farm,they never see a riddle,the guy asks if you want maize on them and when you tell him there is no point as i'm going to sieve and riddle the crap off before putting fresh maize on he looks quite miffed,as if insulted,lol....
Certain tackle dealers had excellent bait back in the day,but boilies and pellets don't need looking after,what annoys me how certain areas get far better bait than here yet pay a lot less,taking the pee or what...