Maggots (Spikes)
Maggots - 'spikes' on the ice, the pride of European match fishing - are the most quietly effective small bait in the world: tough, wiggly, and eaten by everything.
European match anglers, who fish for money, use maggots more than every other bait combined - and North American ice anglers know them as 'spikes', the tipping bait that keeps perch and bluegill honest all winter. A maggot is small, indestructible on the hook, wiggles for an hour, and gets eaten by literally every species that fits it in its mouth.
What it catches
All panfish, trout, whitefish through the ice, suckers, bullheads - and in the European style (loose-fed swims), everything up to carp and chub.
Getting & keeping it
Ice shops carry spikes (often dyed red/pink); fridge storage in ventilated tubs with corn-meal bedding lasts weeks - COLD slows their pupation clock (room temperature turns them into casters, then flies).
How to rig it
Nick the blunt end's skin flap on a fine-wire hook (#12-#16) so they hang wiggling - two or three at once; ice: tip a jig; open water: under a delicate float.
When it shines
Ice season (co-MVP with waxworms), finicky cold-front panfish, winter trout, and any day fish mouth baits delicately.
Field tips
Fresh and wiggling wins - swap chewed spikes; the pupae ('casters') are a legendary bait themselves - Euro anglers prize them; dyed reds show in stained water.
Common mistakes
Warm storage (buzzing surprise), hooking through the body (kills the wiggle - just the skin flap), and dismissing them as gross while the guy next door limits out.