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Mail order casters

Steve Double

Senior Member
Given that these days I have to make 20 mile round trips to pay a mere £4 a pint for casters (and only if I can get there before closing time, which is usually when I'm still at work), I'm toying with the idea of getting them from the likes of Willy Worms by mail order for both price and convenience.

Is this a good or a bad idea in people's experiences?

Secondly, I know us southerners all live in mansions to accommodate our servants, but there seems to be some sort of Border Control between the Midlands and the Thames Valley where customs officials see fit to slap on at least an extra quid to the price a pint of casters. Why is this blatant racial discrimination against hard-pressed southerners allowed to take place?
 
Steve, don't begrudge them the extra money us southerners pay, it goes into a fund which the northerners can draw from if they want to install indoor toilets or really fancy things like showers for removing coal dust, pie gravy and whippet food :D:D:D

Cheers, Dave.
 
Mike,

(A) A shower is a collection of assorted politicians.

(B) An indoor lav is MORE hygienic, because the squares of newspaper hanging on the nail stay dry longer, hence stronger...and therefore less likely to allow unfortunate digital penetration.

Cheers, Dave.
 
Steve, not sure about mail order casters. Back in the day when I used casters a lot (back when you could actually afford them), they didn't remain in the 'perfect for use' stage for very long. We used to arrest the natural progression from perfect to floaters by storing them in a very cold fridge overnight, then immersing them in water on the bank the next day, keeping them ready for use...and by the end of that day, that was about it for their useful life.

How they go about storing them and shipping them so that they arrive in tip top condition now is something that I would want to know I think. How long is the period between them being taken off the maggot tub as soon as they turned, and arriving at the customers door?

Cheers, Dave.
 
Mike,

(A) A shower is a collection of assorted politicians.

(B) An indoor lav is MORE hygienic, because the squares of newspaper hanging on the nail stay dry longer, hence stronger...and therefore less likely to allow unfortunate digital penetration.

Cheers, Dave.

Sorry Dave, but newspaper is for one's fish and chips and should not be be wasted. And anyway, why would you want to use newspaper when a dead rat (or a swans neck if your feeling flush) offers far superior absorption and comfort.
 
Sorry Dave, but newspaper is for one's fish and chips and should not be be wasted. And anyway, why would you want to use newspaper when a dead rat (or a swans neck if your feeling flush) offers far superior absorption and comfort.

Joe, you can't beat sitting on the back of a sheep :eek: Clean as a whistle. Glorious :D
 
The misses bought me a toilet brush last year, but I had to stop using it. It gave me a really sore ar_ _ !
 
Steve, you can keep casters for up to a week as long as they have not been drowned in water and are alive.I use very fresh casters every week in the Winter and what i have left i keep for use for the following week(mostly for hookbait).I will either fridge them in a bait box with damp kitchen wipe covering (if opened already) and rotate/ clean daily.If not open i usually leave for a couple of days in the vac seal pack and then move them into a loose fitting bag again in the fridge,rotating daily and drying daily.The day before fishing i wash and drown them, adding a flavour to the water,the casters usually absorb and expand and become more boyant and are darker,which is why i use them,to me they work better than fresh, i have more confidence in them. I would be wary during the summer about mail order but if fresh when packed and less then 3 days to arrive they should be ok,just clean them asap.
 
I have bought the vacuum packed (think these contain a preservative) and have caught on them but don't rate them as high as 'standard casters'. If I can't get a supply locally, I tend to buy old maggots (or those that are sold as ready to turn) and sieve/riddle them myself. Store in a fridge in a sealed poly bag, shake a give them a breathe a couple of times a day and you should have good casters for a week or so. If you turn them yourself you can add a bit of flavour etc which can remain. Pineapple is good.
 
https://barbel.co.uk/site/vbulletin/forum/members/dave-taylor-albums-dropbox-picture5587-image.jpeg

I think someone at Drennan also sussed the pineapple flavour a while back.

As an aside,.. a couple of years ago when fishing the Hamp. Avon for a week using hemp & casters the local tackle shop offered some frozen for free.
They were leftovers that the shop froze for the carp and bream boys who used them in spod mixes.
I was not at all confident but as they were free I took a couple of pints on top of my usual five and made sure that they were bait dropped first. They weren't all mush, didn't float and looked fine, the barbel and chub lapped them up much to my surprise .
I use hair rigged arti's ( pineapple flavour of course!) so they all went in as feed.
Not sure how well they would have kept throughout a long hot day, even though I use a cool bag .;)
 
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