Wasp Grubs.

Much of my early fishing was spent on the Severn, Teme and Warwickshire Avon, much of it fishing for chub.  Back then many people knew about the attraction chub had for wasp grubs when used as bait.

Collecting the nests was an ongoing pursuit back then as, given any reasonable swim containing chub on the Severn or Teme especially, you were almost certain to catch.   We collected the nests whole, kept a few of the prime rings containing the grubs and mashed the rest of the nest up in water mixed with dry groundbait.  Baiting up with a few big balls of this stuff usually got the chub in a feeding mood.  Float fishing with three or four or even more grubs on the hook was the easy to go and if a shoal was attracted it was pretty much a fish every swim down.  Quite why it was so attractive to them I have no idea but you could switch baits to bread or maggots perhaps and they ignored it  Put one wasp grub on with any other bait and they took it with gusto  The first club I fished in they eventually banned it as the older members could not be bothered to seek out the nests and soon found they were at a considerable disadvantage in any competition..

However getting the nest was not often an easy task and looking back was more dangerous then we realized.  We searched the lanes and hedgerows for nests often located in the bottom of the hedge or on a grassy bank.   To kill the nests quickly and efficiently we used cyanide crystals.  Now quite where we got these from I can’t exactly recall though I think adults could get it from the Chemist if they had a reason.  We may have got it from the local gamekeeper. Bear in mind it was the early 50s

The method was to find the nest entrance, put down some wet crystals and watch as the vapour killed the wasps instantly as they flew over it to access their nest hole.  They simply crumpled up and fell in a heap.   One or two made it inside and killed off anything still in there though it seemed not to kill the grubs.

After an hour or so the whole nest would be dead and we would simply dig it out with a spade.   Most nest were football sized but often bigger, extremely intricate and beautifully constructed and gave a good supply of bait.

One afternoon however we did have a salutary lesson in what we were dealing with. As I recall we didn’t take many sanitary precautions with the cyanide and on reflection we were dicing with death.  We had killed a nest deep in the bottom of a hedge and a friend went head down into the foliage to dig it out.  After a very short time he staggered out backwards and collapsed on the grassy verge gasping for breath.   He was almost overcome by the fumes given off by the cyanide but quickly managed to regain his composure and was okay after a short while.  He didn’t suffer any side effects then or later as far as I know.

We didn’t tell anyone of course but we were much more careful after that I can tell you.  Modern wasp nest killers work ok but not as fast or efficiently as the cyanide did.   Must give it another go later in the season Covid permitting of course.  Using the grubs for bait I mean –not the cyanide that’s for sure