Pests Awaken; Good-bye to Sweet Corn

This good looking mirror was
landed on a combo bait of maize
and artificial corn on the hair rig.

That warm couple of days we had earlier in the week woke up the pests.  I am talking about turtles, horned pout, bluegills, suckers and dace to name a few.  That warming water had them feeding and they had my sweetcorn in their sights.
I landed my first turtle, a large sun turtle.  I also got several horned pout within the last week. A guy I fished with tonight landed a sucker. And, all these catches were on sweet corn.  To make matters worse, many times when I  reeled in within the last few week there was no bait on the hook. Those sneaky little sun turtles can take the corn off without so much as a twitch on the rod tip.
So, it's good-bye sweetcorn, hello maize. I actually switched to maize a couple of days ago and have made some good catches on a combo bait of maize and artificial corn.  I landed a few small ones, a couple of teen fish and even a nice 20 lber.  So, the maize is working.
For those new to the game, maize is a bigger, harder corn that is much more durable than sweetcorn. it is not 100% pest resistant, but it does hold up.  In addition, suckers, horned pout and turtles are not real fond of it.
I prepare my own maize.  I buy 50 lb. bags of "whole corn" from Tractor Supply.  I put a good amount in a large pot and add water.  Let that sit overnight and boil it the next morning. It should boil for 35 minutes.  Once done, I put it into containers and freezer bags and refrigerate it.  I then have a good supply or corn to be used as bait and chum.