An introduction to
HEMP FISHING
on the Kennet & Avon canal
Hemp
seed used on its own is one of the best roach baits available as it has been for
many years, although the seed will catch other species it’s the roach
including some fine specimens that have fallen under its spell at any time of
the year with the autumn being the most productive time.
Hemp
seed this can be bought from your tackle shop already cooked and prepared and
ready to use but a cheaper option is to buy some uncooked seed from a seed
merchant or pet food supplier and cook your own, bearing in mind that the seed
expands to approximately twice its size when cooked use two and a half times the
amount of water to seed in a saucepan bring to the boil and simmer until the
seeds split and small white shoots start to appear on about half the seeds
strain under cold water to halt the cooking process and bag up ready to use,
adding bicarbonate of soda to the water before cooking turns the seed shell
black or adding sugar will make the seed shell shiny, Half a pint usually is
enough for most sessions and as cooked hemp freezes well two or three pints can
be cooked up at one go with the surplus put in the freezer for future use.
As
hemp can be used in any part of the swim rod & reel, pole or whip can all be
used to good effect, small floats using very small shot or style leads fished
just on or off the bottom, 16-22 fine wire hooks pound and a half main line with
pound hook lengths complete the set up but don’t be afraid to increase this if
the fish start to get larger. Shot
sizes larger than no 8 can often be mistaken for grains of hemp causing false
bites, which is why style leads are favored.
Fishing
with hemp can be a waiting game but the secret is in the feeding selecting the
feeding line with the bottom of the near or far shelves preferred a continuous
steady stream of seed is introduced only a few grains at a time but very
regular, the response can sometimes be instant or waiting an hour or two is
sometimes required but the rewards are normally worth the wait, pushing the back
of the hook into the seed making sure that the hook point is visible and
starting off fishing just of the bottom and staying alert as bites are more
often than not very quick and a large number are normally missed unless your
having one of those red letter days where you connect with most of them then you
can fill your wellies.
Two
good hook baits that work with hemp are tares and barley mainly because they are
a lot easier to hook and they stand out over bed of hemp.
Tares are prepared by boiling a handful in a saucepan of water for a few
minutes adding a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda to the water to blacken the
tares, barley is prepared in a similar way but without the bicarbonate, after
cooking some straight out of the packet which should be white, try adding some
black food dye to a second batch as there are days when show a preference for
one color or the other, both these hook baits cook a lot quicker than hemp and
barley when used on its own has accounted for quite a few summer tench and
bream.
Other
uses for hemp is as a feed with caster or pinkies as the hemp has the effect of
holding fish over the feeding area better than most other attracters and keeping
them feeding with roach, tench and carp being the most likely catch.
Happy fishing......