Super size hemp for hookers
- Thread starter tiinker
- Start date
richiekelly
Well-known member
PM sent...................
Anyone tried hemp oil in paste instead of margarine?
Yes I have used it in paste and soaked pellets and dumbbells in it it can be smeared on flake one side only what ever you want to try.
no-one in particular
Well-known member
That indeed was the general thinking some years back and although it has never been proved to my knowledge one way or the other it is not accepted as much today as it once was. I can remember it being banned from some fisheries in my youth. NO HEMP SEED was often to be seen on day tickets in my area. They used to say it drugged the fish
I thought it was just a theory.
By the way , good thread/tip. I would have never have thought of looking for top grade hemp in the supermarket. I will have a good butchers from now on.
Hemp - a great bait for roach. This is not my idea - use white pole elastic, thread it twice through a black 5mm bead and then hook it by passing the point of the hook throuch a section of the pole elastic - it works well.
This is my idea and it works very well indeed, especially for big roach. Buy one of those small square plastic pots with a lid on each top edge. Pour in around a quarter of an inch of hemp oil, then add 8 drops of geranium oil and shake the container - the two oils mix well. Then get two sheets of kitchen roll, fold it up and then put it in the plastic pot. Allow the oils to soak into the paper.
When you go fishing squeeze a piece of the soaked kitchen paper with your finger and thumb and then put break flake on your hook, the flavours/oils transferred to the flake. Sounds complicated but it is dead easy really and it will catch mainly roach.
This is my idea and it works very well indeed, especially for big roach. Buy one of those small square plastic pots with a lid on each top edge. Pour in around a quarter of an inch of hemp oil, then add 8 drops of geranium oil and shake the container - the two oils mix well. Then get two sheets of kitchen roll, fold it up and then put it in the plastic pot. Allow the oils to soak into the paper.
When you go fishing squeeze a piece of the soaked kitchen paper with your finger and thumb and then put break flake on your hook, the flavours/oils transferred to the flake. Sounds complicated but it is dead easy really and it will catch mainly roach.
Lord Paul of Sheffield
Well-known member
I typed super sized hemp for hookers in to google but accidentally missed out the word hemp
It gives some surprising search results
My PC is now full of spam emails, my wife is locked in the loo in tears and won't believe it's an honest mistake and I'm meeting a young lady called Trixie at 5mg:
It gives some surprising search results
My PC is now full of spam emails, my wife is locked in the loo in tears and won't believe it's an honest mistake and I'm meeting a young lady called Trixie at 5
mg:Ive been buying the giant hemp for a few years now from the pet store jolly's , usually i buy the 20kilo sacks which works out about £40 ( quite pricey ) . I have found you need to go easy on feeding the big stuff and it also goes well with tares ...
Keith Speer
Well-known member
I use Hemp a lot, particularly for Barbel and Roach, obviously I use quite different tackle for Barbel than for Roach, it is different in that my Barbel gear is a lot heavier, other than that floats and shotting pattern are more or less the same, what can be very different is that the amount of feed I use for the different species.
When I fish for either Barbel or Roach my aim is to catch the biggest in the swim, not necessarily the most and I am often very careful as to which swim I fish, having first looked and identified the area that I am most likely to catch the bigger fish.
Roach can often give their position away in the very early morning half light, Roach finning as they rise is a bit of a giveaway and obviously if I see bigger Roach in a particular section of river then that is where I fish, with Barbel on the other hand a rolling fish is a good indication , but often I am looking for movement in reeds of a reed bed or fizzing, this will not determine the size of the fish ,unless I find an area where there is only two or three fish fizzing, as apposed to an area where there is obviously an indeterminate amount of fish fizzing, thus probably a larger amount of fish, probably with a smaller average size, what it does tell me is that there are fish present, in which case I fish and try to pick out the bigger fish by other methods.
Several large Barbel "fizzing".
Often there is no fizzing and very few roach finning; in that case I rely on what I know of the venue and the make up of the swims, where there is a slight slack or an edge of current!
Fish, any fish, being a cold blooded creature that relies on instinct for it’s self betterment, more often than not, will expend the least amount of energy for the most amount of gain, with this in mind and with what I know of the venue, I will take a judgement and choose a swim to fish.
In the warmer months Hemp is the mainstay of my attack, I probably will not only use Hemp as a hookbait, but I will feed it all the time, regularly and throughout the day.
While I am feeding Hemp, I will also have Maggots, Casters, Tares, Big Hemp, Elderberry (in season) and Wheat, I might not have all these baits every time I fish but I do like to have a variety of change bait available, so that I can “ring the changes” and explore as many avenues as possible.
Winter bait selection, I tend to use Casters more in winter and Tares less.
Once I have chosen a swim I set up my tackle (away from the swim to reduce noise) set up my box and bait waiter, I then sit and watch the water for a short while, looking for whatever signs of fish being present and to let things settle down before I start to feed, this often coincides with the first cup of tea of the day.
While I sit there I decide where I am going to put the feed and therefore where my main catch zone will be, I also decide what is likely to happen when I hook a fish and where it is most likely to go once hooked, I do this so that certain decisions are already made and are already set up as default options, this is not so important when Roach fishing, but it is vital when I am fishing for Barbel (sometimes Large Barbel don’t give me a chance to wonder what to do next, having default decisions already made means I control the first 30 seconds or so of the fight), with Roach the fight is often not so extreme but even so I might want to get the fish away from a shoal quickly so as not to spook possible even bigger fish in the swim.
Once I have finished my preparations I start to feed the swim.
For the sake of argument, I will assume I am fishing of Roach for the following section.
I never put in more than ten grains at a time (small Hemp) and 5-7 grains (big Hemp), I feed when I cast, I never ever put in more that ten grains, if I want to up the amount of bait I feed, then I put in another ten grains when the float is half way down the swim and if I need even more (which is very rare) I feed again when the float is at the end of the swim.
I Always, Always, Always, feed in the same spot; I do not allow the aiming point for the feed to "creep", also I am never tempted to "bring the fish closer in" by feeding short, I always decide where the "Catch Zone" is and I fish to it.
AS for tackle, I shot the float (assuming it takes between 6 and 14 No4) shirt button style with no 8 shot (lead, it's still legal in this size), because it is so much smaller than the hemp you reduce the chance of shot bites, I use no 10 Style leads near to the hook (size 14 eyed Drennan Super Specialist with the shank painted white for big Hemp, a 16 Drennan Super Specialist with the shank painted white for small Hemp).
Tippex is a good "paint" to use on hooks, it is water based and scratches off easily.
I also set up a second rod, this is usually similar to the first, but possibly with a slightly heavier hooklength, but it is set up with bulked shot (again no 8's, no matter how much shot the float takes, trust me it is worth the hassle) and again Style leads near to the hook.
The shirt button rod is for running through; the bulked shot rod is for holding back and laying on at the bottom end of the swim for the biggies.
To start the session I tend to only use the "running through rig", build a swim and then attack the "bottom end" of the swim only when I have a good head of Roach and Dace feeding through the swim, it is often surprising what can be holding back waiting for the spare grains that the small fish miss.
I usually don’t fish the “bulked up rig” until a couple of hours has passed, I want to establish a good feeding habit in my main “catch zone” first, however it is usually the “bulked up rig” that catches the bigger Roach, which tend to hold back behind the smaller shoal fish, they let the smaller fish do all the experimenting and graze off the seeds the smaller fish miss.
These fish are usually much more “cagey” and more difficult to fool, often later in the day I cast over the main catch zone to only fish for the harder, larger fish.
All through the day I will make changes to my rig and the hookbait I use, I go through a process of holding back, to holding back hard, to shallowing up, fishing over depth.
I move shot about constantly until I get the most positive bites.
I would probably use Presto Reflo Xceed 2.1lb (0.104mm) or 2,6lb (0.117mm) hook length for the running through rig and Presto Reflo Xceed 2.6lb (0.117mm) or 3.1lb (0.128mm) for the holding back rig during the day, when evening comes I nearly always go up to 3.1lb (0.128mm), IF, the Barbel have moved in I defiantly need to up that quite a bit, then I use the Preston Reflo Power Pro 4lb 12oz (0.13mm) for this on the Thames or bigger rivers, where I have room to play a fish, alternatively on smaller rivers I will have a third rod set up with Preston Reflo Power Pro 6lb 12oz (0.17mm).
If I am going to fish Tares, I feed three grains in with the hemp every other "feed".
The biggest mistakes most people make when fishing Tares is to either not put in enough or to put in too much, and you have to be really careful with Tares as it fills the fish up much more than Hemp, remember that Tares also have a different drop rate and you must have a different aim point for the Tares, this different aim point for the Tares varies with flow and depth of the swim and you can only judge this with experience, you can move the aim point for the Tares you MUST NOT move the aim point for the Hemp.
As for the bait, I always soak my Hemp for 24 hours before I boil it, no matter what size it is, small Hemp must be 70% split, so that there is a lot of white showing in the feed, big hemp must be 50% split, if it is fresh enough it will split, if it will not split it is too old so chuck it out.
Most of the food grade from Asda splits with no problem once soaked, a lot of the big Hemp from seed merchants is old, which is why I usually don’t use it.
When I boil hemp I add a tea spoon of sugar, a tea spoon of salt and a tea spoon of bicarbonate of soda to about 4 pints of soaked Hemp.
I don’t bother with black food dye!
With Tares, I soak them for 12 hours in a solution of water and black food dye; I also add the same percentage of salt and bicarbonate of soda.
I then place them in a large baking tray covered by about ¼ to ½ inch of water and bake them at about 180℃, this can take 20 -40 mins and you need to check the bait regularly as Tares seem to go soft all of a sudden and then turn to mush just as quickly.
I then freeze them in packs of ½ a pint as I never seem to need more than that.
Plastic or imitation Hemp, this can work quite well but it must be remembered that many of the plastics float, even with a hook in them, also the hook is always proud of the bait and a dead giveaway, it will fool smaller Roach, but as I am only interested in the bigger fish, I prefer to bury my hook in the bait, either by pushing the hook bend into the split or by pushing the hook point into the dimple at the blunt end of the hemp and easing the point out of the split.
I was taught how to fish The seed by an old boy named Mac, a mate of my dads.
Mac was an absolute master on the seed and his instruction made me a lot of money when I used to fish matches.
I have always been lucky when fishing the seed and I have caught quite a few 2lb Roach while fishing it on the Kennet, Avon, Itchen and Lea, never had one on the Thames my best is only 1-14, I think that is only because I never got to be as good as Mac.
Mac used to sit behind me and instruct me as I fished , he was the one who gave me the 10 grain rule, if I fed more or less than ten Mac used to whack me round the head and say Fu….n ten, NOT fu…..n eight, I still sometimes twitch and duck to this day when I get it wrong, a sort of reaction like Pavlov’s dogs???
I was sooo lucky to have known him.
I hope this will be of some use to you chaps, one thing that IS worth remembering, although this will seem like a lot of hard work, the words of Thomas Jefferson still ring true to this day:-
“I'm a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it”
Also, and I don’t know who said it:-
“If you do what you always dun, you get what you always got”
Tight Lines
When I fish for either Barbel or Roach my aim is to catch the biggest in the swim, not necessarily the most and I am often very careful as to which swim I fish, having first looked and identified the area that I am most likely to catch the bigger fish.
Roach can often give their position away in the very early morning half light, Roach finning as they rise is a bit of a giveaway and obviously if I see bigger Roach in a particular section of river then that is where I fish, with Barbel on the other hand a rolling fish is a good indication , but often I am looking for movement in reeds of a reed bed or fizzing, this will not determine the size of the fish ,unless I find an area where there is only two or three fish fizzing, as apposed to an area where there is obviously an indeterminate amount of fish fizzing, thus probably a larger amount of fish, probably with a smaller average size, what it does tell me is that there are fish present, in which case I fish and try to pick out the bigger fish by other methods.
Several large Barbel "fizzing".
Often there is no fizzing and very few roach finning; in that case I rely on what I know of the venue and the make up of the swims, where there is a slight slack or an edge of current!
Fish, any fish, being a cold blooded creature that relies on instinct for it’s self betterment, more often than not, will expend the least amount of energy for the most amount of gain, with this in mind and with what I know of the venue, I will take a judgement and choose a swim to fish.
In the warmer months Hemp is the mainstay of my attack, I probably will not only use Hemp as a hookbait, but I will feed it all the time, regularly and throughout the day.
While I am feeding Hemp, I will also have Maggots, Casters, Tares, Big Hemp, Elderberry (in season) and Wheat, I might not have all these baits every time I fish but I do like to have a variety of change bait available, so that I can “ring the changes” and explore as many avenues as possible.
Winter bait selection, I tend to use Casters more in winter and Tares less.
Once I have chosen a swim I set up my tackle (away from the swim to reduce noise) set up my box and bait waiter, I then sit and watch the water for a short while, looking for whatever signs of fish being present and to let things settle down before I start to feed, this often coincides with the first cup of tea of the day.
While I sit there I decide where I am going to put the feed and therefore where my main catch zone will be, I also decide what is likely to happen when I hook a fish and where it is most likely to go once hooked, I do this so that certain decisions are already made and are already set up as default options, this is not so important when Roach fishing, but it is vital when I am fishing for Barbel (sometimes Large Barbel don’t give me a chance to wonder what to do next, having default decisions already made means I control the first 30 seconds or so of the fight), with Roach the fight is often not so extreme but even so I might want to get the fish away from a shoal quickly so as not to spook possible even bigger fish in the swim.
Once I have finished my preparations I start to feed the swim.
For the sake of argument, I will assume I am fishing of Roach for the following section.
I never put in more than ten grains at a time (small Hemp) and 5-7 grains (big Hemp), I feed when I cast, I never ever put in more that ten grains, if I want to up the amount of bait I feed, then I put in another ten grains when the float is half way down the swim and if I need even more (which is very rare) I feed again when the float is at the end of the swim.
I Always, Always, Always, feed in the same spot; I do not allow the aiming point for the feed to "creep", also I am never tempted to "bring the fish closer in" by feeding short, I always decide where the "Catch Zone" is and I fish to it.
AS for tackle, I shot the float (assuming it takes between 6 and 14 No4) shirt button style with no 8 shot (lead, it's still legal in this size), because it is so much smaller than the hemp you reduce the chance of shot bites, I use no 10 Style leads near to the hook (size 14 eyed Drennan Super Specialist with the shank painted white for big Hemp, a 16 Drennan Super Specialist with the shank painted white for small Hemp).
Tippex is a good "paint" to use on hooks, it is water based and scratches off easily.
I also set up a second rod, this is usually similar to the first, but possibly with a slightly heavier hooklength, but it is set up with bulked shot (again no 8's, no matter how much shot the float takes, trust me it is worth the hassle) and again Style leads near to the hook.
The shirt button rod is for running through; the bulked shot rod is for holding back and laying on at the bottom end of the swim for the biggies.
To start the session I tend to only use the "running through rig", build a swim and then attack the "bottom end" of the swim only when I have a good head of Roach and Dace feeding through the swim, it is often surprising what can be holding back waiting for the spare grains that the small fish miss.
I usually don’t fish the “bulked up rig” until a couple of hours has passed, I want to establish a good feeding habit in my main “catch zone” first, however it is usually the “bulked up rig” that catches the bigger Roach, which tend to hold back behind the smaller shoal fish, they let the smaller fish do all the experimenting and graze off the seeds the smaller fish miss.
These fish are usually much more “cagey” and more difficult to fool, often later in the day I cast over the main catch zone to only fish for the harder, larger fish.
All through the day I will make changes to my rig and the hookbait I use, I go through a process of holding back, to holding back hard, to shallowing up, fishing over depth.
I move shot about constantly until I get the most positive bites.
I would probably use Presto Reflo Xceed 2.1lb (0.104mm) or 2,6lb (0.117mm) hook length for the running through rig and Presto Reflo Xceed 2.6lb (0.117mm) or 3.1lb (0.128mm) for the holding back rig during the day, when evening comes I nearly always go up to 3.1lb (0.128mm), IF, the Barbel have moved in I defiantly need to up that quite a bit, then I use the Preston Reflo Power Pro 4lb 12oz (0.13mm) for this on the Thames or bigger rivers, where I have room to play a fish, alternatively on smaller rivers I will have a third rod set up with Preston Reflo Power Pro 6lb 12oz (0.17mm).
If I am going to fish Tares, I feed three grains in with the hemp every other "feed".
The biggest mistakes most people make when fishing Tares is to either not put in enough or to put in too much, and you have to be really careful with Tares as it fills the fish up much more than Hemp, remember that Tares also have a different drop rate and you must have a different aim point for the Tares, this different aim point for the Tares varies with flow and depth of the swim and you can only judge this with experience, you can move the aim point for the Tares you MUST NOT move the aim point for the Hemp.
As for the bait, I always soak my Hemp for 24 hours before I boil it, no matter what size it is, small Hemp must be 70% split, so that there is a lot of white showing in the feed, big hemp must be 50% split, if it is fresh enough it will split, if it will not split it is too old so chuck it out.
Most of the food grade from Asda splits with no problem once soaked, a lot of the big Hemp from seed merchants is old, which is why I usually don’t use it.
When I boil hemp I add a tea spoon of sugar, a tea spoon of salt and a tea spoon of bicarbonate of soda to about 4 pints of soaked Hemp.
I don’t bother with black food dye!
With Tares, I soak them for 12 hours in a solution of water and black food dye; I also add the same percentage of salt and bicarbonate of soda.
I then place them in a large baking tray covered by about ¼ to ½ inch of water and bake them at about 180℃, this can take 20 -40 mins and you need to check the bait regularly as Tares seem to go soft all of a sudden and then turn to mush just as quickly.
I then freeze them in packs of ½ a pint as I never seem to need more than that.
Plastic or imitation Hemp, this can work quite well but it must be remembered that many of the plastics float, even with a hook in them, also the hook is always proud of the bait and a dead giveaway, it will fool smaller Roach, but as I am only interested in the bigger fish, I prefer to bury my hook in the bait, either by pushing the hook bend into the split or by pushing the hook point into the dimple at the blunt end of the hemp and easing the point out of the split.
I was taught how to fish The seed by an old boy named Mac, a mate of my dads.
Mac was an absolute master on the seed and his instruction made me a lot of money when I used to fish matches.
I have always been lucky when fishing the seed and I have caught quite a few 2lb Roach while fishing it on the Kennet, Avon, Itchen and Lea, never had one on the Thames my best is only 1-14, I think that is only because I never got to be as good as Mac.
Mac used to sit behind me and instruct me as I fished , he was the one who gave me the 10 grain rule, if I fed more or less than ten Mac used to whack me round the head and say Fu….n ten, NOT fu…..n eight, I still sometimes twitch and duck to this day when I get it wrong, a sort of reaction like Pavlov’s dogs???
I was sooo lucky to have known him.
I hope this will be of some use to you chaps, one thing that IS worth remembering, although this will seem like a lot of hard work, the words of Thomas Jefferson still ring true to this day:-
“I'm a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it”
Also, and I don’t know who said it:-
“If you do what you always dun, you get what you always got”
Tight Lines
sagalout
Well-known member
Thank you for taking the time and making the effort to post that.
ravey
Well-known member
Yes, many thanks for sharing the info Keith. I also enjoyed your article on the Verulam Angling site.
Is 'Mac' the Mac Willis from Newark referred to in Peter Collins' "Encyclopedia of Fishing Baits" (1978)? The chapter on tares shows just what an influence the man had in fishing this deadly seed al those years ago (60s?).
Also, you mention using black dye to colour your tares. What is it and where can I obtain some...please? The Collins book identifies Aniline Black, but from what I gather, this was becoming unavailable even in 1978.
Another couple of brain-picks, if you would allow me the privilege: do you favour the smaller tares, and also, your choice of hook seems to counter the usual advice given (fine wire patterns, to equally fine lines)
Is 'Mac' the Mac Willis from Newark referred to in Peter Collins' "Encyclopedia of Fishing Baits" (1978)? The chapter on tares shows just what an influence the man had in fishing this deadly seed al those years ago (60s?).
Also, you mention using black dye to colour your tares. What is it and where can I obtain some...please? The Collins book identifies Aniline Black, but from what I gather, this was becoming unavailable even in 1978.
Another couple of brain-picks, if you would allow me the privilege: do you favour the smaller tares, and also, your choice of hook seems to counter the usual advice given (fine wire patterns, to equally fine lines)
Great post keith , i fish the stainy and i find much of what you do is the same as me apart from the initial feeding , im from the other school which states you lay a bed of hemp down first , in my case usually half a pot in summer spread over a half metre area , i then feed a few grains every few minutes . I sometimes fish breadpunch over the top until they are "avin it" or fish another area for bream .....usually pellet ...:wh
Keith Speer
Well-known member
Hi Ravey
No Mac was a disagreeable old bas....d that my dad used to work with, dad was often too busy to take me fishing and Mac was retired, so he would pop into my mums shop and say:-"Tell the boy to be ready at 6am" and walk out.
If I was not ready at the gate he would just drive by!!
Never said a word on the way to the river, when we got there (it was always the tidal Thames) he would stop and tell me where to fish, then he would tell me why and then go to his swim for an hour and not say a word.
Then he would come and sit behind me, tell me what I was doing wrong and bash me round the head until I got it right, satisfied he would go and fish and not say another word until it was too dark to see, when I saw him pack up I had to hurry up and get back to his car and he would not say another word until we got home, then it was "Bye!" and off he went.
He was the best angler on the float I have ever seen, he would only fish with me and my dad!
Loads of top match anglers would try and speak to him, and he would ignore them all.
I would not trade my memories of fishing with him for gold, well maybe pure, gold but it would have to be a lot!!
As for dye I use Dylon cloth dye, I am sure you can still get it.
Tares, I use all sizes just to mix it up a bit, similarly I use one two or three Casters or Maggots on the hook, again just to mix it up and find what they are taking.
As for line I go as fine as I can, but I am fishing for BIG Roach and they can pull a bit, the 3lb fish I had in January fought like a demon and very nearly broke me when it went for the reeds on the far bank, which I was fishing very close to.
If I am fishing a swim with loads of room to play a fish then I do go a bit lighter but as I often fish close to "features" I use something that will stop the fish.
I much prefer eyed hooks because I like to tie them with a knot less knot, this "kicks" the hook over rather in the way of a bent hook rig that the carp boys use.
I have had spade end hooks suddenly break off, I think this is because the spade cuts into the line.
Shaunyboy
I tend not to feed lots when I first start because many of the waters that I fish are public and as such have seen a lot of bait, for this reason I like to put it in as a drip feed, I find I get better fish that way, I think that big Roach and particularly big Barbel can be a bit fussy about finding a load of bait sitting in one place, I also assume that there are already fish in my swim and putting a lot in at once can spook them.
One of the things the Barbel boys tend to do is put in several pints of hemp in several swims, leave it and go back later, I am certain this spooks the bigger fish, my constant feed of small amounts often brings them in.
I can think of many occasions on the Thames when my Roach swim is suddenly full of Barbel at the end of the day as the light starts to fail, I think they see a load of other fish feeding and move in because they don't want to miss out, Barbel can be greedy sods and if you draw them into a peg after loose feeding all day they can be absurdly easy to catch!
This might be different "Op T frozen north", I don't know as I don't get the chance to fish there often.
Anyway thanks for your comments chaps and I am always happy to answer questions or suggestions.
Tight lines.
No Mac was a disagreeable old bas....d that my dad used to work with, dad was often too busy to take me fishing and Mac was retired, so he would pop into my mums shop and say:-"Tell the boy to be ready at 6am" and walk out.
If I was not ready at the gate he would just drive by!!
Never said a word on the way to the river, when we got there (it was always the tidal Thames) he would stop and tell me where to fish, then he would tell me why and then go to his swim for an hour and not say a word.
Then he would come and sit behind me, tell me what I was doing wrong and bash me round the head until I got it right, satisfied he would go and fish and not say another word until it was too dark to see, when I saw him pack up I had to hurry up and get back to his car and he would not say another word until we got home, then it was "Bye!" and off he went.
He was the best angler on the float I have ever seen, he would only fish with me and my dad!
Loads of top match anglers would try and speak to him, and he would ignore them all.
I would not trade my memories of fishing with him for gold, well maybe pure, gold but it would have to be a lot!!
As for dye I use Dylon cloth dye, I am sure you can still get it.
Tares, I use all sizes just to mix it up a bit, similarly I use one two or three Casters or Maggots on the hook, again just to mix it up and find what they are taking.
As for line I go as fine as I can, but I am fishing for BIG Roach and they can pull a bit, the 3lb fish I had in January fought like a demon and very nearly broke me when it went for the reeds on the far bank, which I was fishing very close to.
If I am fishing a swim with loads of room to play a fish then I do go a bit lighter but as I often fish close to "features" I use something that will stop the fish.
I much prefer eyed hooks because I like to tie them with a knot less knot, this "kicks" the hook over rather in the way of a bent hook rig that the carp boys use.
I have had spade end hooks suddenly break off, I think this is because the spade cuts into the line.
Shaunyboy
I tend not to feed lots when I first start because many of the waters that I fish are public and as such have seen a lot of bait, for this reason I like to put it in as a drip feed, I find I get better fish that way, I think that big Roach and particularly big Barbel can be a bit fussy about finding a load of bait sitting in one place, I also assume that there are already fish in my swim and putting a lot in at once can spook them.
One of the things the Barbel boys tend to do is put in several pints of hemp in several swims, leave it and go back later, I am certain this spooks the bigger fish, my constant feed of small amounts often brings them in.
I can think of many occasions on the Thames when my Roach swim is suddenly full of Barbel at the end of the day as the light starts to fail, I think they see a load of other fish feeding and move in because they don't want to miss out, Barbel can be greedy sods and if you draw them into a peg after loose feeding all day they can be absurdly easy to catch!
This might be different "Op T frozen north", I don't know as I don't get the chance to fish there often.
Anyway thanks for your comments chaps and I am always happy to answer questions or suggestions.
Tight lines.
Keith Speer
Well-known member
Graham Elliot invited me this year but I went down with Gastric Fever and could not leave home................................for personal reasons
Otherwise I would have been there.
I like it there, it makes a nice change so next time I shall be there.
Otherwise I would have been there.
I like it there, it makes a nice change so next time I shall be there.
ravey
Well-known member
Thanks for answering my queries, Keith; much appreciated!
Keith Speer
Well-known member
No Problem Ravey.
Had a quiet day today, decided it would be too bright to go fishing (and I had promised to take the Mrs out for a meal) so I updated my picture album on here as well.
---------- Post added at 13:16 ---------- Previous post was at 13:13 ----------
BY the way, I need to make a small correction, I used to use Dylon cloth dye for Tares now I use a black food dye that I bought from a cake shop.
For the life of me I cannot remember what it is called but it comes in a little bottle.
Had a quiet day today, decided it would be too bright to go fishing (and I had promised to take the Mrs out for a meal) so I updated my picture album on here as well.
---------- Post added at 13:16 ---------- Previous post was at 13:13 ----------
BY the way, I need to make a small correction, I used to use Dylon cloth dye for Tares now I use a black food dye that I bought from a cake shop.
For the life of me I cannot remember what it is called but it comes in a little bottle.