is this right????

hi all. i watched i fishing programme last night where they were using chick peas cooked in a spicy curry sauce on a hair. they were fishing one of the carp lakes in france. has any one got any experiences of using chickpeas over here in england?

I have tried chick pea a couple of times (in uk)and havn't had much luck really.

The first timeI tried them was straight from the tin ~ No luck

The second time I part boiled them with some oyster essence then dried them out under vacuum at 40degreesC until they were kinda rubbery and hair fixable. The outcome ~ No luck.

I certainly think the chick pea will catch Mr Carpoid, I have heard a number of guys on the bank speaking highly of them, but for me, havn't caught anything on them yet.

I used them years ago at Horsehoe in the middle of a very cold winter and the Carp loved em, i coloured them blue if i remember rightly, they take on colour well,good bait. Soak for couple of days then boil for about 20 mins.

I had my PB carp last year while using chick peas. I baited a spot every few days for a couple of weeks and on a few occasions the carp were already there looking for food! I even saw one 'up tail' and start gorging on the chick peas i'donly put in 5 minutes before. I had a few larger bream on the peas as well.

First bait in my bag when going for carp or tench. And frankly I have had best success without flavouring them, they have an excellent natural flavour.

Also a good bait for barbel.

do chick peas float when cooked or will they lay on the bottom

They sink but you need to saok for 24hrs then boil for 30mins before using them (unless they're already prepared)

if im fishing over weed how can i turn them into a pop up? could i use a tutty fruity fluro pop up with chick pea on a snowman rig, or are these too different/

Something i've tried is to add some CSL to the chick peas while their soaking so that they absorb the flavour. I then feed these with sweetcorn and ifyou want a pop-up presentation you can add one or two pieces of artificial corn on top of the chick pea. You could use a pop up but i'd trim it down as it will dwarf you chick pea. The Monster Tiger Nut pop-ups from Dynamite might be the key as they have a similar colour to chick peas & it will make it harder for the ish to single out your hookbnait.

thanks. got an tips on home made groundbait when using chick peas?

Do you want me to com over and catch the fish for you?! /forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif

For ground bait i'd just knock up a simple crumb with some blitzed chick peas. When they're mashed up the fish will create a cloud of attraction as they feed on your bait which will hopefully make them easier to catch. Add a few bits of sweetcorn and maybe a small handful of pellets if you want to keep them in the area.

They work very well indeed, particularly if pre-baited.

However a word of caution on cooking: they have to be soaked at least 12 hours / overnight, and then, like most dried legumes (red kidney beans especially) they need to be brought to a strong rolling boil in a change of fresh cold water. Then continue with a strong rolling boil <u>for not less than ten minutes</u>, preferably twenty minutes to half an hour.

This de-natures a chemical or bacteria or something (go google if you want to know the detail) within the bean that is otherwise harmful, can give us humans a stomach ache and I know not what to fish.

Then turn down and simmer gently for a further good thirty minutes to an hour. Add any CSL or flavourings at this point if you want to use them.

When cooked they are delicious ! Makes a lovely curry (fry onions, add chickpeas, fine cut up peppers and a couple of tablespoons of the Patak's paste of your choice + a little of the cooking water, cover and simmer for twenty minutes.... yummy) or, if you blitz it with a little Tahini (or peanut butter + a drop or two of sessame oil if you can't get Tahini), garlic clove, lemon juice and olive oil to taste + a little more of the cooking water to loosen it up to the right texture: Voila, half a pound of homous for roughly 40p instead of the quid an ounce the supermarkets will cheerfully charge you...

Anyway, I have diverted.... for fishing use leave to cool in the cooking water as you do with hemp and tiger nuts. Similarly it will go all thick and gloopy and 'mature' a little as the starch and sugars that have come out of the chick peas do their stuff. This liquid is then a brilliant base for mixing up yr groundbait / Vitalin mix, to which add the good old chickpeas. Or you can just feed them in direct, makes a great addition to a carpet of feed and with two on a hair, Bob's your unfeasibly close relative. Works like a charm once the fish have become familiar with them. And like rice it will take on any flavouring or colouring you add to them very well indeed.

mmm.....mmm....mmm sounds nice. guess u could cook that up while fishing if u prepare it !!!!!!

PS. You can side hook them but if they've been cooked properly then they will / should be soft enough not to stay on the hook well; if they do stay on the hook then they probably haven't been cooked enough..... Use a very fine baiting needle and go through gently from the side with rotation to put on a hair, but be prepared to put up with quite a few splitting.

Oh, and Tench like them. A lot..... I tend to wrap them with some light paste as a heavy lump for the lift method, then as they nibble away the outside wrapping it gets more and more sensitive until.... hopefully !

.....or just buy a can of waitrose pre-cooked. If I did flavour maple is tops.

Hmmm Waitrose pre-cooked.... that's how much, 220 grammes (total can weight, actual chick peas net of liquid 180 grammes) for 80 p ?

Or 500 grammes dry / 1 - 1.25 kg after soaked and cooked. For the self same 80 p.

I think I'll stick to Welsh economy myself.

Or can I perhaps sell you some of my ready prepared 'active' chickpeas.... Only £2.99 for 500 grammes. Plus post, obviously....

I get my chick peasat £2 for 2kg!! Just try a few local food shops - they usually have them in there along with a whole host of other goodies.

go to a seed merchants and get 25kg