Hooking Hempseed

what am I doing wrong I always use hemp as an attractor when fishing for roach but when I try to hook it, it splits or doesn't stay on the hook the hooks I'm using are size 22s or 20s
I have been told to use the hemp that not open fully and push the bend of the hook into it but it still come off in seconds or splits in half
is there an easy way to hook hemp so it stay on the hook

It sounds as if the hooks you are using are a bit too small. If you use a size 16, and push the bend of the hook into the split in the hemp it should hold ok. Never push the hook point into the split, this will break the hemp grain. Make sure that you don't overcook the hemp too, it should be just splitting, not soft and ready to fall apart.

An alternative method is to drill a small hole in the blunt end of the seed, and push the hook point through that.

Much less fiddly though is to use fake hemp - I beleive it's Enterprise that make it, or to use tares. If you haven't seen them before, they are a seed that when cooked look like a large hemp grain, and are much easier to hook.

chrissh.............................

I offered some information on this very subject very recently so I've copied it below. All I've written is based on years of using hemp and this supplemented by any new info I've picked up from others on FM.
I consider myself a proficient ' hemp fisher ' and at this time of year I use it a great deal. This is recorded many times in my posts on the ' HOW DID YOU GET ON ' thread, so if you want 'hands on' info then I suggest you read them and others found on several 'hemp ' threads if you do a 'search ' using, for example, hemp and tares or hemp hooks in the box.

In addition to the catches mentioned below, this past week I have been out four days in a row using ONLY hemp and tares with some success as my roach bags have varied between 20 and 50 fish on these baits so What I've written on al my posts works well in practice....................

If I were to use one word to describe hemp fishing it would be ' patience ' as you will needs this in bucket loads before you get the method spot on. Just sit with a bag of the stuff, some hooks of the type mentioned below, some nice light floats and give it TIME !!

Work to a pattern; Grain of hemp on the hook, a few seeds sprinkled into your swim EVERY cast and repeat this every few minutes until you get bites. Change you depth if nothing happens, change you shotting if bites are too fast.....in other words, WORK AT IT UNTIL THINGS START TO HAPPEN !!

As to floats: Please read my posts on using floats with long antennas as they really do have the effect of slowing bites down - some of the time !!

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( I've bought this back as Hugh Bailey was asking about hemp use....

Hugh....
First of all you could do worse than do a ' search ' using the words hemp, tares, or hemp hooks and this will give you tons of great info..

Regarding preparation ; I do buy and prepare my own as I can cook it to give lots of ' open ' seeds ( with the white kernel showing ) for feeding, BUT for hooking I use the Dynamite Baits Hemp for the hook simply because it is more consistent, and by that I mean lots of the seeds are ' open ' just the right amount.
Personally, and many will have different ways, I look for hook seeds that are still closed, or open just a fraction. I then gently squeeze the actual seed from the ends, and this will ' open ' the seed just enough to slip the hook bend into the gap. Once the hook is inside release the pressure and the seed will ' grip ' the hook quite well and certainly enough for casting. It isn't rocket science BUT it does take a bit of time
( and searching for the ' right ' seed ) to become proficient and quick at the task.

Some of the posts under 'search' ( mentioned above ) will give various examples of hook type, but whatever you use it MUST be fine wire otherwise the hook will open the gap in the seed too much and stop it ' gripping '. I tie my own most of the time using Kamasan 511 pattern in 18 and 20 and they work well. However, of late I've started to use Drennan barbless SILVERFISH MAGGOT HOOKS to nylon in 18 and 20 simply because the nylon used is very, very fine for 2lb BS line.
My catch yesterday was caught on these hooks and although specifically designed for maggots I find the hook shape is very good for hemp. I will say the nylon used, because it is very fine can kink easily so care needs to be taken. In fact, I replaced my hook length mid morning as the line looked a bit worn !!

Hemp is a great bait, as are tares, BUT it does, from long experience , take time to get the fish to feed on them. Once the fish go for them though, you can get a fish a cast, PROVIDING you continue to feed a few grains EVERY time you cast out. I was fishing very close in yesterday so easy to throw out a few grains first, AND THEN cast my hook bait over once the feed has started to sink. A very effective way of keeping the fish interested !!

As I say, it takes time, so be patient..............DO NOT EXPECT ' INSTANT FISH ' although it can happen from the first cast !!

If you think about it, a tin of the Dynamite stuff is cheap enough to give it a real try out on lake or river, and any left over placed into bags and frozen.

Finally, hemp can take fish at every depth, so if no response at one depth, keep changing til you find them. Many times the fish will come up in the water chasing the seeds, so they can be taken at 3/4' as well as deeper....

Hope this helps, but come back if you need more info.......PLEASE READ ALL THE OLD POST THOUGH AS SOME GOOD STUFF HAS HELPED ME IN THE PAST !!

Good luck !!!

ps Floats and shotting patterns are also covered in the old posts... )


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Sorry if I've repeated myself a few times, AND PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ASK MORE QUESTIONS WHICH I WILL ANSWER IF I CAN..................



ps I agree with DD above in that the size of hook you are using is too small. The 18 Drennan hooks mentioned above caught all my fish this past week. Even small seeds with a narrow split will stay on and THE HOOK DOES NOT NEED TO BE BURIED IN THE SEED (IMHO) and having the hook shank showing has never been a problem for me, so squeeze them open as I have suggested at home ( a bit of trial and error ) rather than working it out on the bank....time well spent for this great method !!!

I'm a fan of tares as well, and a 16 hook is fine for that. I don't think I have ever used hempseed as an attractor and not been able to catch on tares, so I have not had to use hemp on the hook for years. Also I think tares sorts out bigger fish and bites are easier to hit, so why not have a go at that?

I agree tares seem to sort the bigger roach, IF you can hit the bites consistently !! I must be doing something wrong with the hooking of the seed - unless the seed are too hard from my cooking times....

robertroach - A 16 hook is fine and normally I push the seed around the bend, ( which according to most websites is correct ) leaving the point totally free, but still I miss more than I hook, unlike hemp.

How do you hook the seed ??

I think my seeds must be too hard, on reflection.............................

Thanks for the reply's
I'll up my hook size and give tares a try out

Tee Cee
I just hook the tare on the bend. Not too deep into the tare otherwise you will mask the hook point and bump off a lot of fish. I find it a lot more productive to use a softer seed rather than a harder one, although its a pain to have to re-bait more often.
I suppose, thinking about it a bit more, with my setup, which is usually a pole style float (1.5 gm) with a lot of bristle showing, I try to ignore the little fast dips of the float and wait for a more definite bite which is often a bigger fish.
If you try to hit every float movement its pretty frustrating and most of the time you are only missing the smaller fish. I have to use the disgorger sometimes, if the fish are going well, with this setup.
Hope this helps.

All of the above is spot on. I would add that I always use tares not being bothered with hemp on the hook with clumsy fingers.

As I mentioned in a previous thread, I do a batch of tares and freeze smaller packs to" grab and go". Re-freeze any left over.
Do try the frozen tares. I find they are softer/easier to hook and the roach seem to like the rubbery texture.
If you can't find tares use stewed wheat on the hook!!

You could always consider using imitation hemp seed on the hook but feeding the real stuff . . . . . . . ?

I have tried the imitation stuff on the hook from time to time but without much success, although I have probably not given it a fair crack...I will have another try this week when the fish are feeding on the real stuff and see if they fancy it !


John....Yes, the wheat is coming into it's own now and I'm taking the odd good fish with the addition of a very small amount of pure Vanilla Essence nicked from the wife's baking cupboard. Don't need very much and the smell is wonderful !! ( ' frozen many times tares ' defrosting as I speak !)


robtheroach.... I hear what you're saying and will experiment further with softer seeds..


It's good to talk.............................

I'm a big fan of vanilla flavouring. You can get sachets of vanilla sugar from supermarkets and keep them in your bait bag ready for use. Sprinkle the sugar into a freshly opened tin of sweetcorn and stir in or sprinkle it over stewed wheat after it has cooled.

Regards hooking hemp and wheat. If you have the time, sift through the seeds and pick out the largest seeds after cooking and put them to one side. It is easier to hook the plump seeds.

A tip from Match Fishing magazine. Get some of the ultra-fine tubing as used on pole float stems and hook a short length, leaving a couple of millimetres proud, then nip the seed onto this instead of directly on the bend. Because of the give of the tubing the hemp has a much better grip. Not used it, but the logic's sound.