Why do you have to cook hempseed?

I almost feel ashamed for asking, because it's not like I'm inexperienced in preparing my own hempseed. But sometimes in life it's good to question your actions now and again, rather than ignorantly just do what everyone tells you to do

So recently I started thinking "Why exactly do you have to cook hemp seed before using it for fishing?"

This time Google wasn't wanting to be my friend. I found endless resources tell me how to but nothing telling me why, apart from "its harmful for the fish".

So can anybody explain to me exactly why it's harmful to fish in an uncooked state?

My interest lies in the fact that, uncooked (but soaked for 48hrs) seeds, smell completely different, which leads me to suspect it may or may not have a much different effect (better or worse, depending on water and target species).

Cheers.

I'd be worried about where it was sourced and whether it was contaminated with powerful insecticides.
Or worse?

Well, let's say it's from a pet shop, packaged and sold as bird food...
(which it is in my case)

The general consensus (concensus?) is that the dry bait will expand in the fishes gut, with predictable results. Whether this actually works in practice, I don't know: perhaps it dehydrates the digestive tract?

But does it really expand so much as to do damage? OK, let's assume it does (better to be safe than sorry), it still raises the question for me of whether hempseed really needs to be cooked. Or is soaking it overnight (12hrs) enough?

I'd really like to know whether the "danger" is purely down to this oft quoted "expansion" or is there anything else, perhaps related with the germination process, which needs to be stopped by cooking it?

rich4930 said:

But does it really expand so much as to do damage? OK, let's assume it does (better to be safe than sorry), it still raises the question for me of whether hempseed really needs to be cooked. Or is soaking it overnight (12hrs) enough?

I'd really like to know whether the "danger" is purely down to this oft quoted "expansion" or is there anything else, perhaps related with the germination process, which needs to be stopped by cooking it?

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Hemp seed... to boil or not to boil?

Its a common misconception that hemp needs to be soaked and boiled.... it doesn't!

Unlike the vast majority of particles you DO NOT have to cook/boil hemp seed. The reason is because hemp is one of the few particles that DOESN'T contain any dangerous anti-nutrients.

It is perfectly safe and proper for fish to eat unboiled hemp, but it is also best if you soak them first (preferred) to soften allowing the kernel's to split exposing the white, releasing the attractive oils which is what makes hemp so successful. Just soak in cold water for 12hrs or so and keep the water for soaking pellets of add to groundbait.

You can speed up the process if you want by putting a few handfuls into a thermos flask and filling with boiling water. Leave it overnight and you should be good to go in the morning.

*I mostly use the cold water soak method for hemp, as boiling water will denature some protein content but not by much, perhaps only 10% I also add bicarb to aid splitting.

The husk of hemp is largely indigestible but it easily passes through the fish gut when its made soft through soaking, plus the fish spend less time chewing and more time eating more of your bait. I don't really go along with the idea of uncooked/un-soaked particles swelling up inside the fish as they often spend time chewing each bit (mostly) and they, especially carp, have a very short digestive time. However, although unprepared LARGE particles are often spat out, they can still lodge if swallowed causing an obstruction. The main danger comes from inadequate particle preparation, boiling is often essential to neutralise toxic enzymes, phytates... use of raw tigers and toxic peanuts are extremely dangerous. But hemp seed is very safe to use.

Hope that clears a couple of things up for you, good luck.

I always thought fish mistake hemp for tiny snails and cooking them makes them look more like snails with the white bit showing; looks like a snail body poking out. I cannot remember where I read this but it seemed logical to me and as fish love snails apparently; having a smorgasbord of bite sized ones in front of them was irresistible.

@laguna Thanks for that explanation, which exactly confirms my view. I was just a but surprised not being able to google the answer.

I do know that some larger particles MUST be boiled, but Hempseed? Didn't quite add up for me.

I would just reiterate though that I believe it could different attracting powers, depending on whether boiled or not.

I wouldn't think there is much reason you can't use it uncooked. Many groundbaits contain it ground up but uncooked.

Many anglers use dry pellets that probably swell up more and faster.

Be aware it dose float a lot more uncooked or soaked.

Fred Crouch always advocated soaking not boiling. He simply said thats how fish like it in its natural state. Its thought one of the attractions is to aid digestion in the fishes gut.

I usually boil and add bicarb to darken it.

It's true hemp seed can just be soaked and appears the same as cooked. It splits and the white kernel shows and if left the kernel gets longer. If you like a black seed baking soda is good. I have heard sugar also makes for a black seed but haven't tried this.
Boiling is a good way to extract the oils from the hemp, soaking is not.
If the oils make a difference to the fish there's no proof.
It seems a good idea to me to have oils leaking from hemp.
Fermented hemp is the future.

To me soaked and boiled hemp seeds smell differently , wether thus makes any difference to the fish i

rayner said:

It's true hemp seed can just be soaked and appears the same as cooked. It splits and the white kernel shows and if left the kernel gets longer. If you like a black seed baking soda is good. I have heard sugar also makes for a black seed but haven't tried this.
Boiling is a good way to extract the oils from the hemp, soaking is not.
If the oils make a difference to the fish there's no proof.
It seems a good idea to me to have oils leaking from hemp.
Fermented hemp is the future.

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Fermented cooked hemp always seems to work better as an attractant than the freshly made bait. How long it can be safely kept - perhaps Laguna can answer that question - I don't know, but hemp's a deadly feed when the smell of fermentation's obvious and I've used it for weeks without bothering to freeze the remainder between sessions, just adding freshly boiled hemp as the level drops and stirring it in. Laguna often mentions pre-digestion, and surely that's what happens as it ferments, with the more complex molecules being broken down, leaving the fish with a more easily digestible meal.

robtherake said:

Fermented cooked hemp always seems to work better as an attractant than the freshly made bait. How long it can be safely kept - perhaps Laguna can answer that question - I don't know, but hemp's a deadly feed when the smell of fermentation's obvious and I've used it for weeks without bothering to freeze the remainder between sessions, just adding freshly boiled hemp as the level drops and stirring it in. Laguna often mentions pre-digestion, and surely that's what happens as it ferments, with the more complex molecules being broken down, leaving the fish with a more easily digestible meal.

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I know what you are saying and it's true in such matter Laguna is the go to man.
I first used sour bait years ago, I had the idea that most fish have to wait for food to rot before they were able to bite pieces off.
I had seen a large number of Roach feeding on a manky dead fish that was in the edge on the Sibsey Trader in the 60s, it was this that got me thinking.

I have said on here many times before that i dont cook all my hemp seed, as Laguna said, you dont have to cook it.

First off, if hempseed is growing near a water, and gets into the water, via the wind or wild life etc, it wont be cooked.

Second, as long as the hemp is soaked for 48 hours or more, it will take on water, some will split, some will float, just like cooked hemp.

I use a mix of cooked and uncooked and have done for a good few years now.

Fred Crouch (RIP) as you may or may not know, was a well known Barbel Angler, he used uncooked hemp and had catches of barbel most anglers could only dream of.

robtherake said:

Fermented cooked hemp always seems to work better as an attractant than the freshly made bait. How long it can be safely kept - perhaps Laguna can answer that question - I don't know, but hemp's a deadly feed when the smell of fermentation's obvious and I've used it for weeks without bothering to freeze the remainder between sessions, just adding freshly boiled hemp as the level drops and stirring it in. Laguna often mentions pre-digestion, and surely that's what happens as it ferments, with the more complex molecules being broken down, leaving the fish with a more easily digestible meal.

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Last year I tried fermented bakers yeast on my maggots Rob and I had a 100% improvement in my catch. Its not the same thing I know but I was convinced the smell of fermentation was a part of it or was it the smell of yeast, I am not sure but the smell was very distinctive and the same reason could apply to fermentation on hemp.

markg said:

Last year I tried fermented bakers yeast on my maggots Rob and I had a 100% improvement in my catch. Its not the same thing I know but I was convinced the smell of fermentation was a part of it or was it the smell of yeast, I am not sure but the smell was very distinctive and the same reason could apply to fermentation on hemp.

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That's interesting, Mark, and an easy one to try - I'll definitely give it a go. The same yeast might make a good addition to the particle bucket, or to whatever hookbait's being used. If the yeast's wetted to activate it, then used as a bait soak...lots of food for thought there, certainly. I just need to get out there again, mate; the wife's ailments have been acting up, so it's getting on for a month since I was last out fishing.

robtherake said:

That's interesting, Mark, and an easy one to try - I'll definitely give it a go. The same yeast might make a good addition to the particle bucket, or to whatever hookbait's being used. If the yeast's wetted to activate it, then used as a bait soak...lots of food for thought there, certainly. I just need to get out there again, mate; the wife's ailments have been acting up, so it's getting on for a month since I was last out fishing.

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Sorry to hear that Rob, chin up bud, persevere-I put a tablespoon of yeast into 2 inch of warm water and a little sugar, left it for 10 minutes and poured it over my maggots. made them a bit sticky so they crawled up the sides but apart from that worked very well. Tried it about 6 times and caught a lot of fish but they did seem to be on the small side. Add it to ground-bait and mix it in, why not.