Hemp and Sugar

[The Sogster]

I am in the process of preparing a new batch of hemp and have my favourite additives etc ready.

However tonight it struck me that in over 30 years of preparing the demon seed I have never thought about adding sugar and don't recall reading about it either.

Now it seems to me that this might be a reasonable additive especially as I like the old adage 'sweet in summer, spicy in winter' regarding baits.
I can imagine it now - caramelised hemp, hemp in a thick sugary syrup, super sweet chilli hemp etc.

So, has anyone added sugar to hemp and if so how effective do you think it was?

 

[rubio]

Last batch i went for sugar and salt. On someone's recommendation. As with most additives i have played with I dunno if it was worth it. Current batch is bog standard.

 

[smudger172]

Having prepared hemp and other seeds for the last 40 odd years i have always used sugar with hemp. Boil until the seed splits, take off the heat and add sugar. Whether or not it makes a difference i wouldn't know..

 

[robtherake]

I always use sugar, salt and chillies. I read that the sugar darkens the seeds and that seems to hold true. When I started adding chillies it added to my catch rate, so now it's standard practice. I put salt in lots of baits, particularly seafood, like prawns, but I also use rock salt in groundbait mixes. The carp bods are convinced that salt has a part to play in drawing fish into a swim and I wouldn't argue with that.

Here's one for you to try - no idea whether it's been done before, though. I've bought some packets of popping candy and fancy that, added to a feeder before casting out, or in a dry pva bag, or added to a ball of groundbait, it's got to stimulate some curiosity whilst it pops and crackles away down there, perhaps drawing in fish from a distance. Any thoughts?

 

[The Sogster]

Interesting, a few of you seem so far to recommend it.

Rubio, why are you not sure? Were you on a different water, catch rate not improve, time between bites etc.

Smudger, has there been a time when for whatever reason you didn't use sugar?
If so did you find a difference?

Rob, interesting point regarding the popping candy. I think I'll stick with a generic antacid tablet.
Now't worse to attract attention than a fat older bloke sweating in a sweet shop.

 

[rubio]

Hi mate. The main reason I can't be sure about this is i'm not very scientific in my approach. If I had followed up a trial with it again, at the same venue, same method etc. In reality I choose to fish how I feel on the day.
I would agree that the seeds were darker and more glossy. Something many suggest is beneficial. Not sure whether it's salt or sugar that brings the effect. One thing I did notice is that the hemp kept better. Didn't get the stinkiness when hemp starts to break down. Then again there are many who find that an appealing quality too.
Would be interested to hear your own results.

 

[smudger172]

Interesting, a few of you seem so far to recommend it.

Smudger, has there been a time when for whatever reason you didn't use sugar?
If so did you find a difference?



Every time i boil hemp i use sugar and in my opinion it works. I did try salt once when after barbel and blanked so never used it again. For the record i only use hemp for barbel, tench and bream. I do not. fish for carp

Smudge......

 

[The Sogster]

Thanks for the reply smudge and Rubio.

Think I will give it a try. I have great confidence in hemp as an attractant and fish holder for most species anyway, whether flavoured or not. Usually the only flavours I use are chilli, curry powder or turmeric and have always added bicarbonate of soda.

This batch will be used on my local club pool for ide, roach and tench in conjunction with corn and masala chickpeas.

 

[Tee-Cee]

In my opinion, and I'm a major hemp on the hook man rather than using it as an ' attractor ', I don't think additives make the slightest bit of difference......I have tried sugar and salt but I cannot say it has made any noticeable improvement to my catches. Not to say it might work on other waters, though.
Many have said hemp has an odour all of it's own and why add anything to that, but if used a lot in it's plain form on a particular water then adding something extra may well give it that ' new ' taste to the fish ?
As I've said, I use it a lot ( 3/4 times a week ) and catch well, but always the number of fish caught will depend on other factors such as prevailing conditions otherwise why do I catch 30 roach one day and only 10 the next - same swim, same tackle, same bait batch of hemp etc. etc. ( wind from a different direction, more sun was the difference IMHO !! )

No, for me it's that word ' confidence ' again ( recently discussed in another Thread ) and if adding flavours gives you that, then why not use them...............

 

[The Sogster]

Thanks for your thoughts Tee-Cee, I agree plain hemp is simply fantastic however I have found that especially in cooler weather (late autumn, winter and spring) that chilli and curry powder do seem to improve my catch rate. Maybe it's a confidence thing or maybe I'm concentrating harder as bites are at a premium.

Tongue firmly in cheek. At the risk of being a pedant, you say that you don't use hemp as an attractor so when fishing hemp on the hook what do you loose feed to attract fish to the hemp on your hook?

Or as per a previous thread do you fish without loosefeed?

 

[Tee-Cee]

Apologies.... I most definitely do use it as loose feed so ignore that bit !! I only use a few grains every cast and allow them to sink for a few seconds before casting over the top.

Always difficult to gauge with hemp feed as it tends to bring the fish up in the water which is not helpful if fishing it deep. Take this morning; I started at 5.30 at 5' deep and caught from the off. An hour later the bites stopped so I went to 6/7' deep and immediately started getting bites again. This lasted, with varying degrees of success, until 8am when the bites just stopped for no reason I can fathom. I came up to 3' deep and caught the odd fish ( of better quality ) for the next hour and then it went dead. I have to say most of the time I didn't know whether to feed or not, so I kept the minimal grains going in every third cast or so..

A change to small discs of fresh bread and chickpeas at 7' gave me the odd fish until I left at noon with the sun on the water.

Yes, it was a hit and miss sort of day and I'm none the wiser around my hemp feed pattern. Still, I caught fish so must've done something right !!


ps Still a great way to catch roach, though..

 

[The Sogster]

Hi Tee-Cee,

Thanks for the reply to my sarky post.

I agree that when float fishing hemp on the hook it can bring the fish up, but so can maggot or caster.
In this situation I try to get the bait down a little faster to the bigger (in my imagination) fish below the smaller ones darting nearer the surface.

Mostly though my use of hemp is in a bait dropper or feeder on the river.

 

[robertroach]

Tee Cee, in the lake where I am usually fishing with hemp (and tares), the swim always goes dead from time to time. I know there are pike around because sometimes they lunge or grab at a roach I am bringing in. So I put the dead periods down to pike being in the swim. Altering the depth doesn't seem to make a difference, they just seem to switch on again after a while and I assume its because the pike have moved on.
Maybe the same thing is happening to you!

 

[Tee-Cee]

I hear what you're saying robertroach, although in my case I think perch would probably be the culprits as the water is pikeless - at least as far as I know !!

Either way the predators wouldn't need to be big as I've seen small perch tearing into the fry from time to time...



Good thread.....

 

[rubio]

In case you were not aware Keith Speer did a masterclass on hemp, and much besides. He added sugar. If you are gonna trust the judgement of another person his advice must be right up there.
Do a search it should be easy to find

 

[wannerofstoke]

Always believed baking powder for black shell and white kernel....Sugar gives it a nice glossy sheen....never gave me any reason to doubt it

 

[flightliner]

If anybody wants darker seed baits, either hemp or tares then just chuck a ferrous sulphate tablet into the pan.

 

[Fshwithnoeyes]

Very interesting thoughts here, I will have to try the sugar again, tried it once before but forgot about the pan.

Was simmering nicely, when I remembered about an hour later I had managed to make hemp flavoured rock (was just missing the red and white stripe and cellophane wrapper).

I will be giving this a try again see what I can catch

 

[Tee-Cee]

For want of repeating myself (you're new to FM, so probably haven't read this before!) I'm spending more and more time using 'giant' hemp (ON THE HOOK, BUT NOT FOR FEED) rather than the standard stuff either from a tin or bought loose and home cooked, and apart from being far easier to hook, it does (on occasion) produce better quality roach. The size of this seed is a lot bigger and one can easily get away with using a 16 hook (possibly bigger, but I haven't tried such) and it will still catch smaller roach if that is all you have in front of you.

Take yesterday; I caught something like 20 roach on the stuff up to 14ozs (two) but either side of these fish I had perfectly formed specimens of 4/5" long, all hooked in the bottom lip, and this (probably) because I was fishing 'on the drop', so giant hemp doesn't necessarily mean giant roach!!
I fished at all levels and even fishing up in the water (at say 2'deep) I still had the bait slowly falling with only size 8/10 shot down the line (one of each) which, having checked it close in to see how it falls, gives a lovely slow drop.

I can assure you that once you have them feeding, to see the float land, sit up in the water (before slowly dropping to its level) and then suddenly dart away is really exciting (but busy!) fishing. Hitting roach of 8" upward in this way is something special.......Anything approaching a lb stops you dead in your tracks as the top joint of the rod takes the initial lunge. Heart in the mouth stuff, but good fishing!!

As an aside; For a change I sometimes revert back to using standard hemp (as the sun hits the water I use a 20 hook with a 1,5lb hook length) and this invariably from a tin, BUT I am finding the size of seed getting progressively smaller ( maybe my eyes!) and I have to search for hookable seeds. SO IF ANYONE HAS KNOWLEDGE OF DECENT SIZED STANDARD HEMP I would be pleased to hear of it. I don't mind paying top dollar if the quality is right!!

Anyway, as usual I've probably gone off topic but I thought it worth offering others a bit of info on the giant seed which can be bought online................

Happy to answer any questions.........


ps Massive downside to yesterdays session. The previous evening I had completed a set of floats for this type of fishing (taken some time to finish) and used one yesterday. Toward the end of my session I cats out over a sprinkling of hemp and within seconds the float slide away. Momentarily, I thought good roach to bring proceedings to an end, but on the strike I found myself attached (also momentarily) to a bl**dy carp of some size!!
Within a fraction of a second the poor Ultralight tip was bent alarmingly toward a bed of pads, and that was the last I saw of my float.............................................Gutted to say the least, and probably wouldn't have happened on standard hemp, but the bigger stuff obviously offered a meal of sorts. Grrrrrr.

Searched around the lake (how pointless) before hedding off home, not in tears, but close to it..

 

[wetthrough]

Anyway, as usual I've probably gone off topic but I thought it worth offering others a bit of info on the giant seed which can be bought online................

Where? I got some large from Haiths and couldn't get it to split for love nor money.