Hemp and Tares

[Steve Walker]

When I was a teenager, my friends and I had one summer when we really got into fishing hemp and tares for roach on a local stillwater. We fished it on the pole, on the drop, loose feeding fairly heavily with hemp and fishing tares on the hook. I used a little spherical bodied pole float with a fine bristle and a long cane stem, with a few #8 shot down the line. We were often hitting fish as soon as the bait hit the water, and they often hooked themselves against the pole elastic. We had some massive catches of roach, and the method seemed to sort out a better stamp of fish than maggot.

 

As it got into the autumn, it stopped working so well, and as a result I have always thought of it as a warm water tactic, but perhaps not?

 

(would I guess correctly which shoal of roach you have in mind?)

Edited November 19, 2012 by Steve Walker

[Matthew Simmons]

*Old thread alert*

 

But it’s still relevant to something I’ll be trying in the near future so I wondered if anyone has anything to add after all these years. To set the scene I’ll be after river roach but in slack clear water a rod length out (I can see them easily), my plan was to use liquidised bread mixed with hemp as a groundbait but it seems that most people just loosefeed the hemp, a few seeds at a time rather than a large bed.

 

I’ll floatfish with no shot so the float will lie flat and the bait will descend at its natural rate, 4lb mainline and a 2lb hooklength to a size 20 hook are my thoughts. The hemp will be shop bought tinned and I understand that I have to push the hook shank into the white seed such that the shell sort of clamps it in place with the hook bend pointing away from the seed?

 

I’ve tried for them on trotting days but they completely ignored my maggot, it was infuriating, they just swam around it. I think my improvised setup may have been too obvious to them so a different approach is called for.

Rusty,

 

Sounds like a very specific scenario you have and I am not sure how it would work with hemp as a hook bait. Personally with what you've described, I would feed as suggested - bread and (a little) hemp - but then fish bread punch over the top.

 

But as you've asked about the H&T combo.

 

When I've used H&T on the Thames (or Kennet) where I can't see the fish, I have always started with maggot as hook bait but fed a pinch of hemp every cast. Then every 10 casts or so, I switch to hemp or tare on the hook for a couple of casts. As other posters have indicated it takes about an hour for them to switch. And then you'll pick off the better fish. Personally I find I do better using hemp on the hookas opposed to tares, but I buy the giant hemp for hookbaits and feed the normal size. But tares stay on the hook better. Hemp's a b*gger to hook on but you'll find all manner of clever methods by googling it. For normal hemp and tares I would use an 18 and for giant a 16 seems to work better.

 

Hope that helps.

 

M

[gozzer]

I've used hemp and tares/caster a lot over the years, and like any bait I've found it has it's good days and not so good ones. The good ones are brilliant though, so it's well worth persevering with them.

 

If it were me, I'd use a 2.5 main line with a 1.5 hook length max, 18 or 20 for single grain of hemp, and 18 to 14 for tares, depending how they want it. I don't think it's a good idea not to put any shot down the line, you will have bites and not see them. I use small shot (no 8 or 10) strung out, and bunch them if they are really going, and mistaking the shot for hemp. Tares on their own also work well, but feed very sparingly, about 3 or 4 per cast. As Matthew said feeding and fishing maggot, and a few grains of hemp can also help your confidence. If you catch and change to seed, you at least know the fish are there.

In a situation like you mention, and at this time of year, I would try just casters at first, I can't remember many times when roach didn't take casters, but loads of times when a change to caster has caught roach.

 

Let us know how you go on, I like a good roach thread.

 

John.

[JV44]

When I was a teenager, my friends and I had one summer when we really got into fishing hemp and tares for roach on a local stillwater. We fished it on the pole, on the drop, loose feeding fairly heavily with hemp and fishing tares on the hook. I used a little spherical bodied pole float with a fine bristle and a long cane stem, with a few #8 shot down the line. We were often hitting fish as soon as the bait hit the water, and they often hooked themselves against the pole elastic. We had some massive catches of roach, and the method seemed to sort out a better stamp of fish than maggot.

 

As it got into the autumn, it stopped working so well, and as a result I have always thought of it as a warm water tactic, but perhaps not?

 

(would I guess correctly which shoal of roach you have in mind?)

You would indeed sir a shot in the dark?? ,I reckon liquidised bread and bread flake at dusk or into dark will get bites ...something i hope to try one evening this week if i can get a bus pass ...twas more than a tad frustrating watching em swim around and ignore both freebies and hookbait,the maggots seemed to have found a following with the minnows though .

We could see clearly a tiny jack Pike swimming with them and i would bet he had been munching maggots ...and any careless minnows that got to close .

 

 

Mathew are you a member of Jolly anglers perchance?? If so do you rate there bit of water?? PM if preferred thanks in advance Steve.

[Steve Walker]

For that particular shoal of roach, I would definitely go for flake at dusk.

 

I used to fish a disused canal up North. It was only about two feet deep and clear as tapwater and flowed like a slow river. There was a big shoal of decent bream in, 3-4lb fish. You could see them in the daytime, but you couldn't catch them. Wait until evening, fish breadflake on the pole up against the bushes and then you caught them, good tench too.

 

I think I would get the quivertip rod out, with the betalights!

[Matthew Simmons]

For that particular shoal of roach, I would definitely go for flake at dusk.

 

I used to fish a disused canal up North. It was only about two feet deep and clear as tapwater and flowed like a slow river. There was a big shoal of decent bream in, 3-4lb fish. You could see them in the daytime, but you couldn't catch them. Wait until evening, fish breadflake on the pole up against the bushes and then you caught them, good tench too.

 

I think I would get the quivertip rod out, with the betalights!

Dusk and bread gets my vote! But if I am guessing right about the location, this is slack water on a small pacey river. You might want to think about a small float with a starlight. You won't scare them as you would with a with a feeder. Works for me a treat somewhere else ;-)

 

M

[Steve Walker]

Couple of swan shots on a link leger, I reckon, definitely agree not a feeder!

[Rusty]

Great replies thank you.

 

One of the issues is being roach selective, both casters and bread will readily be taken by other species milling around the swim hence the choice of hemp which I don’t think minnows et all will find attractive.

 

Gozzer’s point about split shot is interesting, from what I’ve read I’d assumed that once they’d turned on to the hemp bites would come on the drop so I thought that prolonging the drop would be the best bet. Adding shot would shorten this but I see your point about missed bites, if I use a float shotted would regular re-casting be the way or cast and leave until something happens?

 

I’m looking forward to trying the different methods people have suggested, the beauty of this little crusade is that they won't take loads of preparation and they're quite simple, important if it’s going to be dark when I go.

[Phone]

Rusty,

 

My experience. Peas and beans mixed or used in conjunction with cereal grains will- from time to time - cause a feeding frenzie. Beans and peas bring out he sulphur amino acids in cereal grains. (sulphur = sulfur - not sure how Brits spell it.)

 

Someday, for fun, roll a maggot in half a pinch of flowers of sulpher. I have no idea if it will work as I never use maggots. It should.

 

We keep flowers of sulphur handy to keep crawling bugs off. Put it in your socks around your boot tops if there are chiggers in the area.

 

Phone

[The Flying Tench]

*Old thread alert*

 

But it’s still relevant to something I’ll be trying in the near future so I wondered if anyone has anything to add after all these years. To set the scene I’ll be after river roach but in slack clear water a rod length out (I can see them easily), my plan was to use liquidised bread mixed with hemp as a groundbait but it seems that most people just loosefeed the hemp, a few seeds at a time rather than a large bed.

 

I’ll floatfish with no shot so the float will lie flat and the bait will descend at its natural rate, 4lb mainline and a 2lb hooklength to a size 20 hook are my thoughts. The hemp will be shop bought tinned and I understand that I have to push the hook shank into the white seed such that the shell sort of clamps it in place with the hook bend pointing away from the seed?

 

I’ve tried for them on trotting days but they completely ignored my maggot, it was infuriating, they just swam around it. I think my improvised setup may have been too obvious to them so a different approach is called for.

I'm as ignorant on this as when I started the thread in 2004, except to say - yes, you are right in the last sentence of para 2.

 

But I've always thought of hemp as a summer bait, though that may be me.

 

Is the problem that in the clear water they can easily see your line? If so why not put in some cloud groundbait?

 

John