Roach on hemp

[Slumption]

I've never used hemp on the hook for roach but have found a nice river and small lake that turn up a good stamp so think now is the time to master this....can someone give me some tips? are you fishing it dead depth? and how do I hook it?

[AshbyCut]

A great starting point would be "Hempseed Fishing" by Alan Pearson (Angling Times publication. 1962)

There's one copy available on Abe Books site now ...

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/Book ... ortby%3D17

[Vole]

Like no other bait, hemp is hooked bend-first: you pick out a seed that just shows a streak of white, squeeze it end-to-end so the split just opens enough to allow you to push the bend of the hook in, then release it, so the natural spring of the shell grips the hook.
This is fiddly, and a gent who ought to be made a saint let slip his trick of threading a dozen or so seeds on a fine needle the night before a match, drawing a white cotton thread through them, and tying each off with a reef knot. Each seed, hooked through its cotton loop, should stay on for many fish.
Once the fish have started to feed well, it is much easier to switch to fake bait - a dab of tippex on, or a bit of white elastic through, a small black bead should do it, though commercial imitations are available; or gradually switch to tares, which are hooked through the skin and a little bit of the flesh, like a veggie fake maggot.
If you want the fish near the bottom, which usually means fewer bites but better fish, feed a decent amount all at once (this can mean anything from a palmful to seveal bait-droppers'-worth); if you want competitive feeding, feed seven or so seeds every cast, and re-cast as soon as the bait has reached full depth. Loads of good gen on youtube!
If the fish haven't seen hemp before, or not much, it's worth doing everything in your power to make the seed as tasty as possible - soak it till it sinks (2hrs - overnight, depending on freshness), drain off the soaking water (in case of anti-feedants exuded by many seeds), cover it with a damp cloth for another half-day, to let it convert as much starch as possible into sugars, then kill it by steaming rather than boiling.
If they are fed hemp all the time, they'll take stuff that's been pressure-cooked or flask-cooked, but as the extra work is mostly waiting, and very little effort, you may judge it still worthwhile.
Fish love the flavour of hemp, and the boiling/steaming water should be saved for adding to groundbait.
Whether or not to use groundbait when hemping ... can'o'worms, probably varies from water to water.

Oh- if fishing on the drop, use styls or stotz; if deep, use an olivette, a nail held on with float-rubbers, or a tin-solder coil painted green as bulk, and stotz to anchor it on the line and as droppers. False bites as they take round shot by mistake will drive you mad.

[Santiago]

What he said! If you bulk the shot you can minimise the false bites. I use a fine wire spade 16 hook. You can also feed hemp and use tares on the hook! Due to the nature of the bites hemp is best fished close in with the float only several feet from the rod tip. Feed regularly with just a few grains. Where Polaroids and watch the roach go crazy!

[Luga00]

Last summer I had a frustrating afternoon trying the get hemp on the hook. I think this was because I was using the tinned stuff which apparently is notorious for this. I do find the tins very convenient though so I have bought some Enterprise artificial hemp for the hook to see if this helps matters.
Russ

[Stour Otter]

Try fishing a piece of black tubing on a white painted hook. Use the car touch-up paint "Diamond White", you can get it in a very small tube with its own brush.

[Luga00]

Try fishing a piece of black tubing on a white painted hook. Use the car touch-up paint "Diamond White", you can get it in a very small tube with its own brush.

Excellent tip S.O. - I will definitely give this a try.

Russ

[Dave Burr]

Great information one and all. My own two penneth. On the drains I used to catch a lot of roach on hemp but found that they could become a little fickle and bites would slow or cease. Whether is was down to my presentation or the fish's senses I'm not sure but I found that when this happened, by regularly changing baits whilst still feeding hemp, action would be continuous. Caster was always worth a try and often found a good fish first go but maggots also worked. Then it would slow again so I'd revert to hemp and off we went again.

[Moley]

If using hemp in running water on the stick, initially bung in a handful on the line you intend to fish. Thereafter, just six or so seeds per trot through.

This creates competition with roach who will slam the float down, often hooking themselves.

If you pile in the hemp, this attracts larger diners who will trash your light roach gear with alacrity; Chub and Barbel love hemp too!

Once you have got the roach going, plastic baits or tares, the preferred Mole choice, will do the trick and are a darn site easier to put on the hook.

Hooking hemp is one of the really fun aspects of this style of fishing. One tip that works for Fatty, is not to bother with the 'hinge' attempt at hooking as this will lead to tears and hooked fingers, but to get hold of some really sharp, fine hooks, locate the dimple in the seed and just ease it through.

This works well only with really, really sharp hooks. Personally the Mole will use Preston Competition Match Hooks in size 18 to 22 or if you can get them Tubertini 808's in similar sizes.

Another tip to bear in mind is not to strike wildly at every indication, whipping the water to foam, tempting as this can be at times but wait until the float looks to have gone under properly. Then and only then gently set the hook. You will need a rod that has the necessary 'steel' in the tip to do this and the restraint not to go berserk........hemp fishing for roach does this to a man, believe Fatty here!

Now is the time to start your hemping up until November when the cold sets in.

Good luck Slumption.

As ever,....

Moley

[JAA]

Couple of additional points. I've made weights out of (lead free) solder wire wound on a needle coloured black with an indelible pen, secured with float stops for hemp fishing. A quick brush of water-proof superglue over the outside, before colouring, will keep it together.

Also, notwithstanding the above, you can put the point of a hook through the bottom of a cooked hemp seed very easily and turn the hook point out through the split. This will leave the white shoot showing and it doesn't fall off.

If you want to go artificial, small black plastic beads are cheap on fleabay and you can also easily find very very fine white silicone tubing used for pole float fishing and slip a piece over the hook shank before putting the bead on. If the bead is 'loose, a small piece of the same tubing can hold it on.