Carp Fishing With Hemp Seed.

Carp Fishing Baits - Hemp Seed

Carp fishing baits are so varied that it is all too easy to over look the lowly hemp seed.

Hemp seed is one of the most effective and simple carp attractors and feeding stimulants of all time. It offers high feeding stimulus for the carp, high oil content, amazing holding power, simple preparation and low prices when compared to other carp fishing baits.

It is the mixture of its taste, size and texture, which is very similar to that of freshwater snails, that makes hemp seed such a strong bait to have in your carp fishing baits portfolio. As with all particle baits the hemp seed needs preparation, but it is such a simple process that many anglers prepare their hemp whilst they are fishing, and use it as soon as it is ready, this is known as hot hemp, there is no way of keeping it as fresh as this.

How To Prepare Hemp Seed

First you need to soak your hemp seed in a bucket of water for 24 hours.

Then tip your hemp seed and its water into a saucepan and bring to the boil, when it is boiling, lower the heat to a simmer for approximately 30 minutes. You may need to add a little water during simmering to keep the hemp covered as it stews. You will know when it is ready as the seed cases will split and little white shoots will be coming out of the splits in the seed, also the seed cases will have darkened down anywhere from dark brown to almost black.

Then tip your hemp and water into a bucket seal the lid, leaving a small air gap for pressure release and your done.

Use it within a few days or you can drain some of the water off and freeze it for later use, but as with all baits i prefer to use them fresh not frozen.

Big beds of hemp seed will attract and hold carp in the feeding area for days on end, they sometimes become so pre-occupied with it that they will feed on hemp seed exclusively until it is all gone. To stop this happening make sure you mix a scattering of other particles or baits into the hemp seed when laying your bed of bait, for example sweet corn and some broken boilies, or maize and some mixed pellets, this will stop the carp from feeding entirely on hemp seed, allowing the carp fisherman to use these other baits as hook-baits.

Some carp fisherman will use hemp (real or artificial) as hook-baits, but i prefer to add some other bait items into the mix and fish with these.

Either way, i cannot stress enough, how good hemp seed is as an attractant, feeding stimulant and holding bait for carp.