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Hemp and caster

Ash Morton

Senior Member
Seen someone other Friday night on the Trent totally outfish me fishing hemp and caster with a brace of doubles too just 50 yards down from me pellet fishing, the guy had to work hard was recasting every 5 minutes, but Id like a go at it to try put a good catch like that together, any advice/tips on hemp and caster fishing???
 
Use a baitdropper Ash to get the bait down on the bottom, get a good bed of bait out and rest it for an hour or so before you fish. When you do cast in fish one or two rubber casters on a hair and superglue two real ones to them, that way the roach, dace,etc won't leave you without bait.

To be fair, the guy downstream of you was probably benefitting from the pellets you were feeding. If depth, bottom make up, etc. Are similar, it always pays to the the furthest downstream of a group of anglers, the fish moving upstream will find your bait first. I have outfished people umpteen times by ensuring I was furthest downstream.

Keep the hemp going in but slow down a little on the casters once fish start feeding, hemp with not fill them up at all like pellets do, it just passes straight through.
 
I was down stream from him crooky, but him been upstream also put him nearer the weir, this guy opened my eyes tho with his catch, as its a hole I usually fish and he was fishing a lot closer in than I do in that swim, even when I dropper hemp often I don't get em going like that, dunno if it was down to his lighter more refined approach or the constant recasting all nite long literally every 5 mins,
 
I have caught a lot of barbel using this method Ash, pretty well as Crooky says but I like to leave the swim for two or three hours minmum before fishing. Usually bait up with three or four pints of hemp and two of casters then rebait with catsers every hour before fishing. Quantity of bait usually depends on numbers of fish present, obviously if theres lots of chub etc you may wnant to use more or start fishing sooner while you still have bait in the swim! Trial and error really & I think on the Trent you may need to use a lot more bait. As Crooky says use rubber caster and glue the real ones to them. I always use an in line feeder with a very short hooklink (2in) but this is obviously a variable down to personal choice or circumstance.
 
Stef horak uses this method quite a lot with v good results. Maggot works very well too.
 
Stef horak uses this method quite a lot with v good results. Maggot works very well too.

Worth getting hold of some old copies of CAT (2+ years ago) if possible, as Stef is a master of this method and he battered the Trent and other rivers using hemp and caster.
 
It really is an awesome method once you get it right. Pretty sound advice from others above. Quantity of bait really is the issue on stretches of the Trent with a healthy population of fish. I've fished six day sessions so far on the river this season and taken over 130 barbel, all in low, clear, bright conditions.
For a days fishing, I generally take a gallon of caster and maybe a gallon and a half of hemp. My approach is pretty simple - I'll bait the swim when I arrive with ten droppers, probably a pint and a half of bait, and leave it for an hour whilst I sort my gear and go for a wander. I'll then drop half that amount again and leave it for a further 20 minutes or so before I make my first cast. I'd expect a bite within a minute, and often it's much quicker. Once you've got them competing, put a couple of droppers in every each fish and you'll keep them coming for a while. If the fish do begin to back off and bites start to dry up, give them another healthy dose of bait and leave them alone for a while. They'll soon be back on it. Fishing the float can be a very good alternative when they get a bit wary.

I don't use rubber casters, but use 3 real casters glued to the hair, with a reasonably long hooklength. I find the bait presented this way is pretty much immune to small fish activity - you'll get plucks on the tip but they rarely damage the casters - quite often barbel don't either!

Good luck!
 
Howard, I use fluorocarbon for 90% of my fishing. Not everyone's cup of tea but works for me and have found no reason to change.
 
Yep, it's a great bait, and I would certainly agree with some of the excellent previous posts.
Some other baits come and go, but barbel and chub never seem to tire of hemp and casters. Have been using it for 35 years and if I had a pound for every time I've baitdropped it into a river .....well you know.
I don't usually use a feeder on nearbank to mid river Avon swims as I just like to have minimal camauflaged end gear pinned hard to the riverbed with a 1oz pear backlead a yard or so up the line from a semi-fixed inline lead.
I have tended to reverse the amounts of hemp to caster over the years and now opt for more caster and less hemp.
The perfect scenario that is nearly always a winner is to be able to carefully bait drop casters just upstream of the bait with a dedicated rod,..I've observed doubles scoffing the contents of the dropper as it deposits the goodies.
As others have stated, patience is a virtue here, and leaving the fish to really get on the feed to start with will normally get you more, and bigger barbel on the day.
I tend to use arti's in 3's on a hair as they perfectly replicate how casters bunch up inbetween the gravel.
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There are of course variations on the same theme, depending on the venue and the angler that all work on their day.
Maggots will, as we all know get the barbel going, but I prefer casters for static fishing as they tend not to get washed through the swim so quickly on a fast river....just wish they were cheaper!:)
All the best
dt
 
Worth getting hold of some old copies of CAT (2+ years ago) if possible, as Stef is a master of this method and he battered the Trent and other rivers using hemp and caster.

It does figure a lot in his articles but Tony Miles was writing about this method long before Stef Horak came on the scene. No doubting though that both are masters of the method.

The biggest concern with using it these days is location. With far fewer barbel in our rivers than there were eight or ten years ago it is an expensive way to find out your chosen swim doesn't have any in it! Obviously some swims will reveal their occupants by sight and barbel can be attracted in by baiting but they still need to be fairly close by initially. This is where maggots can sometimes be a better bet as the odd dropper full given a quick jerk upwards can send the more buoyant maggots well down stream to hopefully get noticed by a barbel; which can then follow the source of food right up to the size 10 animal! :)
 
Good points there Alex .Before lobbing in your gallon of expensive casters , remember the great Dick Walkers maxim '' first find your fish '' . If they aren't there in the first place you are largely wasting your time , although the method might attract some fish if there are any in relatively close proximity , but so would a smelly pellet or a lump of garlic spam .This method of barbel fishing only really works on rivers with a relatively high density of the target fish and is brilliant for achieving multiple captures . The fish drop their guard and become pre occupied with feeding and are thus easy to catch . Downside of the method , it is none selective and will attract all sorts of species in to your swim . A shoal of chub or bream can eat an awful lot of casters when they get their heads down . I used to enjoy Stef Horaks articles , but I would have liked to have watch him employ his killer method on my local Yorkshire Ouse and see how many bream he caught :D
 
Must admit it does seem to ring the dinner bell for every pike in the river,...the local tackle shops always laugh and tell me they train the pike to take feeders and bite the flap off baitdroppers!!:D:D
 
Must admit it does seem to ring the dinner bell for every pike in the river,...the local tackle shops always laugh and tell me they train the pike to take feeders and bite the flap off baitdroppers!!:D:D

I tend to use plastic anti tangle tube to the bait dropper now Dave as I've had so many bite offs from pike. Strange how often a spinning session cannot provoke a take but a bait dropper can!
 
Some good points above but I'd disagree that the method is non-selective. Sure, you'll get all sorts of species eating your loosefeed, but the way the hookbait is presented for me is what makes it selective.
The stretch of Trent I'm fishing is like an aquarium for all species - hoardes of roach, dace, bleak, chub, perch and bream as well as the barbel. Sure, I hook the odd roach and chub, but the barbel outnumber them about 50-1 in terms of fish hooked!

I would totally agree that for low stock density rivers, it is an expensive way of fishing and not one that I'd use blind in the hope barbel were in the area - thats where watercraft comes in. That said, it is still deadly effective even if fishing for small groups of fish.
 
Hi men,

All the talk of baiting , then waiting , me and Sue would have fished and be on the way home by the time most would have cast out :D , never enough time for us .


Hatter
 
Hi men,

All the talk of baiting , then waiting , me and Sue would have fished and be on the way home by the time most would have cast out :D , never enough time for us .


Hatter

One of the best days I remember was on the W Avon in 2010 on a hot August afternoon. Not for any significant catch but for how evreything went exactly as planned. I wasn't using casters but I was using hemp as a bait and wait tactic. The reason was it was hot and sunny and I wanted a relaxing afternoon by the river as much as anything else. The swim I wanted was free, under a large, shady willow with a lovely flat grassy bank. I had yet to catch a barbel from this swim but with the proximity of many cabbage beds, bankside growth and a good flow I thought there was a good chance of barbel not too far away. I baited up, tackled up all the gear and tested it, then got out the tea and sandwiches and my book! Every 40 minutes or so some more bait went in while I relaxed in the shade on that glorious afternoon and read my book. About three hours after my initial baiting, just as the sun was going down I cast in. Half an hour later I was returning a pristine barbel of 11.2. Not a monster but everything I had planned for a lazy but hopefully productive few hours had worked.I packed up shortly afterwards and went home happy. I have yet to repeat such a relaxing and satisfying session!
 
Hi men ,

Sounds nice Alex , but often it's half day Grand Prix rush to the river !, and the style of fishing we do means we hardly ever spend more than an hour in a swim , normally a lot less :D. We may well be walking away from a swim as the barbel are about to feed , which probably reflects in the amount of fish we catch :D .

Hatter
 
Hi men ,

Sounds nice Alex , but often it's half day Grand Prix rush to the river !, and the style of fishing we do means we hardly ever spend more than an hour in a swim , normally a lot less :D. We may well be walking away from a swim as the barbel are about to feed , which probably reflects in the amount of fish we catch :D .

Hatter

:D Always my worry Mark! If i'm about to move swims how do I know the barbel are not just about to move in? If I don't move are they feeding happily in another swim? I normally assume it will be the opposite to what I want...
 
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