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Hemp and Caster

Ian Hugo Arnott said:
By Jove this takes me back!

Part 2: Mark Parker visits Hampshire Royalty Fishery for a barbelling session



Hugo
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Hi Hugo,

Unfortunately, nowadays that pleasurable style of baiting and fishing not only takes you back.....it also sets you back a small fortune :mad: When we used to fish the Royalty with a gallon of Davis Tackle's best maggots (I swear they were the size of chipolata sausages :D) and the same of hemp it used to cost about 15 pounds all in. Nowadays that would be roughly fifty quid, with casters costing even more. Now you might say that prices move with the times, but whether that is true or not....I can guarantee that the government pension certainly doesn't, so that is now way beyond my pocket :(

Sad but true.

Cheers, Dave.
 
Hemp is dirt cheap + 3 or 4 pints of casters, approx £12-£14

I'd say that's not too much for a days productive fishing.
If you know the fish are there, there's no better way to catch 'em.
 
Chris Guy said:
Hemp is dirt cheap + 3 or 4 pints of casters, approx £12-£14

I'd say that's not too much for a days productive fishing.
If you know the fish are there, there's no better way to catch 'em.
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4 pints of casters and same of cooked hemp from Davis Tackle, approximately £20. The gallon of each I mentioned, obviously roughly £40. From my local? The £50 that I quoted in the first place :rolleyes:

You may be able to get by with 3 to 4 pints IF you know the fish are in the swim....you may even get away with half a pint of each, if you are REALLY lucky.

But that's a lot of if's isn't it? When you have laid out a small fortune in petrol and day tickets for a rare and much looked forward to day on the Royalty, and you are gagging to get stuck in....you do NOT want all those if's....take it from me. And who on earth was arguing that it wasn't the best way of catching them?

All I said was that on a government pension, it was no longer an affordable method....and that remains true, whatever you may think.

Cheers, Dave,
 
'Ever Faithfull Smarty'':)

Actually got a Chocolate Lab like that (and a crazy Springer)

But thanks for posting it up, makes me long even more for summer, I appreciate what you are saying Dave about the cost of bait now, plus all the other costs, hemp has rocketed, but still good value, just have to do with less casters I guess.
 
Forget gallons of expensive caster and hemp, just turn up with a tin of garlic spam in your pocket and catch 'em the Ray Walton way! ;)
 
Neil Smart said:
'Ever Faithfull Smarty'':)

Actually got a Chocolate Lab like that (and a crazy Springer)

But thanks for posting it up, makes me long even more for summer, I appreciate what you are saying Dave about the cost of bait now, plus all the other costs, hemp has rocketed, but still good value, just have to do with less casters I guess.
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I envy you Neil...I absolutely adore dogs like that. Well....any dog, come to that :D

Anyway...it is true that if you buy hemp in, say, 25k sacks and cook it yourself...it is much cheaper than the £1.60 a pint that Davis Tackle charge for their cooked hemp (although I don't suppose that is bad for fresh ready cooked) However, if circumstances have restricted your fishing to occasional trips, then buying in bulk is no longer a sensible option....I am fed up dumping raw hemp that smells odd and is more empty shells than 'owt else, due to weevil action etc....but then, maybe that is a peculiarity of my garage :p:D

Thinking of what you said Neil, it would be interesting to know (without the cost and frustrating uncertainties involved in finding out :p) how low a percentage of casters you could get away with in the mix, and still be as effective.

Cheers, Dave.
 
David, keep the sack of raw hemp in the house. It doesn't smell and keeps beautifully. Funnily enough when I boil it I'm the only one in the family that doesn't have a problem with the odour:D
 
David Gauntlett said:
I envy you Neil...I absolutely adore dogs like that. Well....any dog, come to that :D

Anyway...it is true that if you buy hemp in, say, 25k sacks and cook it yourself...it is much cheaper than the £1.60 a pint that Davis Tackle charge for their cooked hemp (although I don't suppose that is bad for fresh ready cooked) However, if circumstances have restricted your fishing to occasional trips, then buying in bulk is no longer a sensible option....I am fed up dumping raw hemp that smells odd and is more empty shells than 'owt else, due to weevil action etc....but then, maybe that is a peculiarity of my garage :p:D

Thinking of what you said Neil, it would be interesting to know (without the cost and frustrating uncertainties involved in finding out :p) how low a percentage of casters you could get away with in the mix, and still be as effective.

Cheers, Dave.
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Good one that Dave and perhaps some on here would be better qualified...but I mix about half pint of casters into 2 pints of hemp as a mix for the dropper.
That will last me a few hours on the smaller rivers. On the Wye I would need double that.

Sent you PM Dave
 
I saw an article in one of the mags that showed someone float fishing at Hampton Loade on the Severn for barbel, he was using a mix of 50% hemp, 25% Caster and 25% small pellets for his feed.

I have used this same mix several times in the feeder and the dropper this season and have caught very well both on caster and pellet.

For a day on the severn I was using 6 pints (3pt Hemp, 1.5pt caster, 1.5pt pellet) and just running out of bait after 6-7 hours, however i was using the mix neat in a large drennan blockend feeder. I guess if i had used and open ended feeder and plugged it with groundbait the mix would have lasted longer.
 
David Gauntlett said:
4 pints of casters and same of cooked hemp from Davis Tackle, approximately £20. The gallon of each I mentioned, obviously roughly £40. From my local? The £50 that I quoted in the first place :rolleyes:


Just buy raw hemp from haiths and cook it up yourself. It's not expensive
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Anthony Pearson said:
David, keep the sack of raw hemp in the house. It doesn't smell and keeps beautifully. Funnily enough when I boil it I'm the only one in the family that doesn't have a problem with the odour:D
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I tried that once Anthony....and only once. Several months later, her whole kitchen was crawling with tiny (2mm long) brown beetles...they were everywhere. They got into every packet, food item, bag, jar with a loose lid...I cannot tell you how invasive the ruddy things were.

I assume they were the adult form of the tiny weevil thingies that lay their eggs in seeds and pulses, resulting in mini maggots that munch away and leave you with empty husks...and a bad smell :( It may well be down to where you buy them, whether they had been stored in an area where they were open to infestation by these wretched things....I don't know. What I do know is what it cost me to replace the edible contents of her entire kitchen....and the level of earache and associated and assorted other pains I suffered, for what seemed a lifetime :D:D:D I suspect I may just have been unlucky....but as I have a few things left to try before I pop my clogs....I ain't about to risk it again :p

In fairness to my good lady, she too is very good about the smell associated with cooking hemp....though I did manage to find a few boilie recipes that ended in tears :D

Cheers, Dave.
 
David Gauntlett said:
4 pints of casters and same of cooked hemp from Davis Tackle, approximately £20. The gallon of each I mentioned, obviously roughly £40. From my local? The £50 that I quoted in the first place
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In Davis Tackle a gallon of maggots costs £19.50 and a gallon of cooked hemp costs £10 so the actual total cost is £29.50.

A veritable bargain compared to your local shop Dave. :D
 
David Gauntlett said:
I tried that once Anthony....and only once. Several months later, her whole kitchen was crawling with tiny (2mm long) brown beetles...they were everywhere. They got into every packet, food item, bag, jar with a loose lid...I cannot tell you how invasive the ruddy things were.

I assume they were the adult form of the tiny weevil thingies that lay their eggs in seeds and pulses, resulting in mini maggots that munch away and leave you with empty husks...and a bad smell :( It may well be down to where you buy them, whether they had been stored in an area where they were open to infestation by these wretched things....I don't know. What I do know is what it cost me to replace the edible contents of her entire kitchen....and the level of earache and associated and assorted other pains I suffered, for what seemed a lifetime :D:D:D I suspect I may just have been unlucky....but as I have a few things left to try before I pop my clogs....I ain't about to risk it again :p

In fairness to my good lady, she too is very good about the smell associated with cooking hemp....though I did manage to find a few boilie recipes that ended in tears :D

Cheers, Dave.
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I have ur pain but mine is with robin red stick mix i got a big bucket of the stuff and only used it twice and went to it last week and found it covered wiv small lookin beatles and maggots thank god it was in a bucket why is this?
 
Of course in smaller rivers than the Hampshire Avon one can get away with a pint of maggots. Always cook my own hemp and store any unused in an old freezer in the garage. Always cook the hemp when Bunty is out.

No problem.

Regards

Hugo

 
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