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Sourcing Hemp

I'm going to be using a mixture of pigeon conditioner ( aniseed ) & hemp this season, I buy both from a local feed merchants & it's around £16 for 20kg. I soak the hemp for at least 48 hours with salt & chilli etc & then hard boil. Some of the seeds don't split & float but I skim them off & discard.

As long as you can stand the smell it's way cheaper than the tackle shops & Hinders etc as mentioned above. I'd liked to be convinced it's 3 times better a product but I seriously doubt it at £50 a pop?
 
i asked my local dealer, Tadley Angling, great little shop. He can do it but not as cheap as animal feed suppliers as if its animal feed its vat free, if it is in a tackle shop its bait and vat is charged...bloody stupid. No wonder tackle shops struggle when they dont get a level playing field.
 
How do local tackle shops survive with everyone buying and preparing there own hemp:)

Stephen

Agreed, but cost of hemp has rocketed, I have been buying small qty's from my local, but works out very expensive, especially if you have to use a lot.

Update on the hemp I bought from the market is...yeaa it splits, it splits :p very small seeds though :( be a booger to hook a seed on a size 8 :rolleyes:

Well at least they corner the market on the maggot, the Mrs will draw the line in me keeping road kill in a dark box in the garden I reckon:)
 
Oops yep that would be expensive, will get back on the Tewkesbury hemp, but the Hereford stuff looks v.good and cheaper.

Neil / Joe - Current prices from Staytes Cheltenham Tel 01242 529435 - All 20kg sacks

Hempseed £32.40
Pidgeon Cond £11.90
Maples £19.45 (out of interest)

Worth a call to ensure a sack is available on the day but they can get them shipped up from the base at Eastington in a day or two for you.

The hemp isn't big grain (I've never understood the craze for the large grains for baiting anyway) but it cooks up fine :)

I'm not a big user right now, but if I were, I'd be cutting my hemp with P/Cond.

Steve
 
Neil / Joe - Current prices from Staytes Cheltenham Tel 01242 529435 - All 20kg sacks

Hempseed £32.40
Pidgeon Cond £11.90
Maples £19.45 (out of interest)

Worth a call to ensure a sack is available on the day but they can get them shipped up from the base at Eastington in a day or two for you.

The hemp isn't big grain (I've never understood the craze for the large grains for baiting anyway) but it cooks up fine :)

I'm not a big user right now, but if I were, I'd be cutting my hemp with P/Cond.

Steve

Cheers for that mate,
That's a good price. :)
 
Neil / Joe - Current prices from Staytes Cheltenham Tel 01242 529435 - All 20kg sacks

Hempseed £32.40
Pidgeon Cond £11.90
Maples £19.45 (out of interest)

Worth a call to ensure a sack is available on the day but they can get them shipped up from the base at Eastington in a day or two for you.

The hemp isn't big grain (I've never understood the craze for the large grains for baiting anyway) but it cooks up fine :)

I'm not a big user right now, but if I were, I'd be cutting my hemp with P/Cond.

Steve

Hi Steve we had this conversation a while back and you told me about Staytes and I went and had a look and every thing he had in stock was past its use by date , So I never went back .Knowing the problems I have had with hemp in the past with it not splitting . I am happy to pay the extra if i know its going to split .
 
What is this with hemp splitting.
I seem to recall that Fred Crouch never cooked his hemp just soaked it overnight. He seemed to do ok
 
Hi Steve we had this conversation a while back and you told me about Staytes and I went and had a look and every thing he had in stock was past its use by date , So I never went back .Knowing the problems I have had with hemp in the past with it not splitting . I am happy to pay the extra if i know its going to split .

That's not good is it Joe. Last Hemp I had a few years ago was fine, must admit I didn't look at the date. I'm sure that if it's only just past it'll be okay and it'll be used in a few months.

Agree Colin, I think most hemp gets 'over cooked' due to the obsession with white shoots
 
when it splits, won,t it release more oil/flavour into the water ? similar to a washing capsule, if it didn't melt/open, your clothes wouldn't get clean. :D just a thought :)
 
when it splits, won,t it release more oil/flavour into the water ? similar to a washing capsule, if it didn't melt/open, your clothes wouldn't get clean. :D just a thought :)

Makes sense to me, or maybe we overrate the flavour attraction. I don't get my pants in a bunch if it doesn't split, but i think it looks better:)

Stephen
 
Spot on Derek. The cooking process releases the oils which are at least part of the attraction. The fact that Fred did (or did not) use them after just an overnight soak is irrelevant, it doesn't prove that they wouldn't have worked better if they were cooked, just that (A) they do still work if not cooked, and (B) that was Fred's way of doing things.

It may not be necessary to have the white shoot appearing...that was just a hangover from match fishing days because it was deemed to be more attractive drifting down under a float that way. However, it is what gives the angler confidence that really matters, so do it the way you always have...it always has and always will work better if you do things that way, in my opinion :D

Cheers, Dave.
 
I wonder if anyone can help with buying hemp, or rather directing me to a supplier that can be trusted as far as quality. The Lower Severn needs a lot of the stuff so any help would be much appreciated.
Cheers.

I get mine from a fella in Strensham that does pet supplies... good price and he will deliver locally ;) pm me if you want his number
 
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