I have always disliked the way some of our superstar anglers have made disparaging comments like "Many anglers will" or "Most anglers do", the inference is that the "Many anglers are wrong (and daft)" and that the "Experts" are right and so much better informed, perhaps they are but I feel that is crass of them to say so.

I am not an expert but I have done a lot of fishing for all of our species and I have been lucky enough to have fished in several division one nationals. I have, over the years won quite alot of money from my match fishing. This doesn't make me a good angler. It probably means that I am a "lucky" angler but then again like all the other "Lucky" anglers that I know, I do go fishing a hell of a lot and even a simpleton like me will get better when you get out three times a weeek! As Gary Player said " The more I play, the luckier I get". I am not going to say that my methods are set n stone but they do work for me and they are the product of years of practice.

Hemp Fishing

Hemp is now and always has been a major bait for both large and small fish. If fed properly, it will get most species going so much so that often they will feed with total abandon and a total loss of the usual caution. Hemp is often seen only as a ground bait and as such is used in large quantities and while feeding several pints in one go will bring fish into a swim, it relies on the fact that the angler has plenty of time to sit and wait. I prefer to sit and fish and as with all things a little more effort will often produce a better result.

The following article was intended as a guide for fishing a river (in this case, the Thames) but would work equally well on a canal or a still water. However, if you intend using this method anywhere other than a river then you should modify the quantities stated down to about half of that used on a river. For a typical day's fishing I will take 1 pint of hemp and a half pint of tares. I prepare these myself and as I buy both these baits by the sack, the total cost for a days fishing is about £1. I am stating this because I am Tight! (Shut it Blue, Duch and Buz) but because it illustrates the fact that you do not need to spend a fortune on special baits to catch a big bag of fish.

My way with Hemp on a river.

Never put in more than ten grains at a time (small Hemp) and 5-7 grains (big Hemp), feed when you cast, when the float is half way down the swim and feed again when the float is at the end of the swim, the important point is the regularity NOT the quantity, however over feeding will kill the swim in the same way as throwing in several house bricks..

Always, Always, Always, feed in the same spot do not allow the aiming point for the feed to "creep". Do not be tempted to "bring the fish closer in" by feeding short, decide where your "Kill Zone" is and fish to it.

Shot the float shirt button style with no 8 shot (lead it's still legal in this size), because it is so much smaller than the hemp you reduce the chance of shot bites, use no 10 Style leads near to the hook (size 14 eyed with the shank painted white for big Hemp, a 16 with the shank painted white for small Hemp). A second rod set up with bulked shot (again no 8's, no matter how much shot the float takes, trust me it is worth the hassle) and again Style leads near to the hook.

The shirt button rod is for running through; the bulked shot rod is for holding back and laying on at the bottom end of the swim for the biggies.

To start the session you should only use the "running through rig", build a swim and then attack the "bottom end" of the swim only when you have a good head of Roach and Dace feeding through the swim, you will be surprised what can be holding back waiting for the spare grains that the small fish miss.

I would use 1.1lb hook length for the running through rig and 1.7lb for the holding back rig during the day, when evening comes go up to 2.6lb, IF, the Barbel have moved in you will need to up that quite a bit, I use the Silstar 4.6lb in the Blue spools for this on the Thames and 6.6lb on a third rod on the Kennet.

If you are going to fish Tares feed three grains in with the hemp every other "feed". The biggest mistakes you could make when fishing Tares is to either not put in enough or to put in too much, and you have to be really careful with Tares as it fills the fish up much more than Hemp, remember that Tares also have a different drop rate and you must have a different aim point for the Tares, this different aim point for the Tares varies with flow and depth of the swim and you can only judge this with experience, you can move the aim point for the Tares you MUST NOT move the aim point for the Hemp.

I was taught how to fish " The seed" by an old boy named Mac, a mate of my dad's. Mac was an absolute master on the seed and his instruction made me a lot of money when I used to fish matches. I have always been lucky when fishing the seed and I have caught quite a few 2lb roach while fishing it on the Kennet. I have never had one on the Thames, my best is only 1-14. I think that is only because I never got to be as good as Mac.

Mac used to sit behind and instruct me as I fished. He was the one who gave me "The ten grain rule". If I fed more or less than ten, Mac used to whack me around the head and say F****in ten, not F****in eight! I still duck to this day when I get it wrong. I was sooo lucky to have known him!

Once you have fish feeding you can cut down the quantity of feed, this makes them search for the bait and improve the quality of the bites, but you must be careful some times reducing the quantity can cause the fish to come up in the water as they compete more actively (as can increasing the feed) remember the aim is not just to catch fish but to catch BIG fish. So you want to catch as close to the bottom as you can, big fish are not so keen to come up in the water and they will often hold back at the lower end of the swim. They will often dart into the feeding shoal fish to frighten them out of the way as this allows more of the free offerings to filter through to the larger fish at the back end of the shoal.

Once you have started to catch well on the running rig, keep the feed going but use the bulk shotted rig to fish for the larger fish, this will require casting further down the swim and holding the tackle back by varying degrees until you start to take the better quality fish, be prepared because after you have been feeding for a while you may find that fish other than Roach and Dace are sitting at the back end of the swim. Bream, Chub and Barbel will often move in when they notice the shoal fish feeding well, in fact often the best way to get BIG fish interested is to get the small fish interested first.

I have lost count of the times that I have I have had multiple catches of Barbel during an evening from a swim I have fished in the afternoon for the Roach with Hemp.

One of my cunning plans is to fish a single Tare on a light leger at the downstream end of my swim in the evening, keep the feed going in as you have done during the day to keep the smaller fish interested but make sure that the tackle you use on the lead will cope with much bigger fish. You might just be surprised by the fish that comes along as the light fails.

I know that this method will mean a bit of hard work and if you fish this way you will go home knackered, but you will be knackered and happy with a few fish under your belt and that is what fishing is all about.

Tight Lines

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