Last week I saw a brilliant invention by a Scunthorpe angler

Ever since the Belgians introduced English anglers to the miracle seed , hemp has been revered for it’s magical fish pulling powers everywhere.Last week I saw a brilliant invention by a Scunthorpe angler. Hair-rigged hemp, a piece of genuine hemp on a hair that stayed on all day and was responsible for a 17lb net of Roach at Snitterby on the Ancholme by Roly Moses in just 5 hrs, what’s more he didn’t have to re-bait and estimated that it saved him 3/4 hr over the session.So as you can see, hemp hasn’t lost it’s appeal with anglers either.But what makes it so irresistible to certain fish? Some say that it drugs the fish and gives them an appetite while others say it looks like small snails that fish feed upon. Personally I believe that fish, like other animals, feed by instinct and know that the nutrients contained in hemp are most beneficial for their diet. You only have to look in the health food shops and on the net at hemp products to see that you can get everything from Hemp nutra bars to Hemp beer. The list is endless and I think that we will see a lot more developments in the industrial hemp market in the future. My only concern is that it pushes the price of the seed up so high and because of the demand that we, the anglers, are paying over the odds for it. In our industry we have seen a shortage over the last 3 years and the price jump by 150%. HEMP TIPů If you don’t have time to cook your hemp, you can save time by putting the seed in a flask and covering it with boiling water (leave some air space at the top for expansion). Add a little sugar and a teaspoon full of backing powder to turn it a dense black colour. Next morning you will have perfectly cooked hemp seed and a sweet smelling liquid for adding to your groundbait. If you are using cooked hemp on a hot sunny day you can stop it from drying out by covering it with water in your bait tub or pour on a few drops of hemp oil.Commercially you can buy hemp in many forms for adding to your groundbait or using on it’s own, these include:Wholeseed Hemp from tackle shops and pet stores.Raw Crushed hempToasted crushed hempMega fine Hemp (Whizzo)G.B.H.(Whizzo)Hemp Pellets (Whizzo)Ready cooked Hemp in tinsHemp OilFrozen cooked Hemp from your Tackle dealerStoring Hemp seedsIf you buy hemp in bulk make sure you store it in an airtight container, this

will keep the seed fresh and stop mice from invading your seed store.