SEASONAL THOUGHT
At this time of year I often
find myself using more particles. I do still put the boilies in (Sticky Krill) but I love using a bit of hemp, while tigers are deadly for fish that have had a bit of a hammering all year.
Preparation is key. I really don’t think it is any good just buying a jar of each unless you are particularly adept with the Spomb. A small quantity like that won’t really do much for you and hemp, in particular, works better when applied a bit more heavily.
With this in mind, I prefer to buy my hemp and tigers in bulk and prepare them myself at home. I recently bought a new Burco boiler to make this simpler – it saves stinking out the kitchen and getting an earful from the missus! You can find these relatively cheap on eBay and if you are serious then I cannot recommend one highly enough.
Hemp really is the greatest bait of all! Forget all those pigeon mixes – nothing beats loads of proper oily hempseed. Quality is very important, though, and in recent years, getting hemp to split during cooking has proved impossible.
I spoke to angling supremo and in-house expert at Hinders, Kev Hewitt, about this. This man really knows his stuff and catches a mind-blowing number of big carp. He told me that there is a global problem with hemp quality, but that Hinders had sourced a very small seed from China and it splits like a dream. I ordered some and he was right… super-oily and splitting perfectly every time. I soak mine overnight before boiling until it splits, usually about half-an-hour.
Tigers I again get from Hinders and these are soaked in water, sugar and some Betalin for a couple of days.
At this point I boil them for 30 minutes and then transfer them (with all the liquids) back into the buckets, where they are left to mature for a further four to five days.
One tip – if you want them to go slimy and gloopy (and we all do) then ensure the nut-to-water ratio is kept lean after cooking. Just enough water to cover them is plenty and, believe me, a wellprepared tiger nut is up there with hempseed. It’s an incredible bait that is perfect for combining with hemp for some early winter fishing!
“I BUY MY TIGER NUTS IN BULK”