With steady feeding, hemp and caster can work barbel up into a feeding frenzy like no other bait combination. Although not cheap, it really is worth considering if your fishing time is limited.
The first thing to say is that because it can take time for these baits to work their magic it is essential that you are fishing a swim that actually holds barbel. The fish will travel upstream, following a bait trail, but it’s much better if a shoal is already in the immediate vicinity.
Regular light baiting is essential. These small baits mimic the natural invertebrate food of barbel, and a trail of small particles drifting downstream will encourage the fish to feed, even in the middle of the day.
If you can resist wetting a line, then the longer you can bait and wait before making your first cast, the better. This will give the fish time to settle and begin to feed confidently.
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Caster hookbaits
A bunch of three casters can be carefully used on a strong size 12 hook, but recently I have been experimenting with some slightly different, and potentially more effective, hooking arrangements.
Modern fine boilie needles with a recessed barb allow casters to be carefully hair-rigged without destroying this fragile bait. The only problem with hair-rigging real casters is that small fish can easily crunch the bait and strip the hair. Keep a careful eye on the hookbait when you wind in and, if the bait is missing, then think about using a combination of real and artificial casters.
When feeding confidently barbel won’t take the time to distinguish between a real caster and a fake one, so I’m happy to use rubber baits, which are much tougher and will last indefinitely. I like to hair-rig a fake caster and then use two real ones on the hook.
Alternatively, by using a barbed metal bait pin, I can top a real caster with a buoyant fake bait.
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Classic combo
While the price of casters can seem prohibitive, only a pint or two is needed when barbel fishing. Combining a pint of casters with anything up to eight pints of hemp cuts the cost massively, without impacting on catches.
Because the two baits are quite similar in size and colour, the fish don’t worry about what they are eating – they just hoover up both.
I still like to prepare my own hemp, cooking up a large panful and then freezing it in handy batches. Many tackle shops prepare hemp in bulk, so you can often pick up several kilos for a great price if you have the freezer space to store it.
The only additive that I sometimes use with hemp is salt. This enhances the flavour, and it’s attractive to fish in its own right.
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Regular feeding
At close to medium range, a bait dropper is the ideal way to feed hemp and caster. I much prefer the accuracy of a dropper over loosefeeding in deeper swims, because I know exactly where the bait is hitting the bottom.
Remember that the current will wash baits some distance downstream, so always loosefeed well upstream of where you are fishing.
There is no more accurate way of feeding than by using a swimfeeder. The trickle of bait will wash down over the hookbait and away downstream. Many blockend feeders are furnished with quite small holes, so open these up to ensure casters can pass out of the feeder more easily. Pack the base of the feeder with some casters and then load up with hemp.
Make several casts with just the feeder attached before attaching a baited rig. An hour or more of feeding before you hook a fish can mean the difference between catching one barbel and catching the whole shoal.
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