Tares

[Mark]

That's my tares cooked and bagged up ready for the freezer, lovely and black, these should see me through the summer months.

[Gobio Gobio]

Nothing to beat hemp and tares on the day they work Mark; magical.

[Troydog]

Yes, that’s how I prepare them, in batches for the freezer. In the summer on the Wye, people persist with maggot and then complain about all the bleak. You don’t get bleak if you fish hemp and tare.....

[Shropshire Lad]

How do you prepare them? and where do you get them nowadays preferably unprepared in kilo bags?.

[Mark]

How do you prepare them? and where do you get them nowadays preferably unprepared in kilo bags?.

I get mine from Haiths Seeds. This is the way I do it.

1. Soak the tares for 48 hrs.
2. Bring to a light boil.
3. Add 1 teaspoon of sulphate of iron.
4. Simmer gently for 10 minutes.
5. Tip into a maggot riddle and let them cool and dry in the air, this turns them black as coal
as the air hits them.
6. Once cold put in to a bait box or freezer.

[Dave Burr]

Does the iron make them sink?

I've only ever used a handful of tares with my hemp feed for two reasons. First, tares are far more filling than hemp (apparently) but mainly that, the fish are chasing hempseeds as they drop through the water so the tare must look like a pork pie on a plate of mini sausage rolls and get grabbed quickly as a result. That said, I've never really targetted chub with them so I guess it's less important.

[Mark]

Does the iron make them sink?

I've only ever used a handful of tares with my hemp feed for two reasons. First, tares are far more filling than hemp (apparently) but mainly that, the fish are chasing hempseeds as they drop through the water so the tare must look like a pork pie on a plate of mini sausage rolls and get grabbed quickly as a result. That said, I've never really targetted chub with them so I guess it's less important.

They are for the roach Dave, I feed hemp with tares on the hook, but if a chub want's one he is more than welcome. I did not know chub liked them.

[Banksy]

But sometimes the bigger, wiser old fish seem to know that pork pies mean bad news, so they stick to consuming the smaller but safer sausage rolls!
So then hemp on the hook works much better, and if you mount it correctly, you can catch a dozen or more fish on the same piece of hemp.
My good friend Barbelseeker enlightened me a few years ago, and gave a demonstration of its effectiveness at our TFF meet at Ravensfield last year.
I do know how to hook the hemp, because he's shown me. I just need a stronger pair of glasses and more nimble fingers.

I find the cooking of tares to be very hit-and-miss. They go from rock hard to mushy and disintegrating in the space of a couple of seconds.
I've tried tares from my local tackle shop, from Haiths, and now from Hinders.

I've been told to scald them with boiling water first, because this shocks them, and prevents the skin from coming off. It doesn't. My tares feel the heat of the water, and take their coats off, every time. Nude, white tares are not good.

I've tried putting a handful of tares into a vacuum flask, covering them with boiling water and leaving them overnight. The first time I did this, the tares were perfect. The second time, same method, same timing, they turned to mushy peas.

I have added bicarbonate of soda and iron tablets. This ensured that the whole of the oven hob was covered in purple froth.

I shall try your method, Mark, and report back in just over 48 hours!

[Liphook]

I feed 'giant' hemp so the size difference to my tare hookbaits is marginal to nil. As an alternative I've found some suitable black plastic beads that I thread onto a length of natural latex pole elastic. I then just cut one off and hook through the latex stub. I know others use a dark (no6?) shot and a dab of tippex but the plastic bead and hook arrangements fall through the water at a more natural rate to my eye.

[Dave Burr]

Enterprise do imitation hemp which is ideal for the hook https://enterprisetackle.co.uk/product/ ... icial-hemp.

When feeding hemp, casters and maggots on the hook can still be effective. Chop and change your bait to keep the bites coming