How to make hemp ball hookbaits
And how to make your particles PVA friendly...
#ThrowbackThursday… Or any day of the week for that matter. You don’t need a hashtag as an excuse to get yourself kitted out with repro-inspired tactics and methods; even Adam Penning’s getting in on reverting back to old, forgotten tactics from yesteryear - goodbye Distance Sticks and hello catapult and 20-millers! This is a true 90s classic trick: Kryston’s Bogey - the sticky substance which will allow you to create a hempseed hookbait. As you’ll see, it’s dead easy to use, but one thing you have to note before we get started: the hempseed has to be dry and not cooked.
What you need:
Dried hempseed
Kryston’s Bogey
PVA funnel web system
Salt
1. Start by wetting your finger and then pull out a lump of Bogey.
2. To ‘activate’ the ‘stick’ of the Bogey, stretch and fold it.
3. Form the Bogey into a ball and then roll and push the dry hempseed into it.
4. Leave the ‘hempseed ball’ in water (or a glug if you wish) overnight so it darkens up.
5. Attach it to your rig, remembering it will float so you need to add some counterbalance.
6. Now it’s time to make up a bag mix to accompany your Hemp Ball. Add crushed hemp, crushed peanuts, hemp and plenty of salt (this stops the PVA from melting) and then mix thoroughly.
7. Tie up a bag, attach it to your hook, cast out and then Spomb out a good hemp-based mix.
How to make your particles PVA-friendly
Yes, you can buy PVA-friendly particles, but they’ve been caked in oils and preservatives. Prepare your own particles to make them fresher and tastier than everyone else’s and then stop them from melting your PVA products with the help of salt…
1. Put some salt to a tub of warm water.
2. Add a piece of PVA to see if it melts.
3. If it does, add more salt until it doesn’t.
4. Mix your particles in the salt solution.
5. Before putting into your funnel web.