Braham & Murray Pure Hemp Bait

Braham & Murray have been long time producers of Hemp products in the UK, but have only recently started to target anglers. For the past 7 years, Braham & Murray have been researching and growing Hemp crops in their North Devon complex and have a high understanding of the benefits of the product from seed to end product. In fact, many anglers have been using Braham & Murray Hemp products without even realising over the past few years.

Pure Hemp Seed

Braham & Murray have gone against the 'grain' with regards to their packaged unprepared Hemp Seed. The typical grain size packaged by Braham & Murray is one of that is smaller than other prepackaged seed in the angling market. Why is this? Well the reason for this is that the smaller seeds are higher in oil content than the larger seeds. This is something that I have been very concious of for a while and I have always preferred a smaller seed for feeding, where as most anglers will automatically go for the larger grains. By using the smaller seed as feed, it allowed me to use the larger grains as a hookbait which made them stand out more from the loose offerings because of the size difference. It is the same as feeding squatts or pinkies & using a pinkie or big maggot as the hookbait.
The size of the packaged hemp seed is fairly uniform and there are ideas floating around within the company at the moment that will be useful to the angler rather than being classed as gimmicks. As soon as these come out of the non-disclosure stage, they will be announced on the site.
The main benefit of Braham & Murray Hemp Seed is that because it is grown exclusively in the UK, the angler can be guarenteed of it's freshness. This means that the preperation of the seed can take a lot less time than some of the other unprepared seed on the market which has had to be transported from overseas by boat. The transportation from overseas causes the seed to lose a lot of it's oil in transit (and I have heard of some shipments that have been awash with oil in the containers upon docking), and this causes the seed to require longer boiling to split properly, if at all. With the Braham & Murray seed not needing the long transportation times, the chances of having a bad batch of seeds are greatly reduced, giving the angler more confidence in the product actually splitting correctly on preparation.
I personally now use the ready prepared hemp products due to convienience and not needing to store many kilos in the freezer, but I will definately be trying the uncooked seed out for myself in the new season once I get back on the lake that I am concentrating on this year.

Pure Ground Hemp

Now this is something that to my knowledge has not been available to many people within angling as a prepared product. As the name of the product states, it is pure ground prepared hemp seed and nothing else. This product I can see being used by a lot of anglers primarily as a groundbait additive, but I can see other uses as well for it (including some that I am currently working on & do not wish to disclose at this point in time - sorry!).
The Pure Ground Hemp can be mixed with a little water to produce a paste that is different to anything else currently available. I know that some other manufacturers have produced a 'hemp paste' but as far as I can tell, they are purely a hemp flavoured paste with a few grains of hemp seed added to them rather than a paste made from the actual hemp itself. When mixed to a consistency with water, a little pure hemp oil can be added to the paste to achieve the consistency that the angler requires. From the reports I have been given by anglers that have been using this as a paste, the results have spoken for themselves, especially on waters that have been hammered over the past few years on more traditional fishmeal based pastes. This is something that I can see many match anglers moving onto in the coming seasons once they experience the benefits for themselves.

Pure Hemp Pellets

Hemp pellets are nothing new in the world of specimen angling, but they are something that match anglers have not used a lot of because of the shape that the pellets are produced in. With the advent of using PVA bags & spods within match angling, the Pure Hemp Pellets can now be used with great effect. These pellets will breakdown fairly rapidly in all water temperatures to a fine powder, and this can be a bonus in the winter on venues where traditional fishmeal based pellets take a long time to breakdown in the water. The hemp pellets are made from 100% cold pressed hemp at the stage where the oils are extracted from the seeds, and the protein of the pellet is the main factor in the pellet itself. Unlike a lot of the current hemp pellets on the market, the Braham & Murray pellets do not contain the waste product of the seed from multiple stages of other hemp based products, purely from the stages of the oil extraction. This means that only pure hemp is used without any stalks etc being included.
Braham & Murray have now developed a hemp pellet that is perfectly uniform in size and perfect for catapulting out in the same way as the traditonal fishmeal based pellets. These new pellets are going to take the angling world by storm. Keep your eyes peeled in your local stockist for these.
This is something that can be used now to the anglers advantage more than anything else.

Pure Grilled Hemp

Grilled hemp is something that anglers have been using for many years already, but the main difference between the Braham & Murray product to others is that the oil content is much higher than others because of the specific grade of seed used in all of the Braham & Murray products.
When added to a groundbait, the additional oil content allows the mix to bind easier when on the bank, but when in the water, the oil content causes the mix to explode out of a feeder, offering the attraction of a cloud in the water as well being able to hold more loose offerings than a groundbait that does not have grilled hemp added to it.
I have used a lot of grilled hemp seed in my own particle mixes in the past (but not told anyone of this until now!) and it is something that I would not be without in my bait armoury. I have also used it a fair bit in my method mixes which makes me different to other specimen anglers in that I do want my method balls to break down fairly quickly (like the match angler does) but to still bind solid on the cast. I think that this is one of the reasons that I have caught a lot of fish from the lake I was fishing this summer compared to others that have been fishing it as well. Looks like I will need to find something else now that will give me the edge if others read this that fish the same venue!!!!!

Pure Hemp Oil

This is another product that I will be using a lot more of this year after seeing the potential benefits over other oils more commonly used in angling. Hemp Oil has more benefits over other oils in angling than people will have thought (well those that don't read this site anyway!) and can be used in amounts that if other oils where used in would cause possible long term damage to the fish. The use of the Pure Hemp Oil is only limited to that of the anglers mind. It can be added to groundbaits, pellets, PVA bags, maggots, other seed baits or even cupped in neat if required (not too much though). Think more laterally with your minds and you will come up with more uses for this than you think.
This is something that will be in almost all of my baits this coming season in one way or another, guaranteed.

Pure Hot Hemp

This again is not a new idea, but something that specimen anglers have been doing for a while now. Pure Hot Hemp is the same as the Oily Hemp product but with added Chilli to give a bit of spiciness. My own mindset on this is that I don't think it offers anything extra in the way of attraction to the fish but once the fish start feeding on it, it can hold them in the area for a little longer than normal. I have obviously to prove or disprove this so can only express my own thoughts on it. Obviously if the angler thinks it is beneficial to them, then who am I to argue with the main principle of using a product - confidence. The only thing I can say is to give it a go and to make your own mind up on things. I will be doing some experimenting of my own in the coming season with both the Hot Hemp and standard Oily Hemp, to really see if there is much difference other than confidence involved.

Pure Oily Hemp

Braham & Murray Pure Oily Hemp is a ready prepared hemp seed which has added pure hemp oil added to the finished product. Unlike some of the other prepared products available, the Oily Hemp has been prepared outside of the jar that it is packaged in rather than to risk contamination of the bait with esters that can be released from the plastics used in the jars when exposed to high temperatures below the plastics melting point. What you are buying is something that is as good, if not more effective, than the home prepared seed. One of the benefits in using the small 1 kilo jars over the bigger jars that other manufacturers use, is that the match angler can always keep a jar in their bait bags in case it is needed without having to lug around a large container. Some of you may say 'what about the tins though'. One of the main issues with the tins is that tins are BANNED on a lot of commerical fisheries, and that the tins cannot be resealed again if all the product is not used. This leads to wasted bait if not all used and also more litter. With the smaller resealable jars, if all the seed is not used, it can be put back in the jar & then stored in the fridge until the next trip. This saves you money long term.
From what I have seen of the prepared Oily Hemp, it is split to perfection rather than purely overcooked, and the oilyness of the product is greater than anything else I have seen available from other manufacturers.

This is purely an overview with some of my first impressions of the Braham & Murray products, and over time as we get out and use them more, we will be doing updates to our thoughts.

After using the Braham & Murray Pure Hemp Baits for well over a year now, UKMA can highly recommend them to all anglers that require a hemp product that does exactly what it has been developed to do.