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I use the chod when , 1, I know it's thick weed and the bait needs to be presented above/on it. 2, when I find fish feeding/ showing and I have no idea what the bottom is like. And I'd say 90% of the takes I get with chods are absolute 1 noters. Infact I don't recall too many that weren't 1 noters. Also I can honestly say I very rarely have hook pulls. I use size 4 hooks with a 12-14 mm pop up and they are nailed in the bottom lip. In my opinion it's a very good rig, when tied and used safely and in the right circumstances.

See for me the chod rig is only useful on spots that you literally could not present on with any other method. I can't see why anyone would cast one out otherwise, the compromise in mechanics are clear as day to see, the only benefit to it is it allows you to get bites from spots that couldn't otherwise be fished effectively.

Another advantage of not using a chod and having a lead clip set up, is that you can switch rigs much quicker. Especially easy to switch from say a pop up rig to a zig! With the very short sessions that I get in, sometimes just an hour after work or on a Saturday morning before the kids get up, that instant adaptability can be the difference between snatching a bite or not!

good shout Em .... I just went off slack lines full stop really , nothing to do with the chod itself. But if I wanted a rig to sit on weed then i wouldn't hesitate to use a chod .

I've not found anything better .... when testing rigs in weedy margins . As long as your bait is nicely balanced it would consistently sit just right on top of the weed . I used to also have 2-3 metres of tiger line which improved the set up again , than just on the main line mono .

Spot on, that's the one situation where the rig comes into its own. I think people are slowly realising its not the chuck-anywhere rig that they once thought it was. There are better rigs for every single situation other than the thick weed scenario mentioned above.

I only think about fishing a chod when I want a bait sat on top of thick weed , thinking about it has the chod gone out of fashion a bit .... certainly don't here people fishing it as much, as say 4-5 years ago ?

I don't think there is such a thing as a finicky pick up on a chod tbh. They either nail it or they don't imo. Carp feed by sucking/blowing with various degrees of intensity. If intensity is low we don't stand a chance with a chod, zero movement, no potential for hooking. Whack the chod on a boom and bingo, you have the HSR, which is a great rig in a low intensity feeding situation. I only ever fish chods over weed or really, really heavy chod and even then I'll fish it on a tiny 2-3 inch boom. This makes it 10 times more effective imo.

No stainless in sight... just 12 year old banksticks, alarms circa 1980, rods circa 1965, reels approx 1966... you've all seen my old gear... but just to make a point that its the last foot of ones endgame that does the damage and too many preconceptions about rig mechanics severely limits ones options... tight lines chaps

Yeah... doubles... 20lb 1oz light lead, (2/3rds of an ounce short rig, snowman presentation... 2 x swanshot 4" hooklink, whole prawn bait (no hair rig).... yup.... another 20... (23lb 6oz) stop generalising.... and be a bit more open minded...!!!

Bromeswell is quite silty, a sand and clay ledge around the outside, as I know from having jumped in there in a hurry. You can't fish the middle with a 'standard' set up, although I haven't yet fished a paternoster link there yet. The crays can be a pain on the sand, but I think have just shelled and gone into hiding, and the carp were happier to feed on the harder areas. I'm now positive (after something that @nigewoodcock said) that larger crays feeding heavily and getting defensive, rearing up, can put the carp off some areas. If the crays are feeding heavily, I have caught few carp off that spot, yet for some reason pop-ups on chods were catching them, yet ordinary pendant leads and pop-up rigs weren't. I have a theory that the carp being caught were those swimming or patrolling the margins yesterday, just alongside a lily bed and next to a clay patch.

Hi just done 30hrs using the bio weights. do look a bit odd at first but use them like normal leads. No problems with casting was fishing to a bar at 86yards 2.5oz with fluorocarbon main line. casting with ease. Finish with 3 x 20s including this 26lbs common.

I've used Chods (unwillingly I might add) a bit this year, and they seem to have a finite life on the lake I'm fishing. I know the great (sorry for the sarcasm😖😆) JS has used them to catch a few big carp. For a couple of trips chods were the only way I could catch fish, either with Plum or Pineapple pop-ups and a few freebies around. Then the lake switched on with Dave outcatching me on the Method, which I tried a couple of times, on one rod, but 'my' fish yesterday all came on wafters over a few loose freebies each cast on a multi-rig or kebab rig, with different shaped and sized dumbell baits. The chod rig has been ignored totally for a couple of trips. The runs I was getting on Chods were proper runs, but I did lose a couple of fish to hookpulls. I went back yesterday to a pendant lead, a 'shocka', set to pull free and become a 'running' lead on the take. Not a single lost fish, but I did get a couple of slack line drop backs as the indicator pulled free of the line. No large fish over 8lb, but I tend to use Bromeswell to experiment.

I think the screamers occur when a fish panics i.e. when they hook themselves against a lead and bolt. With the chod they don't really do that, rather they take the rig and it slowly penetrates as it moves up or down the leader. Now I think about it I very rarely, if ever, get a screamer using chods (not that I use them a lot). Ultimately it doesn't really matter to me what the run is like, it's landing the fish that counts.

Cheers Yonny... I figured that using a chod on a leader there isn't a great deal of movement anyway even on a VERY slack line and indication (never at it's best with a chod anyway) is going to be a bit hit or miss, My reasoning being that if you fished a chod off a lead clip with only enough weight to prick the fish... (say 2/3rd to 1 oz of lead) then it may convert a finicky pick up into a single toner....?

Not in my opinion buddy. The chod by it's nature is a compromise as it offers no vertical movement i.e you need the fish to really, really nail it in order to get a decent hook hold. That compromise is worth it if you're fishing a spot that couldn't be fished otherwise (over weed or the heaviest chod), but not if you're fishing a spot that is clean enough to fish a very short rig on a lead clip. Imo a bottom bait or wafter rig would be miles better for a cleaner deck or at the very least a boomed pop up rig (ronnie, hsr etc).

I have no problem with longer rigs.... I just experimented with shorter ones for a while and they paid dividends (and I shall continue to use them till I try summat else) and for "Leonard" to dismiss them as "for doubles only" is a bit narrow minded to say the least, especially as I've had good results on them... and to slag off anodised (not powder coated, learn the difference) ally as rubbish, is petty in the extreme... all folks have differing ideas and the overriding thing I have learned is live and let live... shame some other folks can't abide by that rule

Oh I do hope so....!!! I can take all kinds of folk and I get on well with most... but folks who won't acknowledge other opinions and getting abusive with it, rub me up the wrong way...

Has he gone?...

Really? I used a short 4inch rig to cast around 30 yards to an tree lined undercut corner margin. I wanted, even needed a short rig to avoid tangles, from going in the trees. It had only been in the water 5minutes.

I completely agree. I gave up debating the benefits of hook sharpening on forums some time ago. Anyone that needs convincing that a sharper hook is a more effective hooker needs their head tested imo.