Patchy weed rigs

[adamkitson]

Hi guys,

 

I'm after some advice pleeeeease!

 

A lake I'm fishing at the moment has some very low weed growth. It's low to the point that you can see the bottom through it, which is mainly clay, with some gravel patches, but it has sporadic small patches of lose weed growth.

 

When having a look at rigs in the margins I have some concerns. A rig can sit beautifully, and look great, however 2 inches to one side and the rig can lie over weed, with the bait sitting in the weed and the rig material trailing over the top, looking quite unnatural.

 

My instincts are as follows:

Fish a slow sinking or snowman type bait to hopefully drop it slowly onto the bottom so no matter what it hits it stays up a bit.

Fish a pop up.

Fish a chod rig.

Use supple sinking braid rig material with no putty, as I've seen lumps of putty pull a bait into the weed if the putty lands over the weed.

Twitch the rig back a few inches once it's landed. Resistance means weed, so worth another chuck.

 

I guess I'm after opinions on any of the above, as to if I'm on the right track or not, and any other additions to the list that I could try. I always feel the lead down, but with patches like these, the lead could land clear, and a 6" rig be lying in weed, or the weed can be so sparse that the lead would feel good, but still be in weed.

 

Any help appreciated, as always.

[smufter]

Be interesting to read the replies as you could be fishing my favourite club water! It sounds exactly the same.

I get round it by freelining my bait out in the hope that if it does find weed, it won't sink too far in and the fish will still find it.

It works to an extent, but I'm limited to shorter chucks through lack of weight!

There is a lot of fish holding water than I can't cover!

[nigewoodcock]

If you can see the bottom through the weed and its only low as you describe, I wouldn't worry about it. Stick a bag or a stick on if you want a bit more confidence.

[bones46]

Be interesting to read the replies as you could be fishing my favourite club water! It sounds exactly the same.

I get round it by freeling my bait out in the hope that if it does find weed, it won't sink too far in and the fish will still find it.

It works to an extent, but I'm limited to shorter chucks through lack of weight!

There is a lot of fish holding water than I can't cover!

 

Try the old pike fishing trick- attach your line to a balloon with a paper clip, let it drift out to where you want it, then give it a sharp tug and the balloon should come off.

 

Obviously it depends on the wind being in the right direction and it's a good idea to collect the balloons afterwards if you can, but I've used it in the past

[Pete simmo simmons]

As Nige says use a PVA bag or a stick mix or put some foam on the hook to allow it to slowly fall into place, If you put enough free offerings around the hook link the fish will soon clear the weed to get to the bait.

[graham1969]

Small solid bag....then even if you do hit a thicker patch of weed it shouldnt make a lot of difference...... Personally id be inclined to bag up and go into the thicker weed anyway if its as sparse as you say it is.......

[adamkitson]

Thanks people!

 

Very useful indeed.

 

Glad I'm kind of in the right direction with using sticks, and balanced slow sinking baits. Maybe I'm over thinking things a bit. Just when I drop it in the margins and see the rig fold over a strand leaving the bait suspended underneath I get worried. Given the choice I'd rather it not sit like that.

[nigewoodcock]

Thanks people!

 

Very useful indeed.

 

Glad I'm kind of in the right direction with using sticks, and balanced slow sinking baits. Maybe I'm over thinking things a bit. Just when I drop it in the margins and see the rig fold over a strand leaving the bait suspended underneath I get worried. Given the choice I'd rather it not sit like that.

 

If it's Blackthorn your fishing then I wouldn't be bothered at all by the weed (or lack of it)

[adamkitson]

Thanks people!

 

Very useful indeed.

 

Glad I'm kind of in the right direction with using sticks, and balanced slow sinking baits. Maybe I'm over thinking things a bit. Just when I drop it in the margins and see the rig fold over a strand leaving the bait suspended underneath I get worried. Given the choice I'd rather it not sit like that.

 

If it's Blackthorn your fishing then I wouldn't be bothered at all by the weed (or lack of it)

 

Not in the slightest bit bothered by it, I just want to be fishing as effectively as I can.

I do fish blackthorn, I was specifically thinking about another lake. Blackthorn has very little weed, except off one side of one swim!

[salokcinnodrog]

I've not been one for PVA sticks, in fact I could count on one finger how many times I have used the method

 

Brackens has some weedy patches, some quite severe, and some not so, and my standard rigs worked on both areas, and nearly all were fished with a stringer.

 

On that water I tended to use either Combi rigs made up using Amnesia and Merlin/Supernova, a loop knot at the hooklink swivel and a line aligned hook on the end of the braid, or my alternative was a coated braid with a stripped back section at the hook end, both were fished with snowman hookbaits.

 

 

The hooklink was usually about 20 to 30centimetres and attached to a running lead set-up, with the stringer being attached to mainline and hook to prevent tangles.

 

 

On a weedier water years ago, again I didn't used to bother with a pop-up, but fished a braided hooklink, inline lead, and the whole lot put in a PVA bag; lead, link, hook and bait.

[johnplumb]

Good old fashion method feeder has to be worth a go .

[gazh]

A club lake I was fishing in the summer had horrendous weed growth, so much so that in an angling club of 650 members I would quite often be the only one fishing it all weekend because people were put off by the weed. The best way to combat it was a solid PVA bag with a few hookbaits in and a PVA nugget on the hook to protect the point. I used to use a small bag and leave a little bit of air in to allow it to sink slowly and settle on the weed. If the weed in your lake is very low it will flatten it down a bit leaving your hookbait and freebies sitting on top.