Weed

[jh92]

I've started a new water this year and there's a lot of Canadian pond weed, or a similar type to that sort of stuff, I've managed to find a few holes and fish them, but most of the swims there's just loads of it and I haven't been able to find any spots.

I'm not allowed to use a weed rake, so been baiting heavily after each session with particle hoping the fish and bird life can clear a bit of it.

What sort of lead setup and rig presentation would be best fishing in amongst it? It's a bit flooded at the moment but when it goes down I plan on fishing the margins, probably just put the marker rod through them a few times and clear some of it lol.

Any suggestions would be great as this is my first weedy water and I'm starting to feel a bit out of my depth 🤣

 

[yonny]

Chod is the obvious one mate. If you can find low lying stuff any decent pop up rig on a heli will do.

[jh92]

1 hour ago, yonny said:

Chod is the obvious one mate. If you can find low lying stuff any decent pop up rig on a heli will do.

Cheers mate, when using a chod is it best to use a heli safe to dump the lead? I'm unsure if I should dump it or get some of them esp chod sleeves?

I'm gonna get down again tomorrow or Monday and have a lead about as I don't think there will be many on with the weather coming in lol

 

[ouchthathurt]

could you use one of these fox leads to have a lead about? It’s not a weed rake after all… might help clear a few spots 

[salokcinnodrog]

9 hours ago, jh92 said:

Cheers mate, when using a chod is it best to use a heli safe to dump the lead? I'm unsure if I should dump it or get some of them esp chod sleeves?

I'm gonna get down again tomorrow or Monday and have a lead about as I don't think there will be many on with the weather coming in lol

 

I don't like dumping the lead unless I absolutely have to, and never on  helicopter setups as it is the lead staying on that ensures that the rig can come off the other end of the break-off should such a thing occur.

11 hours ago, jh92 said:

I've started a new water this year and there's a lot of Canadian pond weed, or a similar type to that sort of stuff, I've managed to find a few holes and fish them, but most of the swims there's just loads of it and I haven't been able to find any spots.

I'm not allowed to use a weed rake, so been baiting heavily after each session with particle hoping the fish and bird life can clear a bit of it.

The slimy green algae silkweed in any water is a nightmare but Canadian is not too bad.

Even with a plain lead you can pull in plenty of weed, with a marker lead or wired lead like @ouchthathurt pictured you should be able to clear quite a patch, just don't leave it obviously on the bank. I've done that on my syndicate and one person was waiting for me not to be there to take advantage of my effort, so I started clearing at an angle, i.e. not directly in front of the piles of weed.

8 hours ago, ouchthathurt said:

could you use one of these fox leads to have a lead about? It’s not a weed rake after all… might help clear a few spots 

 

[yonny]

17 hours ago, jh92 said:

Cheers mate, when using a chod is it best to use a heli safe to dump the lead?

 

If the weed is really bad, I'll dump the lead. Safest rig is the one that gets the fish on the bank imo.

[jh92]

7 hours ago, salokcinnodrog said:

I don't like dumping the lead unless I absolutely have to, and never on  helicopter setups as it is the lead staying on that ensures that the rig can come off the other end of the break-off should such a thing occur.

The slimy green algae silkweed in any water is a nightmare but Canadian is not too bad.

Even with a plain lead you can pull in plenty of weed, with a marker lead or wired lead like @ouchthathurt pictured you should be able to clear quite a patch, just don't leave it obviously on the bank. I've done that on my syndicate and one person was waiting for me not to be there to take advantage of my effort, so I started clearing at an angle, i.e. not directly in front of the piles of weed.

 

It's an old clay pit mate, from what I gather it's the lake bed is clay with like a layer of sediment like leaves etc, it's got what I think is Canadian pond weed and lily beds, ill get some pics of the stuff I pull out next session 👍

I get what you're saying about dumping the lead mate so will probably just get some of them esp chod sleeves just to give a bit of separation from the rig and lead 👍 

@ouchthathurt I will see what they've got in the shop later mate, I was also looking at the Gardner weed rake you can cast, I think they don't want you raking a swim and dumping it all in the hedge, but the stuff I've been pulling out has been going in the bay behind me lol

[jh92]

1 minute ago, yonny said:

If the weed is really bad, I'll dump the lead. Safest rig is the one that gets the fish on the bank imo.

I think some areas are worse than others mate, I think moving forward I'm gonna fire out some chods and see how I get on, if they are burying themselves in it I will try dumping the lead 👍

[commonly]

If you can go secret squirrel, try hydrated lime several pva bags and in a several weeks those spots will be clear as a dinner plate.. 

Just keep it subtle though, as has been said, other anglers will soon be on your spots

[jh92]

4 hours ago, commonly said:

If you can go secret squirrel, try hydrated lime several pva bags and in a several weeks those spots will be clear as a dinner plate.. 

Just keep it subtle though, as has been said, other anglers will soon be on your spots

Would it make the spot unfishable for a few weeks, like once the lime is on the spot, would fish avoid it?

I've been and got a Gardner weed rake to put on my spod rod to try 👍

[commonly]

55 minutes ago, jh92 said:

Would it make the spot unfishable for a few weeks, like once the lime is on the spot, would fish avoid it?

I only get to go every now and then,  so wouldn't know for sure. It worked for me on 2 very weedy waters. 

I know a few fish farmers who swear by it for clearing the silt and carp off the deck. The fish love it and tear up the weeds.

We used on my mates little 2 acre pond in one swim that was full of Canadian and 4"of silt, within several weeks it was hard bottom and lilly pads came up which he'd never seen there before.

He'd tried dye, weed cutters, hand balling it, nothing worked like it. Effortless 

[jh92]

53 minutes ago, commonly said:

I only get to go every now and then,  so wouldn't know for sure. It worked for me on 2 very weedy waters. 

I know a few fish farmers who swear by it for clearing the silt and carp off the deck. The fish love it and tear up the weeds.

We used on my mates little 2 acre pond in one swim that was full of Canadian and 4"of silt, within several weeks it was hard bottom and lilly pads came up which he'd never seen there before.

He'd tried dye, weed cutters, hand balling it, nothing worked like it. Effortless 

Thanks mate, if I don't get far with raking it with the Gardner rake and baiting particles at the end of each session, I will give it a try 👍👍

I've been quite lucky over the last month I've been able to get on the same swim fishing to the same spot, at first there was a bit of weed out there but I started baiting heavily with particles at the end of each session and now I'm starting to get a nice donk with the lead. But by the sounds of it using lime will be more efficient 🤣

[jh92]

 

This is the stuff I'm dealing with, the Gardner rake done well, my spot is pretty clean now and getting a decent drop with the leads 👌 was only gonna clear/prebait it but gonna do the night now 🤣

[framey]

6 hours ago, jh92 said:

 

This is the stuff I'm dealing with, the Gardner rake done well, my spot is pretty clean now and getting a decent drop with the leads 👌 was only gonna clear/prebait it but gonna do the night now 🤣

Great little rakes 

[kevtaylor]

Little tip that always works for me:

After a load of casting about trying to find spots - STOP, have a break - food and drink, a smoke, then start again.

I can almost guarantee you will find spots/drops quickly after the break and re-energise, no idea why - it just works for me every time.  👍

[elmoputney]

2 hours ago, kevtaylor said:

Little tip that always works for me:

After a load of casting about trying to find spots - STOP, have a break - food and drink, a smoke, then start again.

I can almost guarantee you will find spots/drops quickly after the break and re-energise, no idea why - it just works for me every time.  👍

I had a weird one the other day could find the spot everytime with my marker rod, different story with the fishing rod and spod rod. They went everywhere but. 😂

[crusian]

5 hours ago, kevtaylor said:

Little tip that always works for me:

After a load of casting about trying to find spots - STOP, have a break - food and drink, a smoke, then start again.

I can almost guarantee you will find spots/drops quickly after the break and re-energise, no idea why - it just works for me every time.  👍

But I don't smoke 😢 .

[salokcinnodrog]

44 minutes ago, crusian said:

But I don't smoke 😢 .

Coffee and Wagon Wheel break works.

 

6 hours ago, kevtaylor said:

Little tip that always works for me:

After a load of casting about trying to find spots - STOP, have a break - food and drink, a smoke, then start again.

I can almost guarantee you will find spots/drops quickly after the break and re-energise, no idea why - it just works for me every time.  👍

I do pretty much the same. It's a reset, you check your feet, casting spot, clipped up distance and it's bang on.

 

4 hours ago, elmoputney said:

I had a weird one the other day could find the spot everytime with my marker rod, different story with the fishing rod and spod rod. They went everywhere but. 😂

A heavier lead on the marker rod can give a donk through the light weed, or silt that the lead on the fishing rod doesn't.

I normally use 4oz for the marker rod, and 2.5-3oz on the fishing rod, but the lighter lead can sometimes get 'hung up' as the lead drops down on the line clip. I may be a couple of degrees offline but that miss is as good as a mile.

That's where actually having a marker float in place is a benefit rather than relying solely on line clip.

Even better if you can wade out your baits...

[elmoputney]

7 hours ago, salokcinnodrog said:

Coffee and Wagon Wheel break works.

 

I do pretty much the same. It's a reset, you check your feet, casting spot, clipped up distance and it's bang on.

 

A heavier lead on the marker rod can give a donk through the light weed, or silt that the lead on the fishing rod doesn't.

I normally use 4oz for the marker rod, and 2.5-3oz on the fishing rod, but the lighter lead can sometimes get 'hung up' as the lead drops down on the line clip. I may be a couple of degrees offline but that miss is as good as a mile.

That's where actually having a marker float in place is a benefit rather than relying solely on line clip.

Even better if you can wade out your baits...

Trouble was a bit of a crosswind tbh I had to aim it at one tree to get it to land in front of another lol,but they were all slightly different, I really struggle to see marker floats unless it's flat calm these days being colour blind makes them really hard to see when there is a chop on the water. 

[kevtaylor]

10 hours ago, crusian said:

But I don't smoke 😢 .

Start or you'll never find those spots 🤣

[jh92]

16 hours ago, kevtaylor said:

Little tip that always works for me:

After a load of casting about trying to find spots - STOP, have a break - food and drink, a smoke, then start again.

I can almost guarantee you will find spots/drops quickly after the break and re-energise, no idea why - it just works for me every time.  👍

I caught a tench yesterday, as I reset the rod, a high double/ possible 20 swam under the rod tips 💀🤣 and to top it off I had a hook pull on a carp this morning 😬

Thanks for the advice though mate, its been a massive learning curve tbh, over the last few years I've been mainly on the reservoirs fishing 20 - 25 wraps with 3 rods fanned out over quite a big area, now I'm fishing two at 5 wraps on a small spot, it's been a nightmare trying to hit the clip properly and keeping them close together lol. Really enjoying it though 👍

 

[emmcee]

2 hours ago, elmoputney said:

Trouble was a bit of a crosswind tbh I had to aim it at one tree to get it to land in front of another lol,but they were all slightly different, I really struggle to see marker floats unless it's flat calm these days being colour blind makes them really hard to see when there is a chop on the water. 

Also depends on how hard you hit the clip with stretch in mono you can end up feet off the spot. 

I had a similar thing with using 4oz leads on a session and caught a few fish and only had 3oz leads left. Could I find the spot again, could I heck. 

[Carpbell3]

Best option I use for deep weed is what I picked up from Kingsbury, the long chod as in you set it a long way up from the lead horrible when you drop a nice fish though they do get off easy.

[kevtaylor]

5 hours ago, jh92 said:

I caught a tench yesterday, as I reset the rod, a high double/ possible 20 swam under the rod tips 💀🤣 and to top it off I had a hook pull on a carp this morning 😬

Thanks for the advice though mate, its been a massive learning curve tbh, over the last few years I've been mainly on the reservoirs fishing 20 - 25 wraps with 3 rods fanned out over quite a big area, now I'm fishing two at 5 wraps on a small spot, it's been a nightmare trying to hit the clip properly and keeping them close together lol. Really enjoying it though 👍

 

Short casting is difficult for sure, hitting the clip just right isn't easy and can be frustrating.  You tried underarming, sometimes a winner?

[jh92]

15 minutes ago, kevtaylor said:

Short casting is difficult for sure, hitting the clip just right isn't easy and can be frustrating.  You tried underarming, sometimes a winner?

I think I will have to try if I go any shorter mate, I've sort of found the sweet spot for it now, if not on the first cast I'm getting it on the second attempt 👌 

No carp on this trip, did a 6lb tench this morning that ripped off like a carp 🤣 I'm off there now until Sunday, so baited the spot with half a bucket of particle which will hopefully keep it clean lol.

Got so much to learn on this complex, I'm currently on a lake of 4 acres with 150 carp and only fished one swim so far lol. The next lake I wanna get on is just under 9 with about 150 - 180 carp they reckon. But it has more weedbeds, lilies and snags lol.