3 ways to beat the weed this summer

I spend a lot of my time doing tutorials with anglers of all abilities and, if I had to pick a topic that seems to confuse the most people, it would have to be fishing in weed.

As the summer gets into full swing and the warm weather sets in, the increased temperature usually encourages weed in most venues to flourish. Now for any angler who casts out into the abyss, especially a newcomer to the sport, it can be a massive confidence deflater reeling in a massive mound of weed. Lets face it, weed can wrap around your lead arrangement, mask your hook and hookbait and make it extremely difficult to present a hookbait correctly. So what’s the answer? Well, as far as I’m concerned, you should learn to master fishing in weed, rather than avoiding it. Lets face it, weed offers natural cover for carp and is rammed with natural food, so it’s well worth fishing in it. In fact, I think you’d be mad to avoid it!

When fishing in weed, I like to employ three simple tactics: Chod rigs, solid PVA bags and long supple hooklinks.

Method 1: Solid bagging

One of my favourite ways of targeting weedy venues has got to be using solid PVA bags. In fact, regardless of where I’m fishing or what the lakebed is like, there’s every chance I’ll be using them. In simple terms, solid bags allow you to encapsulate your rig, hookbait and lead arrangements, as well as some free offerings, inside a small PVA bag that will dissolve when they hit the bottom. The great thing about solid PVA bags is the fact that you can cast them anywhere, safe in the knowledge that your rig is not going tangle and will be sitting perfectly on the bottom when the PVA dissolves. What’s more, when the bag dissolves, the contents of it will completely hide your end tackle.

I always use a drop-off lead system when fishing with bags

When I’m fishing in weed, I generally have a lead around to find to try and find an area of lighter weed, then I will clip my rod up and cast it straight out. That said, even if the weed is extremely dense, I’d still be happy to cast a solid PVA bag straight into it.

When fishing solid PVA bags in heavy weed, I usually like to inject them with hemp oil using a syringe. That way, even if the bag in masked by weed, which sometimes happens, the oil will release and rise to the surface over a period of time, drawing carp down towards your hookbait and the contents of the bag.

When it comes to using solid PVA bags I generally use them when fishing over a bed of particles or on their own when casting onto showing fish. Although they may be a little time consuming to create, they are certainly one of the most effective presentations for beating the weed.

A chunky twenty taken off a bag set-up

When using solid PVA bags, it’s important that you use short, supple hooklinks that will coil up inside the PVA bag. The only problem with short hooklinks, especially when using large leads, is the fact that the rigs can be prone to hook pulls. To avoid hook pulls, I generally tend to make sure that I eject the lead on the take. There are various ways you can do this but, when using conventional leaders, I like to use the Avid Drop-Off Stems. Alternatively, when speed fishing and using Bag Stems, I ensure the lead ejects on the take by using the In-Line Safety Lead.

Method 2: Get on the Chods

Although the Chod Rig is becoming more popular in every angling situation, I genuinely believe they really come into their own when fishing in weed or silt. Now, when I’m fishing for larger carp, or using boilies as my primary bait, I will generally use the Chod Rig. When the leader and rig is set-up correctly, you can balance your hookbait so it sinks ever so slightly and sits on top of the weed. As a general rule, I like to fish the Chod Rig naked-style straight on my main line because, if you add some putty to the ring swivel, you can create a slow-sinking hookbait. As well as allowing the hookbait to settle perfectly on the weed, this also improves the rig mechanics and ensures the hookbait flies into the carp’s mouth quickly when it sucks it in.

Safe Chod set-ups made easy

Although Chods work brilliantly over a spread of boilies, I also like to use them on their own or with a stringer attached to the lead. When fishing Chods, I still like to have a lead around with a marker rod to try and find clearer areas of weed. As a rule, if the marker float will pop-up, or the lead hits the bottom with the slightest ‘donk’, I’ll be happy to fish a Chod over it.

How to tie Chris's Chod set-up

Method 3: Go long

Before anglers started using Chods and solid PVA bags, long hooklinks were a brilliant way to fish effectively in the weed. As well as allowing the hookbait to settle on top of the debris, they were also great for nailing carp, because they gave the fish enough rope to hang themselves. As far as I’m concerned, when fishing with conventional rigs, I’d much rather use a longer hooklink.

Long hooklinks can be deadly in weed

For such a long hooklink, I don’t think you can beat the new Pin Down Hooklink material. As well as being super-supple and camouflaged on the lakebed, the material will also hug every contour on the bottom, ensuring your hooklink is out of harms way. When fishing in weed with long hooklinks, I tend to always use an Avid Flat Clip because I want to be able to eject the lead on the take because this will generally cause the fish to rise in the water above any weed or snags. Some anglers tend to use light leads when fishing in weed but, as a general rule of thumb, I like to use heavier varieties, because I believe they eject much quicker on the take.

Nowadays, when fishing in heavy weed, most anglers tend to employ solid PVA bags or Chod Rigs and I’m certain that using something slightly different could be a massive advantage. Personally, I believe long hooklinks could give you the ultimate edge and confuse the wariest carp, especially when everyone’s using Chod Rigs.