How do you find clear spots in thick weed?

Question

What’s your preferred method of finding clears spots in thick weed?

Elliott Gray

My preferred method for finding clear areas amongst the thickest of weedbeds is as usual: with a marker float. If I can get a float on the spot and then to rise, I can get a rig on it. I don’t ever use solid bags or even mesh bags really so it’s important that I can get a stiff link down onto the spot without it becoming snared.

By repeatedly casting and then tweaking the lead through the weed, the smallest of spots can be located. If the float locks then rather than trying to pull it free, which will see it lock up further, tweaking it will bounce the lead/float free. Quite often one of these little ‘tweaks’ will see the lead pull free from the weed and then drop nicely onto the spot. The float is important so that I can pop it up and then pinpoint the spot before investigating more thoroughly in that area. The line clip is also handy, especially at range.

It takes a long time but the spots can be found with a combination of effort and patience.

The first carp I caught after extensively markering amongst weed that was thought to boast no clear spots – a real eye-opener as a youngster

Question

Elliott, when you say, ‘If the float locks then rather than trying to pull it free, which will see it lock up further, tweaking it will bounce the lead/float free. Quite often one of these little ‘tweaks’ will see the lead pull free from the weed’, what do you mean by ‘tweaking’?

Elliott Gray

I’m talking about releasing the tension slightly, pointing the tip at the sky and then gently flicking the rod, almost like striking when roach fishing or something. Rather than pulling the lead further into the weed, your tweaking it out from the weed before it’s too entangled.

Kev Hewitt

I systematically explore the swim with a straight lead when finding a clear spot amongst thick weed. Only when I have found a clear spot will I attach a marker float to find the depth. If I cannot find a clear spot then I will fish Chod Rigs. To be honest, the Chod is starting to figure a lot more in my angling now, there is simply no better rig for fishing over any type of weed. The deeper the weed, the further up the leadcore I set the beads to ensure the hookbait always sits on top of the weed.

Jon McAllister

My preferred method for finding clear spots in thick weed would be one or two of three choices, in fact, all three can be used if you’re able to get up a tree. So: after locating a few fish in and around weed I would firstly climb the nearest tree to work out for a start where I can’t put a rig. From up there I would line up thick weedbeds from my chosen nearby swim with a bush or something else on the opposite bank from that swim. And in the same way, begin to line up the areas where the weed appears to be sparser, making a mental note of the range. Distances from up a tree compared to standing on the bank can be very deceptive so under halfway or over halfway is a good starting point for your mental note.

Back on the ground and with either a marker float or just a rod with a lead tied onto the line you can cast to the area you made a note of. By casting around these areas you can find the odd clear area. I think the key skill you need to find clear spots amongst thick weed is to be able to ‘feel for the drop’. What I mean by this term is casting the lead (a 3oz round pear is best suited) or marker float and then trapping the line between your index finger and the spool at the same time as the lead/float hits the surface, causing the line to be taut from lead to rod so that when the lead hits bottom you feel the ‘thump’ transmitted down the rod. This is by far the most important part of any angler’s armoury for finding clear areas amongst thick weed. Once you get the right ‘drop’, you can pop the float up and cast a baited rig to that spot. If you’ve been casting around with just a lead then clip the line up on the line clip on your spool and keep casting to that area with the line in the clip until you pinpoint the exact spot, feeling the ‘thump’ through the rod as the lead lands on that clear spot. Tie on a rig and recast, job done.

A problem you will find with marker floats is that you can’t sweep the rod to feel the lead dragging along the bottom. They’re great once you’ve found that clear spot to cast a baited rig to and to bait up to but amongst thick weed you’re going to need to ‘feel for the drop’ to pinpoint that clear spot in the first place. When you finally find that clear spot you can get back up the tree again to see where that float is in relation to where you thought might be clear, giving you a picture of what’s actually out there.

Here’s an upper-twenty I caught from Burghfield after climbing a tree and pinpointing where to put the rig when I found a group of fish amongst a load of weed