Summer on many lakes means weed and, on some venues, lots of it. Weed is arguably one of
the biggest tripwires for presentation, but an understanding and a mastery of how to fish in weed will catch a lot more fish. Carp love it and anglers hate it and as more and more lakes become weedier, it is essential you know how to combat the green stuff.
Know your weed
There are loads of different types of weed, and the key is knowing what it is and how it behaves underwater. Over my years of diving, I’ve seen many types of weed. I’ve seen it grow thickly to the surface so the lake resembles a football field, and I’ve seen it die back to nothing.
I’ve also seen how carp react and interact with it... how they use it as shelter, as boundaries to their patrol routes, and how they feed in it. There are many types of weed that they love, and some that they don’t, so understanding the weed in front of you goes a long way to solving the problem.
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Marginals
Plants like lilies, Potomogeton, Polygonum or any leaved plants that reach the surface are known as marginals/ emergent weeds. Reeds, rushes and sedges also fall into this category.
Any plant that has a leaf is a real favourite of carp. Surface cover above their heads gives them a great place to lie up and feel secure, but they’re significantly more confident in their attitude and feeding behaviour when there’s top cover. The light below is reduced, so everything is less visible. That means fishing right on the edge, both on the surface or on the deck, gives a brilliant fishing opportunity.
Just be careful not to let the fish get too far into the pads, though. Your clutch needs to be tight, and you need to be both on the ball and brave! If the fish do get in, keeping them moving is the key. A braided leader will help cut through pad stems and the float is a great method.
Another favourite tactic around pads is to feed surface baits and lay the line on the leaves with the bait hanging an inch or so over the edge. You can up the strength of the hooklink accordingly, as the line diameter will not be seen. It’s a real winner but once again, you need to be on the ball.
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Submerged plants
These are the ones that tend to cause us most problems, as we can’t see them. Canadian pondweed, curly leaved or milfoil, are all great for oxygenating the water and carp love everything about them.
Before deciding how to fish by them, try and get some out. A grappler lead or an old rig is good for this. Bring some weed in and then smell it and take it carefully off the lead and see how long it is. You can usually hazard a guess by looking at stem thickness and colour. You may even be lucky enough to get some tip and root. Open it out, check the length, and then, coupling that info with how easy it is to get your lead to hit the deck, you’ll have an idea how dense it is.
If it’s not dense you may get away with a solid PVA bag. If it is, a zig about a foot longer than the weed is a real edge. Spodding light particles or corn over heavy weed, then fishing a zig, can be devastating for pressured fish.
ACCURACY IS IMPORTANT WHEN FISHING IN WEED, USING THE BEST SPOD RODS WILL HELP YOUR SPODDING.
Low lying weed
Standard weed that hasn’t grown so far isn’t so much of a problem. As big a solid bag as you can get away with flattens the weed and gives a nice presentation, but anything over 6ins or so is too deep.
There’s also candy floss! Yuk! You know the sort of weed. That long, stringy, dark green stuff that clogs your rig and takes ages to clean off. I’ve seen it written that carp love this stuff and eat it. I even saw one angler advocating that he uses it on the hook. Well, he can keep it! It’s more trouble than it’s worth, so if you can find a different presentation spot go for that option. If you have no choice, fish a zig over it.
Sadly, the filamentous stuff moves around, especially when fish come in to feed on bait. A chod rig is best here. Be careful and regularly re-cast so as not to waste too much time. If your rig is always clogged on the retrieve, think about a different spot. If there were fish about, the spot would be clean!
As with all submerged plants, it’s vital to know what you’re fishing over. If it’s dense but clean, then a longer hooklink coupled with a balanced pop-up fished as a reverse combi is my go-to rig. The hooklink can be up to 2ft long depending on the weed depth (up to 18ins of weed is all I’ll tackle before moving to a zig). Make sure your bait is balanced, though. That slow sink is the key to success.
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Rule of thirds
The rule of thirds is applicable in many places. In general, I’d say that when you’ve built up a picture in your mind’s eye what the weed below the surface is like, double it or even triple it to be safe. There’s more weed down there than you think.
If you can find a clear spot, then all well and good. If you have no choice but to fish in it or on it, the chances are that it is much deeper than expected.
Playing fish in weed
Once you do hook a fish in weed, there’s another battle to be fought, and that’s getting it out through the stuff.
Keeping a fish moving is the key, and don’t let them charge into a weedbed or pads. Get the rod-tip up as high as possible and, if you can, walk up a bank behind you to get more height. If all else fails and they bury themselves, then it’s a case of taking you time and waiting.
I’ve been out to fish that are seemingly solid in the weed and when I got there found that they’d only just poked their heads in. The angle of the line means it’s nigh on impossible to pull them out. Let them work their own way out and you’ve got a good chance.
The key advice is to find out as much as possible about the weed in front of you. Don’t chuck and chance it. The surest way to waste time and effort is to simply sling a rig out there and hope for the best.
USING THE BEST MAINLINES WILL GIVE YOU THE CONFIDENCE TO PULL BIG CARP THROUGH THICK WEED.
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