How to fish weedy carp lakes – Ben Cooper

IF YOU want to target crystal-clear gravel pits, weed is something that you’re going to have to learn to deal with. It’s part and parcel of fishing for big carp.

Weed fishing requires nothing more than confidence – the confidence that your rig is fishing correctly, and the confidence to get the fish out, once hooked. I’ve had massive fish from swims where a lawnmower would have been more appropriate than a lead clip and pop-up.

Here’s how I overcome the weediest of situations...

Find the clear spots

Weedy waters are quite easy to fish because the weed is where the natural food will be found.

If you find the clear spots, you’ll get bites. Whether this takes one cast or 100 casts, you’re usually there for a prolonged period of time so why not spend the first 30 minutes or so finding a fishable spot rather than ‘pub chucking’ and hoping for the best?

Weed fishing is all about watercraft. If fish are topping when you arrive, location is easy. If the lake is busy with few swim options, however, just because most of the swim seems solid with green stuff, don’t be disheartened. Remove your marker float and cast around with a bare lead on braided mainline, feeling for a thump as the lead hits the bottom. If you feel the lead hit the bottom, the spot will generally be fishable.

Once you find a spot or two where you can feel the lead hit the lakebed, clip up and concentrate on casting around the area to work out how big the weedbed is. In the past, I’ve even used a castable weed rake on an old beachcaster rod with 60lb braid to clean the bottom, as a tench angler would.

Don’t worry about spooking the fish. Carp are so curious that I’ve had 30lb fish within hours of casting over a raked spot. Plus, the raking action stirs the bottom up.

Weed rigs

While many anglers tend to use a helicopter rig, I’m a bit more old school and prefer lead clips. I find them less prone to tangles, I get a better bolt effect from them and, most importantly, it’s easier for the lead to eject.

If you get a run and the lead comes off quickly, the carp will naturally rise up in the water and away from any weed on the bottom.

As for the rig, think about the situation you’re faced with… what’s the weed like? What kind of weed is it? Then make up the rig according to the situation. Don’t be tempted to use one rig for all scenarios.

In thick, tall Canadian pondweed, I’ll fish with a very light lead and a chod rig with the beads well-spaced so the rig lays on the top of the weed. With silkweed, if it’s not too tall, I use a stiff hinge. The hinge section will be between 2ins and 3ins long maximum and baited with a bright hi-viz pop-up.

Solid PVA bags are good in this situation, but I fish a lot of quick overnight sessions, so I stick to the stiff hinge rig fished over beds of whole boilies, crumbed boilies and a little Dynamite Baits Krill Pulses & Particles.

Landing them

If allowed, I’ll use braid mainline – 0.35mm Sufix 832 – or 0.35mm Sufix Advanced mono if it’s not. The clutch will be set tight, and I aim to hit any runs as soon as possible. If the lead ejects, the fish will come to the surface. If not, and it weeds itself, don’t keep pulling as you are either going to suffer a hook pull or snap the mainline.

Keep a steady pressure on the fish until it comes out of the weed of its own accord. In heavily weeded situations, I’ve even placed the rod back on the rest for a few minutes until the fish starts to move again. Once the fish is moving, keep the pressure on and you’ll win the day 99 per cent of the time.

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