PEGGING A BEACH WITH KELP/WEED

When pegging a beach for a competition should an area of the beach where there is alot of weed and kelp in the water and on the beach be pegged around.

I fished a competition yesterday where 4 pegs were right in the middle of a bomb site of weed and kelp which made it unfishable for us. We spend the 5 hours trying to avoid it the best we could. Well drunk off.

Surely they shoud of pegged around this to give everyone a level playing field. In my view other anglers were at an advantage straight away.

Opinions welcome.

[MAC]

I suppose it depends on the area John. In some comps, anglers might be pleased with a peg like this as normally it means more fish. It can be terrible to fish as you mention. I think once you figure out how to fish an area like this it might produce, again, depending on where it is. Personally, I'd be just a pi$$ed off.

Kev

Last edited by MAC on Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

like mac said some people would be happy with a peg with weed/kelp cause it would hold more fish, but i have fished comps where a stretch of beach has been avoided for this reason, i think it depends on the club and the person who pegs the beach.

most clubs would leave out any area with weed or big rocks ect... to give everyone the same chance.if the weed was that bad you could not fish they should of let you move peg.

in a comp in doegal last year, the weed was so bad in one stretch of the beach that around 15 people had to be moved to the other end of the pegged section...but one of the guys who stuck it out ended up walking the comp by pulling the fish out from in through it!
its a hard call sometimes!

There are ways and means of fishing weedy marks and as Phil says, very often they can produce. I have often pulled in bass on battered surf beaches I didnt even know I had on with a stone or two of weed attached. Can be a real nightmare though. One of the mistakes a lot of people make is thinking that because its weedy they have to fish in close, unfortunately, that can be the worst area to try and fish. On some occasions, wellying a bait out with a long rod stood up as high as you can get it on your tripod can avoid it. Reach for the braid too for the extra hauling ability. When fishing a weedy mark try and take a couple of spare reels/spools in case you break off.

Here is a tip about fishing in weed, told to me a long time ago.

Look at all the bugs and flu's that settle on weed...the fish that hunt those bugs and fly's are the clever ones....clever fish are old fish, old fish are big fish.

I would use 30lb line straight through (no shocker) and keep cutting the swivel off the ends every time I real in, its easier to slide the weed off your line like that and quicker to retie the swivel each time you cast.

I would not power cast with 30lb straight through or side cast, simple over head is as safe as anything for this style of fishing.

Like Pete said, many's the time I've dragged a ton of weed onto the beach to see a white belly sticking out of the end... 8)

Sorry! forgot to address the question....in a pegged match, with weed floating with the tide its hard to make a decision that will please everyone, but that's match fishing...if I drew a peg with weed in front of me...I would try to make it work for me, if it didn't its not really the stewards to blame :)

Tom.

in a comp in doegal last year, the weed was so bad in one stretch of the beach that around 15 people had to be moved to the other end of the pegged section...but one of the guys who stuck it out ended up walking the comp by pulling the fish out from in through it!
its a hard call sometimes!

The wee red hat was getting some scratching that day!!! :D :D :D