Dealing with / avoiding weed ?

What are the best ways to deal with weed while fishing? Any tips or tricks to minimise its effects?

Obviously the main problem is the build up on the leader knot. A tapered leader seems to help sometimes as the weed seems to slip over the knot sometimes. I read somewhere also that by leaving the tail ends of you shock leader knot a couple of inches long the weed will slide over the shock leader knot :? .

Another idea I was thinking about was sliding a large oval bubble float above your trace on the shockleader, this when cast out will float up as far as the shockleader knot and raise it to the surface avoiding alot of weed build up.


Obviously not fishing a shockleader would help, not always possible. A tapered surf line would also work but a bit pricey at €15 a fill.

What are the best ways to deal with weed while fishing? Any tips or tricks to minimise its effects?

best way to deal with it would be a cuppa tea and a pack of jaffa cakes :wink: to minise the effects of weed Dont inhale to hard or dont put so much in...better to buy less potent s**t really :D :lol:....

just say no

Good tips thanks!

i agree with Eoin....just say no. :lol: :lol: :lol:

seriously though, there are 2 ways to minimize/stop weed build up.

1. stop fishing. if its heavy weed there really is no point in continuing.

2.use 25-35lb straight through. this cuts out the leader knot and it also allows you to haul in great lumps of weed without snapping your line and losing the rig.

keep the rod tip high helps too

Hi

If its clean ground 30 lb braid straight through and put the cover from a smartie just above the link to the terminal tackle.

I've found having a 5 metre rod seems to help, keeping the tip as high as possible and having the stand as vertical as possible as well all helps.

More work but keep two rods on the go and reduce the amount of time each line stays in the water, so that there is always one in there fishing but less time for the line to build up, what someone called "soak time"!

FWIW

Less hooks in the water I find helps when there's weed, the flappers are a nightmare sometimes to maintain baited and in the water. I often drop back to just a larger distance rig and stop fishing the flapper when it's very weedy.

the most important thing is to keep the weed off the end tackle. Any form of stop as Kieran suggested, I use a match, which prevents the weed sliding down the line on to the hook will do. I find the leader knot is not big enough to stop all the weed. From now on weed will be a permanent feature in most estuaries. As long as you can keep the hook free of weed you have a chance of catching.
As of yet I have not been able to find a way to succeed against the tons of kelp that can plague you on beaches after a good blow.

Thanks for replies, some good ones there. One way for keeping some weed off your hooks is to place a sequin on the other side of the rubber stopper on the snood.

I heard one of the competition guys saying he uses braid (85lb I think) when he was fishing a shore competition as it cuts through the weed. if I'm fishing from a pier I reduce the lengths of the cast. If fishing from a beach, like others said I try to get the rod as high as possible but also try to get the line out of the water as quickly as possible after the cast.

Hi John one of the things i do iswhen casting , as soon as the bait hits the water i stop the spool and raise the rod as high as i can keeping the line taut i walk back to the tripod and slowly wind down to set the grips if not too windy i keep the rod high in the rest ,i also make my leader knot smaller, instead of tying the overhand knot in the leader i heat the end and tap it on the table to flatten the end then tie my mainline as norm pulling down to the flattened end lovley small knot used it many times without any probs but im not a power caster,good luck thats my pennys worth

Thanks Liam & Bob.

The best way to combat weed is to try and fish 1 hour either side of high tide,when tide movement is at its slackest.

All of the above are good tips. However someone mentioned weed in estuaries being an accepted fact at this time of year. We all know the reason, namely agricultural runoff from overuse of fertilizers. If you want to deal with weed, look at the cause, not the symptoms. If anyone fishes Timoleague estuary in Cork during summer months they'll know what I'm talking about. It's a bloody disgrace what's being allowed to happen down there and it's getting worse every year.

Hi Paul
Are you sure the reason is not inadequate sewage systems for local towns and too many one-off houses with inadequate septic tanks?
jd

I'm not saying they're not factors as well JD. It seems the EPA have done a study and we'll hopefully find out when it's published.

http://www.inshore-ireland.com/content/ ... y/266/119/