Trust me, I love the float - but where there is a flow and weed, then the presentation achieved with freelining is superb for Chub and Carp. In fact, I do not use less than 10lb line so I can land either - this is due to the slack line.
The truth is, weed fishing is challenging and puts most people off - but if all you have to fish is a river or canal that is heavilly weeded, you have no option but to adapt. As it happens, it is now my favourite time of the year to fish. I sometimes clear spaces in the weed, or cut a channel, but be frugal. If you clear too much, ythe fish may avoid the area.
Another method you could try is using an onion float and a knot so the float rests against the bulk shot and then slides up the line to a stop knot (I think this is called slider fishing and is normally used to fish very deep lakes). cast to a gap and the compact rig hits the spot and the float can then slide up the line to depth - you could fish lighter then.
You can get away with quite a bit in terms of presention in weed - they feed far more confidently in weed!
Hope this helps.....
