Fishing weedy lakes

[Old fisher]

Hi everyone. Today most lakes have a lot of silt or blanket weed, perhaps a couple feet thick on the bottom. In angling magazines there always someone asking how to fish such waters. As a young teenager in the early 1960s I read lots of articles in books written by old countrymen like BB. It was in one of these books I found an article talking about using a FLEDGER. So I went about making my own Fledger. Now when fishing for carp I always carry 2 or 3 different weighted ones. On a few occasions I've ( after catching carp on these waters) had comments like. " you've picked the right spot my swim too weedy and the baits covered with the weed" Does anyone else use or has used a fledger on such waters ?

 

[no-one in particular]

I do not know what a fledger is but I use a piece of cork with a hole in it and shotted so it is just dead weight with the bait, this settles on the weed or should do, I found it in Captins Parker's book on how to catch roach but, he used it to present a naturally sinking bait.

 

[Old fisher]

I do not know what a fledger is but I use a piece of cork with a hole in it and shotted so it is just dead weight with the bait, this settles on the weed or should do, I found it in Captins Parker's book on how to catch roach but, he used it to present a naturally sinking bait.

A Fledger is a floating ledger. I copied the one in the book. It is a sunken pike float that looks like a torpedo, and has a hole through the centre.
You gradually attach thin strips of lead or soldier to it so that it just sinks slowly. Then painted i.e. green. I then used to use a slow sinking hookbait like luncheon meat, or nowadays critically balanced pop ups. You can then also if you want, have a small spray bottle of water with 2 or 3 drops of washing up liquid added, then spray your spool with this and it breaks down the surface tension so that your line sinks slowly as the fledger sinks The benefit of this set up is that the carp picks up the bait and moves off feeling no or little resistance and you can watch your line slowly tightening up. It gives a ghostly feeling to the bite but not if you use electric bite alarms, and I think give a lot more enjoyment than listening to a screaming alarm.

 

[no-one in particular]

A Fledger is a floating ledger. I copied the one in the book. It is a sunken pike float that looks like a torpedo, and has a hole through the centre.
You gradually attach thin strips of lead or soldier to it so that it just sinks slowly. Then painted i.e. green. I then used to use a slow sinking hookbait like luncheon meat, or nowadays critically balanced pop ups. You can then also if you want, have a small spray bottle of water with 2 or 3 drops of washing up liquid added, then spray your spool with this and it breaks down the surface tension so that your line sinks slowly as the fledger sinks The benefit of this set up is that the carp picks up the bait and moves off feeling no or little resistance and you can watch your line slowly tightening up. It gives a ghostly feeling to the bite but not if you use electric bite alarms, and I think give a lot more enjoyment than listening to a screaming alarm.

Got it, similar idea then to the bit of cork dead weighted for the same effect, I am wondering why something as large as a pike float or is that for casting distance?

 

[mikench]

A rake helps and stimulates fish feeding activity at the same time. Having said that I try and avoid weedy waters or swims.

 

[Old fisher]

A rake helps and stimulates fish feeding activity at the same time. Having said that I try and avoid weedy waters or swims.

Yes it does, as long as you are not annoying other anglers. Also if your moving around to different swims, you spend most of the time raking weed out.

 

[fishface1]

A rake helps and stimulates fish feeding activity at the same time. Having said that I try and avoid weedy waters or swims.

What sort of rake do you use?

 

[mikench]

Jakes Rakes make very decent ones at a reasonable price.

Here is a link https://www.jakesrakes.co.uk/

 

[Old fisher]

Got it, similar idea then to the bit of cork dead weighted for the same effect, I am wondering why something as large as a pike float or is that for casting distance?

Yes The different weights give options as when scouting round a lake you have the chance to cast wherever you spot fish feeding or laying up. When I get the chance I will ask my wife to add a photo of a couple of my most used ones. I'm unable to do it on the computer.

 

[fishface1]

Jakes Rakes make very decent ones at a reasonable price.

Here is a link https://www.jakesrakes.co.uk/

Cheers Mike,

What size do you have? The bigger ones must take some hauling!

 

[mikench]

Mine is a 12" one . Gordon ( Wetthrough) has the same one. It's reasonably light in itself and can be thrown quite easily. However pulling it back loaded with weed, water and black smelly sludge is something else. We tend to clear a reasonable area within 30 yards or at least try to. It's a real effort and after a good half hour you know about it. I believe the effort is only justified if the water is a good one and promises decent fish- tench in our case. A bigger one would be beyond me . On a few waters I fish I have taken one look at the amount of weed and gone elsewhere.

 

[fishface1]

Thanks Mike.
I plan to do a bit more lake fishing this year and one water is very weedy. I’ve used the “two rake heads, cable tied together” approach in the past but it was just too unwieldy.

I’ll invest in one of Jake’s finest.

 

[mikench]

It's fair to say that these were recommended to me by Sam Vimes and maybe others. They are well made and I recommend the rake with rope attachment. Always secure the loop at the end on a stake or fence post before throwing to infinity.?

 

[Old fisher]

Mine is a 12" one . Gordon ( Wetthrough) has the same one. It's reasonably light in itself and can be thrown quite easily. However pulling it back loaded with weed, water and black smelly sludge is something else. We tend to clear a reasonable area within 30 yards or at least try to. It's a real effort and after a good half hour you know about it. I believe the effort is only justified if the water is a good one and promises decent fish- tench in our case. A bigger one would be beyond me . On a few waters I fish I have taken one look at the amount of weed and gone elsewhere.

After reading your comments on using the rake Mike, at my age and health the only thing I think I could throw is UP!!

 

[mikench]

Yes an activity for the younger man.

 

[markcw]

A commercial I fish has a cycle wheel with some barbed wire around it, A length of rope is tied around the rim.
Lightweight and does the job, it's stored in the tackle shed.

 

[rayner]

I made my own from two rake heads back to back. The pond I had it for was stuffed with milfoil so not such a hardship to dredge.

 

[nottskev]

You don't always have to knock yourself out dragging weed from big areas with heavy tools. Often, creating a space big enough to present your bait in is enough. This little beauty lives in the boot and is handy for literally clearing a patch. I fish a gravel pit that gets choked with soft weed by mid-summer, so much so that many won't bother to fish. Five minutes with this clears a fishable spot. It takes next to no physical effort and you soon have a fair pile of weed on the bank.

 

[Old fisher]

Yes The different weights give options as when scouting round a lake you have the chance to cast wherever you spot fish feeding or laying up. When I get the chance I will ask my wife to add a photo of a couple of my most used ones. I'm unable to do it on the computer.

I hope the photo is OK. The largest weighs 31grms the next 21 and the smallest 18

 

[sam vimes]

I love my local weedy lake, but I'm not overly keen on the weed or the effort required to fish it when it's at its worst. Last year was a particularly bad year for weed growth. I actually got so sick of raking that I switched to fishing the rivers a month or two earlier than I'd usually bother. I ended up spending more time raking than actually fishing. It was sometimes necessary to re-rake a previously cleared swim if you returned to it just a day or two later. However, the time it takes was more of an issue than the physical effort. In many places on the lake in question, you are talking x feet of water and x-2 feet of weed. No floating leger is going to be much use in that. I prefer to switch species and float fish over the top of the weed for the smaller species that are quite happy to feed there.