Carp fishing in silkweed can be quite frustrating for an inexperienced angler who isn’t aware that carps actually like silkweed because they harbor a lot of natural food, especially shrimps which carps love. The fact that these carps benefit greatly from silkweed means they will constantly visit areas where these weeds are vast.
This will present you the opportunity to reel in these fishes, but the only obstacle you’ll encounter are the silkweed. Due to their presence, casting out might prove to be futile. But even in this unpleasant condition, carp fishing can be fun if you wield the right carp fishing gear and knowledge.
As vegetation starts to grow, fishing in a lake filled with weeds can turn out to be a horrendous experience, especially for a novice angler. Even some experienced anglers still find fishing in this condition frustrating. Due to the inevitable growing vegetation, it is quite certain that at some point of the year or season, most lakes or rivers will be filled with silkweed thus making fishing a hard task. Anglers who are faced with this condition while fishing often try to find clear regions to present their baits so as to make the fishing process much easier.
Carp Fishing In Silkweed
When confronted with a swamp full of silkweed, rather than try to find clear regions to present your bait, it is best and recommended that you find the “hotspot” regions of silkweed having the most food. To do this, simply cast out with a laden bottom bait and leave it to settle for a few seconds then wind it in. The bait will assist you in getting the hook down a little further into the silkweed, so it turns out to be a mini grapple hook for collecting samples. Observe what you have wound in and examine what kind of creepy crawlies are present. If there exist nothing, then try another region until you find life. If the next area you try out gives you a favorable outcome, that is, you discover that it’s an habitat of insects, shrimps, and all sort if creepy crawlies, then you have found the right “hotspot” area. You’ll likely find a vast gathering of carp fish there.
Also, when going for a hook, it’s best you go for a barbless hook. Barbed hook will likely get stuck by the barb as the carp fish tries to take a bait, whereas a barbless hook releases from the silkweed comfortably. Another reason why you shouldn’t go for a barbed hook when fishing for carp fish in a lake filled with silkweed is that, it makes it very difficult and sometimes impossible for a carp to literally get a bait and hook it into their mouth. This is a difficult scenario when you really need them to do this as easily as it can get in order to stand a good chance of catching them.
If you discover that you are suffering a lot of hook pulls, it is possibly simply a case of you making it hard for the carp to literally take the hook bait. The next time you wind in a ball of these unpleasant silkweed, ensure that you drop your rig amongst it. The next step to take is to stimulate a carp over it. Always remember that when a carp wants to stop swimming, they have to back pedal their pectoral fins. So the bigger the carp, the more water movement they’ll likely create. Now try and retrieve the bait, and eight out of nine times, the barb will be stuck in the silkweed, restricting the free movement of your bait. The next step to take here is to remove the barb from the hook or carry out the same act at the side of it using a barbless rig. Pick up the bait and it will come out as easily as it should simply because the barb has to some extent freed up some areas where the silkweed are present. This will make it easy for the carp fish to take your hook bait and you can reel it in without much hindrance.
While carp fishing in a swamp or river full of silkweed, you will come across some clear area amongst the silkweed, these areas have been cleared of a lot of the essential natural carp fish food, and by trying to land your hook bait in this areas, you’ll be creating a lot of swim disturbance through re-casting, which will certainly scare off the carp fishes. As difficult and unachievable as it may seem, casting your hook bait in areas where you actually have a vast amount of these silkweed is the best way you can really reel in these fishes.
Baits presented on the clear region stimulates suspicion straightaway. It is where these carp fishes are expecting to find a trap and it is very hard to hide your tackle when fishing into a hole in the silkweed, as the silkweed closest to you are tight lining to the lead, including the bait, in an area where the carp fish will be slightly more cautious. This is certainly not an ideal situation.
Aside from your bait being stuck in the silkweed, one thing you shouldn’t worry about is the carp fish finding your bait, because it will. These fishes have sensitive sense of smell and can, in fact, find bloodworms buried in the water bed, Including tiny shrimps hiding in weeds. So finding your bait shouldn’t be a hard task for them.
Another way in which you can effectively fish for carps in silkweed, is by ensuring that the tip of your rod is as high as possible, so that a little amount of line is in contact with the water, thereby avoiding contact with the silkweed. You should also ensure that you make use of a semi slack line so that the bobbins sit at half-mast. Tight lines through silkweed makes a tram line flat and it gives the carp an ideal foresight of the areas it should avoid.
Now, let’s delve into a few specifics on how to resist the urge to shy away from these silkweeds, and start targeting it with great confidence in order to start reeling in more carp all 12 months of the year.
Understanding that you need the nice fresh green weed for the ultimate success:
When fishing for carps in a silkweed, you want to be very sure that you are targeting the right areas of the silkweed, to start with. Focusing on silkweed that are gradually dying off will prove much less yielding than targeting silkweed that are still fresh and providing a high-level buffet for the carp to actively feed on. Go after weeds that are alive, fresh looking, and light green for a general success of catching carp in the weed.
Carp Rig For Weedy Bottoms:
Your choice of rig is another key component that will, to a great extent, affect how successful you will be when fishing the silkweed for carp fish. Most of the time, you will be fishing in areas that are tight, so nothing greater than a short hook link will be required. A hook of 3-4 inches will perform the job. Pop-ups can be a great and durable choice for fishing the silkweed, though this depends on the precise scenario you have taking place underneath the water. The ability to have the bait rising a bit high from the weed bed can play heavily to your advantage. You don’t really have to float fish the silkweed if you have a distinct runaway where you effectively lay your bait on the bottom.
Fishing Shallow Silkweed Bottoms And Lakes:
If you are carp fishing in shallow bottom that have silkweed present, you should have the chance to effectively scout and stalk the carp fish with a little more ease before drafting out a game plan. This will provide you with the perfect opportunity to plan at what rig, and hook bait you would likely go with.
Even if you are freshwater fishing or fishing in shallow lakes, you can still make use of the pre-baiting strategy to increase your ability to get the carp fish ready to strike when game time arrives.
To make easy your task of locating carp fish in a lake or river filled with silkweed, you can utilize a good fish finder. This tool is capable of locating fish underwater by probing pulses of sound energy, that is, sonar.
Presenting rigs and baits to the carp fish over silkweed or in the silkweed:
How exactly do you present your rigs and bait to the carp fish over silkweed or in the silkweed? This is maybe the most daunting part of the whole process. Learning how best to place and present the bait is going to be a challenging task, especially in your first two attempts. Chumming and pre-baiting are highly recommended methods. You can also make use of a fish XXL spray, which is a fish attractant. This attractant will get the carp fishes actively feeling like it is in a safe fishing area. Doing this will provide you with the perfect opportunity to start your personal construction project of the silkweed region. If you have a 3-4-day period of chumming and pre-baiting, the carp fish will act like bulldozers and will naturally start clearing the runway for you.
There are some top carp baits you should consider when fishing in silkweed, they are: nightcrawlers, hemp, dough bait, bread, and boilies. These baits are highly effective when fishing the weed.
Getting That Carp Fish Out Of The Swamp Filled With Silkweed:
It doesn’t really matter if you are fishing in silkweed or any other weedy bottom, your carp rig is going to be ineffective if you can’t properly get the carp out of the silkweed. Be vigilant so you don’t get caught daydreaming or napping. Remember, by scouting the area either by clearing your path, or with the aid of a fish finder, you have already performed 80% of the job. Now, it is time for the main job, and if you botch this, you will lose your catch. If you are caught unawares when the take happens, the carp fish is likely going to take you to a deeper region into the weedy bottom where you will find it hard to reel it in. Battling the carp fish out from the deep weed is going to be a hard task, so it is best you ensure that this never happens.
But if it happens, this is not the outcome you want after all the effort, so you must ensure that you are always alert and ready to strike when you have the opportunity to. When the carp fish goes for the take, ensure that you don’t give it much room to wiggle or provide it with an escape path. You are required to be ready in order to get the hook. This is simply your last challenge through the whole process, so you have to make it count.
Carp Fishing In Silkweed Based On Current Climate And Season:
If you are a professional carp angler, you will understand that there exist a huge difference in when carp fishing is at highest levels, and when it tends to reduce. You are going to observe a few of the same trends with carp fishing in any form of weed or weeded beds. When it is summer or spring time, you are going to observe that the carp are drawn to the silkweed and will flock around these areas continuously. There are huge levels of oxygen during months like this, ultimately offering the carps with exactly what it wants.
At night time, it is going to be contrary. This is when the carp will migrate from the silkweed and move out into the water. Oxygen levels are no longer at its peak during this period, thus making it crucial that the craps migrate. Bottom carp fishing can be quite effective after sunset.
In summary, as a carp angler, you need to stop worrying about actively targeting these areas. It takes few practice and a little bit of learning to develop, but if you are carp fishing during the appropriate time of the day, and you carefully choose how you present your bait, you may have your best carp fishing trip to date, just by approaching these silkweed with more confidence.
The carp spawning season which takes place in April, can also provide you with the best opportunity to reel in these fishes. As an angler, it is recommended that you go after post-spawn carps because they are much easier to catch even in the silkweed than the pre-spawn carps.
Conclusion:
Fishing in silkweed can be fun with the right knowledge and fishing gear. Of course, you will encounter several obstacles in the form of the silkweed, and reeling in adamant and battling carps, but with the right level of persistence, focus, and confidence, you will certainly breakthrough and record a significant yield.
