Solid Bag Fishing - What You Need For Solid Bags to Fish Effectively
Solid Bag fishing is a simple yet awesome method of catching carp. A hookbait surrounded by a tight parcel of food, what isn't to like about that! Here are some tips regarding solid bags and how to fish with them as effectively as possible.
Solid Bag Rigs
You can use a multitude of rigs with your solid bags. Essentially as long as it is tied with supple braid and a short rig then there is no reason why you can't put it in a bag! I personally use a small blow-back rig with my solid bags as it is a rig I am super confident with and it suits my go to hook bait when I fish with bags usually being a trimmed dumbbell wafter.
Simple knotless knot rigs, slip-d rigs, blowback rigs are perfect for solid bag fishing. Just make sure the rig is about 3-4 inches short and tied with a supple braid. You'll be presenting nicely then!
Leads
For solid bags you want to use inline leads. This is the best way to fish bags as the lead sits inside the bag perfectly making it easier to tie. Leadclip set ups and Helicopter set ups don't fit in the bag as nicely and will also hinder the presentation of the rig when the bag melts.
I like to use a 3oz or 4oz inline. I'll usually drop the lead to give that rig the best hook hold and also to have more control of the fish when fishing next to or near snags. The short hookling coupled with a heavy lead nails those fish and they simply don't know what to do once they've been hooked!
Solid Bag Bait
For my solid bags there are 3 types of bait I use. Sometimes I use a groundbait, but always 2mm pellets and boilie crumbs. I may use a small bit of groundbait at the bottom of the bag where the hook is before adding a mix of pellet and crumb and then I may add a small bit of groundbait again! The groundbait makes it a bit easier for me to get the bag as tight as possible, meaning it flies when casting. As well as having a slight variety of bait in the bag, I feel it looks a bit more appetising to the carp.
Before casting the bag out, I like to inject a liquid additive like this Chilli Hemp Oil. After this I stab some small holes into the bag and then it's ready to go!
Here is a rough illustrated guide for tying a bag. You can use other baits or completely change it up, solid bags are perfect for experimenting with different baits. Keep upto date as a more in depth guide for how I tie my bags and which rigs I use will be up next week.
Solid bags are the perfect method when keeping on the move. Doing 2 hours in a swim or so, you're instantly fishing with a small parcel of bait. With minimal disturbance as well, this is one of the best ways to get fish effectively and quickly!