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In reply to Post #15
I’m glad I’ve come across this because I’ve always wondered about this aswell, I fish like this a lot and my catch rate seems good enough but sometimes I do wonder if I’m missing out on a few extra bites. I normally fish a German rig or a slip d with a small mesh bag on the end, we are talking like a 1 inch ball nothing big at all unless I want to use more and then I just fish solid bags
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In reply to Post #18
Never had a problem with small mesh bags on any hook link
Try it in the margins with different baits
For me they slow the rig falling through the water column and Allow me time to set my line etc without
Snagging the hook
I’ve never use nuggets in the bags although I’m sure it would help
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I use a 2-3inch stick of pva crushed boilies threaded on down my 20lb amnesia rig, with a pva nugget in the end for the hook to be safely nicked into, I only fish at 70-80yrds, and have complete confidence that my rig is fishing, I usually fish a wafter on german or basic hair rig on my local gravel pits, spomb before and over the top. Keeping it simple.
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In reply to Post #16
. . .a chap on my syndy uses small golf ball mesh bags but ties them to the underside of his lead on a helicopter rig (but you could use an Avid clip for a lead clip presentation) . . .he also uses a stiff rig . . .
Most of his fishing is within catapult range but he never sticks out boilies - he just catapults out golf ball sized mesh bags and scatters them over a large area as freebies and usually with a single whole boilie embedded . . expensive in terms of PVA use but effective . . for him anyway!
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In reply to Post #15
You've summed up the issue and options perfectly.
Mostly i use a supple braid and will hook on small mesh bags for shorter casts or on runs waters, and use solid bags on bigger chucks.
The stiffer hooklengths are really not suited to using a mesh bag as you've described.
I was doing some short sesh visits to a riggy lake so tried to get a small mesh bag as added attraction rather than catty, spombing wasnt an option on such a shallow clear water, but i doubted my presentation with the bags. Margin testing kind of confirmed it, and thought it worth discussion.
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In reply to Post #1
. . .wouldn't hook on bags to a stiff rig / boom - they will land closer to the lead and therefore potentially 'loop up' the stiff hooklink making the whole thing look obvious . . .you could
1 - Feather the cast. Not a 100% guarantee but will definitely improve the presentation
2 - Pull back. I've done this habitually in the past on hard bottoms and as long as the bag is threaded onto the hooklink (rather than simply nicked on) and you use slow melt its usually fine - again, no guarantees - you could also be pulling back into a twig/some sh*te
3 - Put 3-4 PVA nuggets in the mesh to hold the whole lot up longer. Again no guarantees that the rig will lay out flat unless the bag mix drops first but then the freebies will be on your lead, not around your hookbait
4 - PVA bag clip - Attach the mesh bag to your lead, not your hook. This way the stiff link can do its job etc - freebies will be around your lead though obvs
5 - Cheat and use a bait boat instead - perfect presentation every time! Bait positioned away from the lead and freebies over the top
I use stiff rigs with wafters and don't bother with mesh bags at all - prefer to bait up with spomb / freebies over the top if I cannot use a boat. Would rather use a more supple hooklink if using mesh bags and accept the fact that some coiling once settled is likely to occur - on some waters this is unlikely to affect pick ups - if they're not rig shy and hungry they'll eat the lot anyway . . .
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In reply to Post #13
Have a look at Julian Cundiffs fb page pretty sure he uses mesh bags a lot with his multi rigs, he explains all on his page, catches a few too 👍
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In reply to Post #12
Its certainly an option, but much too technical for me 
I like an element of simplicity.
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In reply to Post #1
Try some PVA nuggets in the bag, with a bit of testing you can get the right ratio so it’s rather weightless. May be just enough for it to straighten out nicely. No good for distance work and also adds a bit of a splash but may work in the right circumstance
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In reply to Post #10
I'd ditch the mesh bags for pop ups buddy 
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In reply to Post #9
My usual set up is a supple hooklength in a solid bag or supple braid with small mesh bags just hooked on.
My flirtation with a d rig or ronnie/german is fairly new.
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In reply to Post #2
Agreed. Supple hooklink and mesh bag/solid bag also give you a greater margin for error; the weight and protection of the bag allows the hookbait to be presented on less than ideal substrates.
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In reply to Post #6
Same as. Never really got why anyone would use pop ups with bags, I'want my hookbait down with the contents of the bag and not waving about inches above it
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In reply to Post #6
Similar to me
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In reply to Post #1
I will only ever use a mesh bag on a clean substrate i.e. when I'm using a bottom bait or wafter. Pop ups are the one when it's a little dirty and I don't want my pop ups getting dragged down into that by a bag unless it's a solid bag. For me a pop up needs to sit gently on top of any dirt/chod and a mesh bag prevents it from doing that imo.
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In reply to Post #4
do you worry about the mesh driving the rig down into the silt?
ive used bags with lighter food items but i get a bit paranoid about the rig not being presented.
only when fishing pop ups though, if they are feeding in the silt ill cast a short rig to purposely put it in the silt.
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In reply to Post #2
I have never "pulled back" as im not on gravel pit areas. Im mostly on some sort of silt or clay and the lead will need a bit of a bend in the rod to pop it out, so the lead would then jump and the rig would be dropping even closer to the lead than on a proper feathered drop.
Solid bags and short supple hooklengths or a small mesh bag are my favoured methods when possible, but occasionally i need to have the option to cast out a ronnie or d so maybe i need to avoid hooking a baggy on.
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Most people and video’s advocate that when casting out it will land in a straight line
Unless my rig is inside a bag I always tend to pull back a little after the rig has hit the bottom,I put a bit of pva nugget over the hook to hold it up for a few seconds to enable me to do this so the hook point doesn’t snag on a twig/leaf etc etc
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In reply to Post #1
Something I have always done, put my rigs in the margins. For me you need to be 110% that your rigs are right out in the lake otherwise you might as well be sat a home. I bet if most people cast a rig up the margins they would be surprised what happens!
I use supple braid most of the time, have done for years
Hinge rigs and like you mention on mono or Fluro are pretty faultless on their own, bags change the way how the rigs fall and sit, most of the coated braids I have tried with bags are crap, and that’s with putty on them, loop up 
I guess most people assume their tackle goes down in a nice straight line and not a heap too!
The only other thing is to pull back, but that just adds paranoia for me, into weed, hook point damaged! Slow melt PVA in the warmer months is what you want if you are pulling back.
What I usually do is cast just past the spot, feather it down, feel the lead down, whilst slowly pulling the rod tip backwards if that makes sense in a bid to try and straighten it out on the drop, good sinking uncoated braid and I’m quite confident.
Always test rigs in the margins, you need to know what it looks like 
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I was fishing a few weeks back and it was half iced over so i tested a few rigs in the margins.
A 20lb amnesia ronnie rig dropped off the rod tip in gin clear margin and once the lead banged down the rig straightened out and settled away from the lead as it should.
If i hooked a golf ball sized mesh bag of pellet and broken boilies onto the hook it always seemed to fall much closer to the lead as the extra weight prevented the hooklength from fully straightening out.
What do you guys think.
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Rigs