Thread: Sometimes there really is a need for a float with soft plastic lures!

Float question. Don't mean to hi-jack this thread, but just recently, I saw a Bill Dance episode where he used a pinch-on split shot above the jig he was using. Do you folks use weight along with your jigs too? If so, why? I usually just fish the jig below the bobber myself. Not sure if I'm missing something?

I don't see the need in it myself. I have done it before on a unweighted float to make the float set down in the water just right but now I have found floats that work just how I like with out extra weights.

I was gonna say the split shot was probably to make the float neutrally buoyant but why not just get a smaller float at that point?

Originally Posted by Crestliner08

Do you folks use weight along with your jigs too? If so, why?

The whole rig will cast better if you put most of the weight above the jig.

Think of the float as a kite. Everything below the float is the tail of the kite. Same principal.

Note the lead ring at the bottom of the float. The weighted, cigar shaped foam float sails through the air, even into the wind and the lead offsets float buoyancy such that the float doesn't sit too high in the water regardless of wave action. Plus the float stays vertical, allowing even small fish to drag it down with less resistance.

I keep finding floats stuck on stumps left by shore anglers and decided to give one a try. Previously I only used slim elongated balsa floats with a stick protruding above and sometimes added lead to the bottom stick for casting distance. The float lays on it's side and when the lure is hit, will go vertical and then dive. Float buoyancy resistance to the fish was almost nothing, though casting into a wind was limited. I'll try the float pictured from now on to see if it makes a difference in late spring and summer.

Again, I believe the wave chop and me dragging the float a few feet and pausing was the best lure presentation for 1/32 oz jig and 1.5-2" grub, in fact better than casting & reeling because the lure stayed put longer, still exhibiting the great thin-tail flutter produced by the float and water chop. Who knew?!

The only problem I have with bottom weighted floats is that they won't show a "lift bite". And regular floats, when you have a sinker on the line between the jig & float, won't show one either ... at least not unless the fish moves the sinker up high enough to remove the downward pull of the sinker against the float.

Now, there are floats made for just this situation. The FnF Bass boys use counter weighted bobbers, like Punisher Lures Bob's Bobber, which will sit upright from the weight of the jig ... then "fall over" on it's side when a lift bite occurs. But, at almost $3 each, and no more often than I use ANY kind of float, I don't own any of them.

... cp

Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

The only problem I have with bottom weighted floats is that they won't show a "lift bite".

I use nothing but bottom-weighted floats, and they all show lift bites. I think it's just a matter of the shotting pattern.

I love the float and fly/jig I like to use 1/32-1/100 and that float gives enough weight to get out there and get to the fish without spooking them