Thread: Sinking float technique - Brad

I got your attention don’t I? I know what you are thinking why put a float on your line above the lure if you are just going to sink it? Apparently, this is not a new technique.


Crappie angler Doug Allen showed me this technique during a recent trip out on the water with him on Sardis Lake in Mississippi. “Normally, I like to cast to crappie and catch them although I do long pole them sometimes,” Allen continued, “ Casting lets me put a lure right in front of a crappie and that’s when you get them to bite. Typically, we peg a 1/32-ounce jig below a size 9 Hagen’s football float that keeps the jig suspended. I like to fish a floating bobber on cannel lakes at home that are really, really shallow like Grand Lake or Buckeye Lake. That rig keeps the lure suspended in the strike zone for a long time while we shake our line making the lure dance and look alive.”


The sinking float technique is unique since the angler doesn’t want the float on the surface. It’s also a technique that only works when fishing with forward facing sonar as you are targeting one fish relying on sonar to locate, identify and keep the lure in the strike zone.


“I use the float to keep my ¼-ounce jighead lure so I can slowly retrieve the lure just above the crappie right in the strike zone,” Allen continued, “and it’s really productive. It really just slows down the presentation that incites the crappie to bite the lure.”


It should surprise any angler that fishes with forward facing sonar that a grape sized suspending float would show up when reeled through a sonar beam. However, one issue that can make seeing the float and lure is pollen suspended in the water column. “I don’t care who you are,” Allen went on, “It can be pretty hard to see a float and lure or crappie when the pollen is really thick in the springtime.”


Another interesting thing about Allen’s sinking float technique was he rigged a crappie sized tube lure on his ¼-ounce jighead. Right now it seems like everyone is using a hair jighead or shad shaped body rigged on a jighead. Although it might not matter Allen really likes a tube and jighead combination.


“Boat positioning is critical when casting a sinking float and lure,” Allen continued, “I won’t cast until I’m lined up and can cast past the crappie. On Sardis Lake there was standing timber, stumps and even suspending or roaming crappie. You don’t always catch them on the first cast and it may take multiple casts in order to catch a crappie. I like to stay 30- to 35-feet away from them and casting past them reeling the float and lure by them.”


Allen sits down in a seat within arm’s length of his Garmin graph when fishing this technique. He will zoom in once a crappie shows up on the sonar. Casting past the crappie, Allen was able to see both his suspending float and lure as he slowly reeled it back in. When a crappie hit the lure Allen would set the hook just like you would with a float on top of the surface only this rig is under the surface. Since the float is small and suspending it doesn’t seem to affect the hook set.


Just how far away from the float is the jighead? On Sardis Lake in Mississippi, Allen had about 8- to 10 inches, but on bodies of water with clearer water clarity he might make it 10- to 12-inches of line between the float and jighead. Keep in mind that Sardis Lake and even Granada Lake are stained water reservoirs. “I only do this technique when the water clarity is limited and mostly in the spring when the crappie are shallow,” Allen continued, “It’s also a great way to present a lure on windy days. The rig is under the surface so it’s not bouncing up and down like it would with a float.”

It sounds like a great way to keep the jig suspended a little longer