My new floats

Nice job. Here is a thread from the archives on how to add weight to bobbers or floats.

http://www.crappie.com/crappie/archi...d-crappie.html

Thanks, I will have to try that with the ones I get. I don't know if o like the lay flat method but it will work here at times. Almost always have a wind so stand up is better so I can see the lightest twitch easier.

Is more stuff to try. A larger jig will make it stand anyway and I have lots of ideas.

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Originally Posted by fish_4_all

I will have to look into some other ways to weight them but that is a LOT of copper wire. I wold bet the bottom one has a god 1/8 ounce on it if not more. The top weighted one is at or right under an 1/8. The middle and the middle weighted is like 1/16 or so. I tried putting the copper wire under the float but it tore it up.

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One way would be to use a longer plastic tube (Maybe another 3/4 inch) and before cementing it over the wooden dowel, drop some lead shot or BB's into the tube to get the desired weight either for casting or less resistance to the fish. If the tube is long enough, the shot will rattle which can be beneficial at times.

That's a good idea. I just bought 50 balsa floats on Ebay that have hallow tubes so I can add shot to the tubes and not drill the body. BB's should fit in there I hope and that would let me weight them very precisely.

Any thoughts on colors to paint them?

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Originally Posted by fish_4_all

Any thoughts on colors to paint them?

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How about natural color? :D These are some micro ones I did to fish around reeds in some clear water. Darn thing is they got a backhoe in and dug out the reeds this spring. :mad: This size doesn't hold more than 1/16 oz of weight.

I carve my own from balsal (2"x4"x12" block cost $5 or $6) and use ball point pen guts for the shaft on slip floats. The BB's work good, and with balsal, you don't need much of a hole, pushes in easy. I like your idea with the swivel!

Brown makes sense with all the sticks and such you would find on the water anyway. Will have to see what I have for colors to match them.

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...alsaFloats.jpg

This is a picture of the probable floats I will be getting. Lots of sizes and shapes hopefully to make them for many different fishing needs.

Any suggestions for a paint to use that will stick the best on the plastic if I can not remove it? Also, what would be the best way to secure the bb's in the tube so they don't move too far up the tube if I need to do so?

I am also kinda stuck on how long I should make the shaft out the bottom. I see lots of floats for lots of species that have a really long metal rod out the bottom supposedly for stability. Is it needed to stabilize a float in flowing fast water or is it really needed if weight properly?

I wonder if it is possible to powder coat plastic???? Assuming the melting point is well above 500F of course.

If you want to paint the plastic you can get Krylon Fusion spray paint, it's made for painting plastics without any primer or extras. It's easy to find as well anywhere that has a spray paint section should carry it. It comes in several colors and Rustoleum Plastic is another option as well.