Thread: Best slip bobbers for Shellcrackers

I wrote:

Me too, Disco! My go-to rig in early spring is a slip bobber fished without a bobber stop so the bait is always on the bottom regardless of depth.

Note that there's no trace of challenge to anyone. You wrote:

if your fishing on the bottom a tight line is alot better strike indicator than a float is. The rod tip dont lie......

This is the first semblance of a challenge - the implication that I am in the habit of using an inferior technique for bluegill. So I wrote, in response to your question as to the rationale behind the technique:

The difference is that the fish can feel the resistance of the rod tip, whereas with a slip bobber lying on its side on the surface, the fish doesn't feel it at all as it takes line. I doubt many guys would outfish me with a tightline.

Note that there's still no semblance of a challenge directly to you - I merely wrote that I doubted many guys would outfish me if I were using a slip bobber and they were fishing on the bottom without one. So you wrote:

i beg the differ

That's the first direct challenge between us. I started out merely agreeing with another poster that a slip float for bottom fishing is effective.

No hard feelings on my end at all - I just know my ability and knowledge as a bluegill angler, which is why I responded as I did.

I am still trying to figure out how me saying "i beg the differ" is a challenge. I just feel the old fashioned way of tightlining redworms for shellcrackers is better than fooling with a cork that you have to adjust everytime the depth of water you are fishing changes. If a challenege was issued everytime someone had a different opinion on this site, nobody would be on here, we would all be out fishing against one another.........

You don't have to adjust a slip float fished without a bobber stop - that's why it's such a great technique. My bait is on the bottom whether I'm fishing five feet or twenty, and I still have a bite indicator.

Show us ol fellers what kinda slip float works so good without a bobber stop???

I use a Thill Center Slider.

How do you know when the bait gets to the bottom using the slip float? I do very well fishing for crackers on the bottom with nothing but a split shot, I've caught them with a float also.

The line stops going through the float when the bait reaches bottom. I use a 1/16 oz. bullet slip slinker to get the bait down, and a single BB split shot about 18" from the hook to keep the slip sinker away from the hook. I don't generally use this method when the fish are in water shallower than six feet deep.

Originally Posted by tnpondmanager

The line stops going through the float when the bait reaches bottom. I use a 1/16 oz. bullet slip slinker to get the bait down, and a single BB split shot about 18" from the hook to keep the slip sinker away from the hook. I don't generally use this method when the fish are in water shallower than six feet deep.

Does the water have to be really calm? I can visualize the wind really moving a "limp", free float!