Thread: DIY for better floats

Originally Posted by jigtosser

To make it a slip float you do not need the tube to go down the middle. You can make the loop that comes out of each smaller and bend them over 90 deg so the line runs down the outside.

Yessir - that makes perfect sense! I like it a whole lot.

Actually, I can still see a benefit to having a "waggler stick," protruding from the top of the bobber. Kinda like a flag pole, it serves as a visual aid to help determine the lightest of bites or pickup.

One of the things I'm convinced of is that we make all our floats TOO bouyant. They cast like bullets, and they hold the bait against a sea swell. So that is good. But they are not as sensitive as we might want, or need them to be, when dealing with bluegill in particular.

The larger bluegills, the "bulls," will often size up a bait for a long time before taking it. They'll mosey up and hover near it, running their cold eye up and down looking it over... you can almost hear 'em mumbling as they calculate how best to approach it.

When these careful feeders finally do get around to picking it up, it is done lightly and with little pressure. If your float is too heavy or bulky, you may never know what is happening! I hesitate to ponder just how many of these nice fish I've missed over the years for this reason...

Im toying around this year with some 'waggler' type floats, really just a floating reeds or the tradtional porcupine quill. You can also make an effective substitute for these by shaping a length of balsa about as thick and as long as your little finger. Run the wire through them as you suggest and poke a 'waggler' stick in the ends. Often people use the teeniest of o-rings or rubber bands to secure the line out at the ends of the waggler itself.

Yessir - I think you've hit on something there! Thank you very much :-)