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 :-)

I made wagglier type float out of soda straws and they do work fine. You can either shot the straw or shot the straw and insert it in the balsa body. Straws are available in soft to hard plastic and in every diameter. Give them a try.

Originally Posted by jigtosser

I made wagglier type float out of soda straws and they do work fine. You can either shot the straw or shot the straw and insert it in the balsa body. Straws are available in soft to hard plastic and in every diameter. Give them a try.

WE think alike it seems :-)

Jigtosser, tend to use ice floats alot of the yr with 3" of WD-40 spray straw in it, CAN`T TELL you how many times have deeper fish ignore the micro jig and actually inhale the bobber instead! Have tried to rig a #12- 14 treble hook on it, but just haven`t had it work (yet).

Keep experimenting and you will find out how to rig the hook. Good idea on the WD 40 tube.

Originally Posted by jigtosser

Keep experimenting and you will find out how to rig the hook. Good idea on the WD 40 tube.

It is a great idea! I had wondered about that today. This is the small "toothpick" float, right - what were calling an ice float here?

Could be but also you can make them any size you want to. If this kind of float interest you go into Google and look up Match or Course fishing and you will go to the EU sites and see what they use and it will tell you all about what is available. Only problem is that their stuff is not available over here. DB4D posted a link to one style of this kind of float on this thread. Look it up and go from there.

Originally Posted by jigtosser

Could be but also you can make them any size you want to. If this kind of float interest you go into Google and look up Match or Course fishing and you will go to the EU sites and see what they use and it will tell you all about what is available. Only problem is that their stuff is not available over here. DB4D posted a link to one style of this kind of float on this thread. Look it up and go from there.

I recently ordered some coarse 'wagglers' from ebay, and there is a guy on BigBluegill who will soon be bringing the Euro types to these shores.
My main interest is in what Im going to call hybrid wagglers, something like your balsa's with a long waggler flag added. For those who may be interested in the why's behind all of this, here is some information about this type from Mick thill himself -

New Float Fishing Traditions that Catch More Fish!
by Mick Thill

The majority of North American anglers still do not know about modern float fishing. English and Western European Anglers had to develop new floats, and longer rods to reach fish that were heavily pressured from the 1450's onward.

With "floats," rather than bobbers, you can catch more fish, more consistently. If you fish for panfish, catfish, steelhead, salmon, walleye, carp, whitefish, or bullheads it will make a huge difference in your catches! Bass, pike, muskie, and striper anglers will also find that they catch more fish with new and better designs for live bait, plastics & flies.

There are thousands of different float designs and many float designs come in over 30 different sizes. Floats will give you perfect bait presentation on any kind of flowing or still water, and are great for ice fishing too! They are successful in depths of water of up to nearly 60 feet, and as far away as 80 yards (which is needed in Italy & England, not the USA yet)! Although they work well in deep water, there are floats that are just over 1-inch long that will catch panfish & bass on shallow beds in as little water as 9 inches.

Many big gills & bass will in fact try to eat the float in warm weather! They think it's a big bee, hopper, or beetle. I have changed the color of my balsa & peacock floats to green for all my new designs to try to attract less interest from hungry and curious fish!

There are many reasons why traditional bobbers are only good for collectors to put in minnow traps. First of all, they cast poorly, and they make a huge noisy splash. Furthermore, they make it virtually impossible to see the majority of bites that come from fish in still, or slow-moving water. Unfortunately, the traditional bobbers are hurting life-long anglers and even worse, beginners, by causing them to catch fewer fish than if they were using floats. Anglers using bobbers think that any movement or rings around the float were nibbles. They were not nibbles. They were missed bites; a fish you should have caught!

Spring and in-line slip bobbers are better, but are still a very bad choice to use unless you have a lot of hungry fish in front of you! Fish feed most of the time buy inhaling their food. Just watch any fish in a tank, and you'll understand.

Traditional bobbers make it impossible for any fish that tries to suck in the bait or jig. Impossible, because there's so much buoyancy above the surface, that no fish can suck that hard! Not even a world record bluegill or crappie can suck in a minnow, or cricket that's under a bobber! And if they hit the bait as some aggressive fish will, they'll feel the drag from the poor aerodynamic design of the bobber, and let go! Poor designs make it hard to cast long distances also! Stillwater floats need to be like an airplane wing, so there's very little drag.

The worst of the traditional bobbers are the big, round, red & white ones. You cannot find any of these so-called "bobbers" in any European Fishing tackle stores because they do not work well. They would only catch a few pike and perch in Europe!

I have been saying all bobbers are junk for 16 years now! It offends those making a living from selling them, but I'm a teacher first! People taught me all the basics when I moved to England as a boy. Now I'm trying to give back what I was given.

Modern floats and all the methods and techniques that come with them will change the way you fish! However, floats are just one piece in the big puzzle. You need to learn how not to scare fish when you're in a boat or on the bank.

Clothing, movement and foot noises travel a long way in water, much farther than sound travels through the air. Also, it's important to learn how to plumb with a lead weight attached to your hook or jig. You have to know the exact depth of the water you're fishing, and where all the changes are. Fish are likely to hang where there are changes in depths, and structure. By knowing this sort of information you can better understand what size float to use and whether you need a slip, or fixed float. You'll also need to learn about where to place lead shot on the line. Chumming is another important skill to learn about for many fish, where it's allowed!

Balancing the size of your line & hook to the size of bait your are using are also crucial, if you plan on catching a lot of fish.

You'll also need to learn new casting techniques as the longer float rods are 12 ft, 13 ft, and 14 ft long. Long take-apart poles that are from 24 to 48 ft long are used for any fish under 10lbs. These poles have elastic inside of them that allow fish to run up to 70 ft away. Many fish up to 30lbs have been caught with this pole method. Long telescopic rods, 16 to 30 ft long are generally used for deep rivers.