Float fishing still waters

[MarkTodd]

When fishing my local pond I want to fish close to an island. The water is up to 5ft deep and it's about a 20yd chuck. Is ther anyway to set up a waggler so I can cast closer to the feature as i usually end up fishing about 5ft from it. I'm usually laying on or using the lift method. Cheers guys.

[jimmy crackedcorn]

Cant say I can claim this idea as my own, but depending on factors such as wind,tow and margin gradient, could you cast "under depth" and let the float drift towards the island until you are laying on as it makes its way up the bottom ?

[stuart mitchell]

loads of bottle....chuck it in.....hope not over cast,,,,,hold it there,,,,hope!

[Andy M]

If your using a decent sized waggler with the usual shotting the float should fly in front of the rest of the tackle so as long as the trajectory of your cast is not too high you should be able to cast to your normal distant, pull of a say 3 feet of line, clip up, cast again and repeat until you land just right. That is the theory at any rate!

[alan whittington]

Mark,Andy is probably right apart from one thing,when you hit the clip,your hook and shot will overtake your float and end up in the 'bother',if you can,an underhand side cast would work without feathering your float(the tackle 'should' land behind the float),the heavier shot required for the 'lift' wont help and using a heavier float than needed with a long or tapered insert should help with maintaining position,then as Stuart says hope.

[chavender]

what you need is a critically balanced bodied waggler ,like this one



it takes 6 bb ,4 of which (well 2XAAA) are at the base of the float (this is your casting weight ,the last 2X bb is split into 4X no 4 either spread out from mid depth with the last on on the bottom (tell-tale shot) 4-6" from the hook Or have two as a bulk just below mid depth and the other two spaced 2" apart with the bottom one sitting on bottom about 4-6" from the hookbait .each black & white segment = a no4 shot ,with out the no4's the float sits too the bottom of the first black segment so you could subtitute the no4's with a AAA for a mor traditional lift arrangement.

when cast the bulk of the weight is at the bottom of the float which as it fly's through the air your actually casting the bottom of the float the terminal tackle and lighter shot trails behind and when the float lands in the water the tackle falls in a arch behind it then as each shot registers the float sinks one segmant at a time until the last shot is resting on the bottom and just the sight bob is showing .if the tell-tale shot is lifted as the fish takes the bait the float rises one segment if the second shot registers it rises another .if the fish simply moves away it'll simply pull the float under .

[tigger]

Is that one of your own handmade floats chav ?

[chavender]

yep ,strangley enough its one of my tench floats ,designed for fishing upto lillybeds etc using the lift method style either fixed depth or slider

[the indifferent crucian]

Just like Chavender, I have made some weighted, or loaded, floats specifically for under-arm casting in my case. They only take a touch more lead before sinking, but mostly I cast them 'as is' to the far bank or margin and the hook swings down underneath the float. It's not a perfect situation though, most banks have roots in the water waiting for your catch to transfer the hook to.

I always reckon if a fish is hungry he'll come out of the marginal undergrowth for a bite to eat, and don't cast too near them.

You can easily weight a float by winding some solder around the base and varnishing it in place....I then fine tune it my winding on some copper wire.......

[Jim Crosskey 2]

Can't believe I'm the first to suggest this but have you considered using a sliding float set up? Your bulk shot goes about six inches away from the bait, the float is fully sliding on the line and stopped at the correct depth by a float stop or sliding knot made from pole elastic. This way, you only have six inches of line flying in front of the float?