The Demise of Float Fishing??

[mikench]

You are probably right Kev. I accept that fishing the float whilst offering far more options, depth , movement etc, also requires far more attention to the line, tow and those gentle/ timid bites and more skill. I have just put my 15’ Parabolix float rod in the car, put some of that stuff on the spool of reel I intend to use( I always forget) which helps sink the line. (spool of 4lb Progold mono) . I might even try a spool of 2lb Maxima. The lake which offers tench is 12’ plus deep.

 

[Alan Whitty]

Nearly every good catch of tench I've seen have been on the float, depends on the venue of course, but I don't tend to fish waters on the lead for tench, only personal preference, its what I do guvnor...

 

[rob48]

Watch the 2 guru underwater videos on Ferry Meadows after bream, ignore the products being pushed, but its a hellava watch imo, and makes my point how fish are doing you over a lot of the time, after all bream are supposed to be dopey....also if you could put the good information through on a video it would be the perfect platform, also the person doing the video can ignore all the contradictory stuff from people who don't understand the methods being used.
I think I posted this once before, I was fishing a small, deep, rectangular lake that because of its shape and openness towed pretty hard, so I was fishing my way which entails dragging various amounts of shot along the bottom to slow the movement, now obviously dragging shot involves fishing overdepth(by various amounts depending on amounts of tow), so my float, a thin tipped reverse peacock around 4-5mm diameter at the tip was sticking our around 15mm, maybe a little more, now I was the only person to have caught a fish(around 8 anglers fishing), this guy rocked up behind me, saw me catch a bream about 2lbs and recast before telling me that I'd catch more fish if I dotted my float right down, now, I often would just day really and ignore him, but I thought I'd enlighten him, so I said 'no, I'm fishing around 2ft overdepth and if I dotted my float down it would drag under all the time', the guy wouldn't have it and left me still picking up odd carp and bream, the worst of it is if you saw me fishing for these crucians I've been catching most anglers wouldn't be able to see my float it's dotted that low, your float should be spotted to do the job your doing with it and there are so many different jobs you need to know each.... hey-ho, trouble is as I've got older I would probably tell people like that to go bother someone else but in a more rural fashion....

I often take a shot off to allow more tip to show when fishing waggler on rivers as it allows you to slow it down fractionally every now and then but still read the float and see bites that you otherwise may not have had or wouldn't have known about.
Had to smile at the above remark about few people having 2lb bs lines. The vast majority of my reels are loaded with 2lb Pro-Gold, a couple with 2.5lb for bigger wagglers, and a 3.4lb for bolos and 4.4lb for sliders. The other closed-face reels have 0.10 Match Team or Edge Premium for delicate on the drop cane sticks fished off the rod end.

 

[nottskev]

You are probably right Kev. I accept that fishing the float whilst offering far more options, depth , movement etc, also requires far more attention to the line, tow and those gentle/ timid bites and more skill. I have just put my 15’ Parabolix float rod in the car, put some of that stuff on the spool of reel I intend to use( I always forget) which helps sink the line. (spool of 4lb Progold mono) . I might even try a spool of 2lb Maxima. The lake which offers tench is 12’ plus deep.

Mike, I don't post this stuff as implying any comment on how you choose to fish - do as I do; fish however you choose.
But I do think there's a lot of pleasure/opportunities to be had once you get over the "hump" of learning a few things that are fiddly and off-putting at first.
I'd love to come up and fish your tench pool with you - it wouldn't be hard to sort out a couple of good ways to float fish in 12' and Bob's your uncle. If my er ailments stay away for a bit, we could arrange it.

 

[mikench]

I do know that Kev and you would be very welcome here . I enjoy both methods and whilst I do blank more than Gordon, I start on the feeder whilst he is on the float and can and do switch to the float if he is catching and I am not. I am prepared to forego the fun of tiny perch and roach for the chance of a real bend in the rod sometimes.

 

[Alan Whitty]

But float catches big fish, its how you go about it, often feeding, or what you feed, if you put micros around a method feeder and catch big fish then why shouldn't you attract similar sized fish with 4-6-8mm pellets, the fact of it is you do, but if your perception of what is decent presentation is wrong you ain't catching nothing, whereas you'll never be far out with a feeder, it isn't always the best method to fish however, far from it...

 

[chevin4]

But float catches big fish, its how you go about it, often feeding, or what you feed, if you put micros around a method feeder abd catch big fish then why shouldn't you attract similar sized fish with 4-6-8mm pellets, the fact of it is you do, but if your perception of what is decent presentation is wrong you ain't catching nothing, whereas you'll never be far out with a feeder, it isn't always the best method to fish however, far from it...

It's Horses of Courses Alan I don't see the point in float fishing for the sake of it. The ultra hard tench water we fish is deep close in is ideal for float fishing whereas the syndicate water I took you last year its feeder all day long for me. With roach I tend to alternate between the float and lead. With perch it's the float all day long on venues like the upper Gt Ouse. But because of the ranges often required it's the feeder on places like Tring.

 

[Alan Whitty]

It is, but some people are capable of float fishing 30-50yds out (not me), its feeding accurately that makes that difficult, plus conditions, I've fished at Sywell at around 40 yards years ago and caught twelve tench 5 over 6lbs, so it's possible, not for me any more, trouble comes that like lots of carp anglers, fishing feeders people forget fish like tench like margins and if you have 4ft of water on a clearish lake they will visit, having blinkers believing fish prefer say 25yds and ignoring closer is as bad as ignoring the 45yds say past it, my floatfishing that day was wasted, purely down to small fish mullering my chosen feed, if I'd have fished pellet or small boilies I would have had a chance, on maggot, dead and alive the roach and rudd were eating everything and I fed more than 4pts of deads and probably 2pts of lives, plus 3 pints plus of groats and at least 2 pints of micros, I had no intention of putting so much in, but the small fish made me try to feed them off, if i had regular access to the water I would be more in the swing of how to fish it on the float, fishing rubber maggot doesnt work on the float, or doesnt for me at least, being rigged on the feeder snags them...feeder fishing is a tactic, just like float fishing and going with just feeder gear is just as blinkered as my floatfishing, its everyone's choice, not a rule of thumb... I am more than capable of fishing the feeder, its just not as enjoyable, or as reactive...

 

[Alan Whitty]

Another thing is on the water I'm crucian fishing there are quite a few anglers method feedering, a lake where there isn't a single point where you couldn't cast more than twice its width, anywhere, with swims opposite virtually every spot you can fish, these guys cast to these points not thinking that someone could turn up at any time, poor angling in the extreme for me...

 

[chevin4]

Another thing is on the water I'm crucian fishing there are quite a few anglers method feedering, a lake where there isn't a single point where you couldn't cast more than twice its width, anywhere, with swims opposite virtually every spot you can fish, these guys cast to these points not thinking that someone could turn up at any time, poor angling in the extreme for me...

Couldn't agree more Alan haven't fished for Crucians for more than 30years. But it will be the float every time on that type of venue.

 

[peterjg]

Another thought. I have both the Stick Float and Waggler Float books by Jim Baxter, both very informative and well written. In both books Jim writes about expert match anglers and their preferred set-ups with some diagrams. While I appreciate that different waters, aims, conditions, etc dictate tactics it is apparent that there is no optimum set-up for either stick or waggler floats. Different anglers use totally different set-ups on the same waters, it would appear that it's all down to personal preference and not that there is a best way?

 

[hague01]

When I returned to fishing, I only knew float fishing from 50 years . I read books etc . I fairly soon decided that the best possible bite indication of a fish on the line when it took the hook. That IMHO happened at any point from the bottom of the float to the deck depending on what depth it was set. That involved inter alia, at its deepest, finding bottom. That I felt was easy but became a faff if I wanted to fish somewhere else so had to go through it all again. Then I decided laying on was for me as that was realised very easily . Whether fishing a quiver tip or a polaris, the weight is static and then the hook length was my choice. So of the 3 basic choices of bite indication, 2 were easy. Being lazy, it is a no brainer. The polaris works exactly as a feeder or weight to a rod tip. On Monday I crept out for the afternoon. Wind 18mph and 14ft depth.so for me, float fishing so on the deck or up in the water was impossible for me to achieve. The polaris nailed it. Simples as they say. Works for me. I put it no higher. I prefer watching a float to a rod tip. Little finesse I agree but can't spell it anyway.

 

[Alan Whitty]

The trouble is with the polaris set up is you are fishing on the bottom, that is whether the fish are taking the bait there or not and I catch fish from well over depth, to just under the surface, also polaris is pinning your bait dead still, but fish take a moving bait, when a lake is towing feed IS being moved, when fish are feeding over bait they waft even quite large items, then the tow pulls it and the bait can be spread over several yards as is obvious when I'm fishing the waggler dragging, the bite hot spot being where the fish are intercepting most of the feed, this is more often than not ten or twelve feet away from entry point even in shallow waters of less than 3ft with baits like hard pellet...

 

[@Clive]

I agree. The Polaris is a one trick pony. The only advantage that I can see is that you don't have to do all that tiresome plumbing of the depth and tying a sliding stop knot

Same with using a float with a feeder rig. What does that achieve? If you use a conventional float and chuck groundbait at it, depending on wheher your mix is stiff or loose you can fish on the drop, trip the bottom or nailed down with a couple of shot. Fishing a float and feeder is like having a motorbike & sidecar; all the disadvantages of both with none of the advantages.

 

[nottskev]

I tried the original Polaris - I know smaller versions came out later - on Irish Loughs where the size, depth and exposure to wind that's come across a mile of water can defeat float fishing at any distance, and the bream, when you happen to find them, were undeterred by clunky rigs. It does work, I have to say, and you can even add a feeder in place of a bomb. But casting that felt like throwing a washing line, and it actually made fishing a bomb or feeder feel subtle and streamlined.

 

[Alan Whitty]

The problem is the specialist side tend to leger, why, well probably because bites can be minimal, so watching a float or three that may end in a blank is bloody hard work, the feeder, puts bait where the angler wants it and stays there, waiting for the magic moment of a take, the majority of anglers have very little knowledge of the variations of presentation of the float, or when to apply them, nobody has it all solved, it's like an endless book, ever evolving, maybe that's my pleasure, the thought of turning up with the same tackle I used every session forever and ever amen bores me, just like fishing the 'favourite' peg every time, the crucian fishing I'm doing is usually done in different swims, unless I feel there is unfinished business, in the club a few of us are in, the small river has two flyers, some guys would fish one swim every time they went, God what a bore, the challenge of fishing lesser pegs is far more interesting, as is fishing the stick float instead of sitting on a chair waiting for a suicidal modest barbel to drag the rod in, the only sadness there for me is the roach are only in probably a third of the 18 swims.
I have joined a club this year that I haven't been a member of for at least 35 years and they have a deep farm reservoir with some nice fishing, I'm looking forward to the learning process on the water, finding better areas, where the fish are in summer and winter, Hugh text me a couple of times yesterday about the big roach there, and how one guy found he had to up to 15mm boilies to catch the better roach, me, I'm quietly confident with 6 & 8mm pellet on the slider, we will see...

 

[mikench]

I use a 20g feeder with the float touching it to cast. It is clunky but not much different to just a feeder. They need a minimum weight to rise and cock hence 20g on my old ones. Not for everywhere and not all the time but useful on certain venues.

i have mentioned a club member christened Brookhouse Brian who had a syndicate water but preferred to fish the eponymous lake even if he blanked. He too liked a challenge.

 

[Alan Whitty]

When I fishing sometimes go with different baits for the day, there is a chance it won't work, or results won't be as good as on the normal baits for the venue, I don't care too much, I have nothing else in the bag and persevere changing things around trying to make it work, if it doesn't, tough, but I enjoy the attempt, odd f####r me!!!

 

[nottskev]

I like all (or most) methods - float, pole, leger, feeder - and I like fishing a variety of waters for a bag of fish or a few bigger ones. My ambition was never to catch a monster or specialise in one species, just to be able to turn up more or less anywhere, choose a swim, weigh it up and make a reasonable stab at catching on whatever method. But float fishing is my favourite for many reasons, and one is that it's so busy compared to sit and wait styles. Another is the pleasure of reading the bites and hitting them at just the right moment, which can vary from giving it a second's delay to reacting in a flash when the float blinks. Picking up the rod when the fish has already hooked itself misses out on a lot of the enjoyment.

 

[@Clive]

The problem is the specialist side tend to leger, why, well probably because bites can be minimal, so watching a float or three that may end in a blank is bloody hard work, the feeder, puts bait where the angler wants it and stays there, waiting for the magic moment of a take, the majority of anglers have very little knowledge of the variations of presentation of the float, or when to apply them, nobody has it all solved, it's like an endless book, ever evolving, maybe that's my pleasure, the thought of turning up with the same tackle I used every session forever and ever amen bores me, just like fishing the 'favourite' peg every time, the crucian fishing I'm doing is usually done in different swims, unless I feel there is unfinished business, in the club a few of us are in, the small river has two flyers, some guys would fish one swim every time they went, God what a bore, the challenge of fishing lesser pegs is far more interesting, as is fishing the stick float instead of sitting on a chair waiting for a suicidal modest barbel to drag the rod in, the only sadness there for me is the roach are only in probably a third of the 18 swims.
I have joined a club this year that I haven't been a member of for at least 35 years and they have a deep farm reservoir with some nice fishing, I'm looking forward to the learning process on the water, finding better areas, where the fish are in summer and winter, Hugh text me a couple of times yesterday about the big roach there, and how one guy found he had to up to 15mm boilies to catch the better roach, me, I'm quietly confident with 6 & 8mm pellet on the slider, we will see...

And I wonder how many change their rigs when bites aren't forthcoming; trying different hook sizes, hooklink lengths and strengths, repeated casting to try and incite a bite on the drop, varying the casting distance........ ?