FLOAT FISHING
Part Seven - Stickfloat Fishing
In parts one to six of Float Fishing I introduced you to the various types of waggler floats and showed you how to start fishing with them on both still and running water. In this part I will be introducing you to the classic river float, the stickfloat.
The tackle
Consider a centrepin reel
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Let's look first at any additional equipment you may need. As with waggler fishing, a 13ft float rod is fine, as is a fixed spool or closed face reel. A longer rod will add to float control if you invest in one and in time, as you become proficient with the stickfloat, you might want to consider trying a centrepin reel, considered by many to be the ultimate tool for stickfloat control. For now though a fixed spool or closed face reel is still your best option.
For general fishing the reel should be loaded with 2 to 3lb breaking strain line with a slightly lighter hooklength. Using maggots or casters as bait, hooks in sizes 16 through to 20 are what you need.
What is a stickfloat?
The term 'stickfloat' tends to be used these days to describe any float for use on running water that is attached to your line at both the top and bottom ends using float rubbers. However, within this general stickfloat family there are actually three very different styles. There is the true stickfloat, plus there are two others, the Avon float and the Balsa. I'll cover the Avon and Balsa varieties in part 8 of Float Fishing and concentrate for now on the true stickfloat.
Stickfloats and a Loafer
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True stickfloats, due to their design, are very stable. They are essentially constructed in two sections. The top, or body, is made out of a very buoyant material like balsa and the bottom, or 'stem' is made from a much denser material such as cane, lignum (the only wood that sinks!), metal or plastic. It is this combination that gives the stickfloat its stability. It naturally wants to sink by its bottom end first. True sticks tend to have stubby tops, either domes or very short points which allow you to dot them right down low in the water with only the stubby tip just showing. They generally take up to around 8 or 10 no.4 shot.
Close quarter control
Why use a stick instead of a waggler? The simple answer is control. As a stickfloat is attached to the line at both its top and bottom ends the control point on the float from the rod tip is at the top of the float, rather than at the very bottom as with a waggler. The essential advantage this gives is that when you tighten the line to a stickfloat it won't get pulled under like a waggler, meaning that you can slow down the pace at which the float goes through the swim. This is known as 'holding back'.
The stickfloat is not designed to be cast very far, but where it scores really well is in swims where you don't need to fish more than three rod lengths out and the water is of moderate, uneven pace and/or depth. With a stickfloat you can search these swims far more effectively than with a waggler, controlling the speed at which the float runs through and easily being able to change the depth you are fishing at simply by sliding the float up or down the line on the rubbers. They can also be shotted in a variety of patterns to present a bait in many different ways and by holding back the float and slowing it down you can make the bait rise and fall temptingly in the current.
Float Choice
The choice of style of stickfloat depends largely on the pace of the water and how you expect the fish to be intercepting your bait.
If the pace of the water is quite fast you want the float to be as stable as possible and you should choose a float with as dense, and therefore heavy, as possible stem. Metal or lignum stemmed floats are ideal as they will naturally sit upright without any shot on the line.
If the pace is not too fast and you are expecting bites off the bottom then a plastic stemmed float will give a good compromise presentation being quite stable, but sensitive enough to show on the drop bites reasonably clearly. Cane stems are the lightest and are particularly good for when fish are regularly taking your bait on the drop as they require the weight of the shot to make them sit upright. As each shot settles the float will gradually sit up and so give a good bite indication if a fish intercepts your bait on the way down through the water.
The size of float depends on the depth of the swim. You should always choose as light a float as possible. As a rule of thumb choose a float that takes a no.4 shot for every foot of depth, ie, for a 4ft deep swim a 4 x no.4 float is the right choice, for a 6ft deep swim use a 6 x no.4 float. You may need to increase the size slightly in faster swims though to get the bait down quickly enough.
Attaching your stickfloat
The stickfloat is attached to the line using silicon rubber bands. There are a couple of tips to give you here that are very handy to know.
Firstly, although you only need two bands to attach the float, one at the top and one at the bottom, it is a good idea to actually use three. By placing one in the middle as well gives you the assurance that you don't have to break down your rig should one of the other two bands snap. You simply slide the third band into the position of the broken one.
Another good idea is to use a long bottom rubber rather than a narrow band. By cutting a length of silicon tubing about ¾'s of an inch long and allowing this to overlap the bottom of the float greatly reduces the chances of the rig tangling.
Stick technique
As with fishing the waggler, casts should be made downstream. You cannot control a float that is coming downstream towards you. To cast a stickfloat, hold the line just above the hook in your free hand with the line taught between your hand and the rod tip. Point the rod parallel with bank on your free hand side, then bring it smoothly round and up in front of you, releasing the line from your free hand as you do so. The rig will shoot out smoothly in front of you hook first, landing in a straight line.
After casting, always maintain a straight line between your rod tip and your float, don't let the mainline overtake the float on the trot. This will make the float pull across the current and cause your bait to behave unnaturally. If you have trouble with the wind bowing your line you can combat this by removing a small shot from below the float, either a no.8 or no.6, and adding it about a foot above the float. This sinks the last 2ft of line above the float and reduces the drag effect.
There are four main ways to fish a stickfloat:
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Running through at the pace of the current
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Creating a natural drop of the bait
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Holding back periodically
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Holding back hard constantly
To run the bait through at the pace of the current you need to shot your float 'shirt button' style, that is, evenly space your shot down the line between the float and the hook. Although the float is labelled as say a 4 x no.4, I wouldn't actually shot the float with no.4's. I would use twice as many no.6 shot spaced at approximately six inch intervals, with perhaps one or two no.8's as the bottom droppers. This gives a much more sensitive rig and more scope to move the shot around. While making sure you don't have too much line on the water, but without interfering with it's progress, allow the float to run through your swim at the pace of the current.
When you are loose feeding, especially in summer, the fish will often intercept your bait 'on the drop'. Use a cane stemmed float and shot it with as few light shot down the line as possible to enable the bait to sink naturally down through the water with some free offerings. Cast so that the hook lands directly downstream from the float in a straight line. As the bait falls through the water the cane stemmed float will begin to cock. Any interruption to this settling pattern caused by a fish taking your bait will register on the float.
Sometimes you can entice fish to take your bait by holding the float back periodically as it trots down the swim. Holding back the float for a moment causes the bait to slow and rise up enticingly in the water as if caught by a swirl of the current. The fish also have a bit of extra time to inspect the bait and sometimes that is all that is required to entice them to grab it. You can control the amount the bait rises by varying your shotting pattern. Still weight the float using no.6 shot, but by varying the shotting pattern and playing around with smaller dropper shot enables you to control the rise and fall of the bait from a few inches to several feet depending on the pace of the current. Moving some of the shot down the line creates a bulk which will form the upper point that your bait can rise to.
During the cold winter months fish become quite lethargic and minimise the amount of energy that they expend. Hence they won't go chasing after a bait like they might in warmer times of the year. Sometimes you can entice these lethargic fish, especially roach, to take your bait by holding back hard on the float and edging it through the swim far slower than the actual pace of the current. You are effectively trying to steer the bait directly into their mouths. During the winter it is likely that the fish will be very near the bottom, so accurately plumb the depth and then set the float over depth by between 6 and 18 inches. Place a bulk of shot on the line so that they are just off bottom to keep the hook bait well down in the water and then keep a tight line to the float and just edge it slowly down the current. Some skilled stickfloat anglers actually overshot the float so that it is only their tight line keeping the float above the waters surface.
Feeding
If you have read the previous parts of this Float Fishing series you will recall that I advised feeding little and often when waggler fishing. This principle is common to most forms of float fishing where you are loose feeding and stickfloat fishing is no exception.
Introduce bait downstream of your fishing position. You are aiming to get the bait down to the bottom within the confines of your swim, so judge where that point will be and introduce the bait accordingly. Choose a line to feed that you know you can easily reach and maintain control of your float. As you become more proficient you can try moving further out. Keep the feed trickling down your chosen line, feeding first and then casting.
Every now and again, try running your float down outside of the line that you are feeding. Better fish often hang around the edge of the feed trail, drifting in occasionally to intercept some bait and then moving out again. Don't be tempted to feed further out though or you will push the better fish out of reach.
If bites don't come straight away don't worry. Keep feeding as the fish will most often come to you if the bait is trickling in steadily over a period of time. If bites start coming frequently but then dry up, one of two things has probably occurred. The fish are fewer in number than you originally thought, so you need to cut back on the amount of feed going in, or the fish have moved up in the water. Check for the latter first by shallowing up and altering your shotting pattern accordingly. If this doesn't work, cut back on the feed, but not the frequency, and continue to experiment with the depth and shotting patterns.
Experiment
Don't be afraid to experiment when stickfloat fishing. If bites are not forthcoming play around with shotting patterns and depths and mix and match the four control principles above. Things change even during a session, so that what has been working for an hour or so might stop working and a different approach may be needed. The trick I find is to keep visualising what your bait and feed is doing and make adjustments accordingly to see what the fish prefer on the day.
Hopefully this part has given you a good overview of the basics of stickfloat fishing. In part eight of Float Fishing I will introduce the stickfloats big brothers, The Avon and the Balsa. See you then.
