Floats for shy biting fish.

[108831]

Hi all,I'm stunned at the lack of sensitive waggler floats available,especially in the 2-3bb size,for fish like crucians,if your not fishing the lift method bites can be little more than rings coming from the float,even insert settlers are too clumsy,the sensi tip wagglers by Drennan are ok,but I believe the smallest is 5bb,cannot understand why you would make a float with such a fine tip,surely your not going to cast 20yds with them....

 

[sam vimes]

Try the Visi Wag 1 or Glow Tip Atennas from Drennan.

 

[theartist]

If they are feeding within a rod length and it isn't windy try a light pole float with just the weight of the bait to cock it(plus maybe one no10 dust shot ) you'll catch more cru's than you would believe are in there

 

[rich66]

Drennan glow tips are very good, I use them for a lot of my waggler fishing.

 

[Keith M]

Here’s a few that go down to 3bb (and a couple that go down to 2bb)

Drennan Crystal Wagglers

middytackle.com -
middytackle.com -

Stepped Waggler 3BB Float | Fishing Tackle | Angling Supplies

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/1231224122...1%26rvr_ts%3D2cefe39916b0a4e9077578cffffb9ba1

Keith

 

[Stalker]

If they are feeding within a rod length and it isn't windy try a light pole float with just the weight of the bait to cock it(plus maybe one no10 dust shot ) you'll catch more cru's than you would believe are in there

Agree with this.

Pole floats seem to be the accepted go-to for crucians and rudd these days.

 

[peterjg]

It's now so rare to see someone float fishing that it's no wonder there is a lack of floats for sale in tackle shops. Is the art of float fishing going to be lost?

 

[theartist]

It's now so rare to see someone float fishing that it's no wonder there is a lack of floats for sale in tackle shops. Is the art of float fishing going to be lost?

No, never as it will always be an effective and fun way to fish

 

[108831]

If they are feeding within a rod length and it isn't windy try a light pole float with just the weight of the bait to cock it(plus maybe one no10 dust shot ) you'll catch more cru's than you would believe are in there

I used to use a Drennan Crystal fine insert waggler(like a pole float tip)as your talking about Rob,they don't make them any more,has to be a small float to say use a small cube of meat and a no.10....

 

[108831]

It's now so rare to see someone float fishing that it's no wonder there is a lack of floats for sale in tackle shops. Is the art of float fishing going to be lost?

Couldn't agree more Peter,I'm thinking of making a small waggler with two inches of peacock,with a tip made out of a cocktail stick...

 

[theartist]

I used to use a Drennan Crystal fine insert waggler(like a pole float tip)as your talking about Rob,they don't make them any more,has to be a small float to say use a small cube of meat and a no.10....

I'm going even smaller using tiny bits of bread or even maggots, you may have to watch the line for bites and the float may need a little flick to cock, also matchsticks work too, all at the mercy of the wind and the compromise of distance

 

[108831]

I would only be a rod length out at best,I'm not keen on fishing a pole,though effective you don't get the same feel when you hook a fish...

 

[theartist]

I would only be a rod length out at best,I'm not keen on fishing a pole,though effective you don't get the same feel when you hook a fish...

Youre sorted then, get some light floats and enjoy, don't need a pole to use them. Last time out I was fishing on the drop on the pond for the crucians thinking I had it nailed from last time and caught loads of bream! About a foot under the surface all on the drop in five foot of water, be prepared for the other species to hijack your plans

 

[ian g]

A good friend of mine gave me one of these floats , perfect for crucians .

Drake Crowquill Whip Waggler - Benwick Sports Angling Centre

 

[john step]

I used to fish a small pond which was full of true crucians. To say the bites could be delicate and frustrating would be an understatement.

I discovered that by doing the opposite to the above Whitty, I could hit most bites. The water was very shallow and this works when you can get out of the drift and fish close in.

I made tiny short peacock wagglers as you suggest but left off the tips. In fact the top of the float is full width peacock quill.

By fiddling and refining shotting with no10s and getting the depth just touching bottom it is possible to get the tiny float just holding up in the water tension on the surface. The float is almost like a tiny hump in the film. You can't do this with a fine tip.

The float just sinks gracefully away upon a bite.

Fiddly I know but better getting it just so and then not having the utter frustration for the rest of the session.

 

[Alan Tyler]

Book-learning alert - I don't have any crucians to fish for, AFAIK.
But, back in the late 1800's, the debate raged about what to do about the "Fine" bite - the slight change in the float's movement which, if struck, often yields a big roach. Allegedly.
J. Greville Fennell, the information hub of the debate, and an understander of Archimedes' principle, experimented with a reversed porcupine quill and found it too sensitive; others went the other way and fattened their float tops by cutting the top off a quill, using thicker float caps, or both - and had some success.
Having watched goldfish and roach feeding, I suspect that the Fine Bite was a perfectly confident take of the bait by a fish which was in no hurry to move on, so a float which made a ripple at the first tiny dip that brings the cap into contact with with the water's surface gave a better indication, meaning one you could actually hit.
As an added benefit, they may also have alerted the fish to a vague need to be elsewhere, which may lead either to an even better bite, or the fish spitting the hook out.
Further investigation along this line may just be worth a go...or not.
With the current state of my eyes, it seems worth a try.

By the way, Fennell's correspondences are in his "Book of the Roach", which is out of copyright and can be found free online.
Here, for example: The book of the roach. - Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library | HathiTrust Digital Library

 

[103841]

I’ve experienced times when the tench have been sensitive to any resistance and often wondered if it was also the line vertical from float through the column to the deck that might make them more cautious.

Fishing just one or two rod lengths out I removed the float and freelined just using the weight of the bait or a single swan shot and using the slack in the line as an indicator, it’s more than co-incidence that this often produced results.

 

[peterjg]

I write this at risk of ridicule. For very shy bites try float-legering with a SSG shot as the weight on a short sliding link. The small waggler is shotted down with shots near the float. Fish very slightly over depth with a 6 inch hooklink. I was amazed at how sensitive this rig is and how hittable the bites are!

Float-legering is old fashioned and looked upon as a bit of a crude method but all those years ago Bill Penny had it right.

 

[Stalker]

I write this at risk of ridicule. For very shy bites try float-legering with a SSG shot as the weight on a short sliding link. The small waggler is shotted down with shots near the float. Fish very slightly over depth with a 6 inch hooklink. I was amazed at how sensitive this rig is and how hittable the bites are!

Float-legering is old fashioned and looked upon as a bit of a crude method but all those years ago Bill Penny had it right.

I remember John Bailey espousing the same back in the mid 90s (when he still looked like a safari guide) as an alternative to the lift method for very shy biting tench close in, so it's not as ridiculous and out of touch as it seems.

 

[shane99]

Another for the Drennan Glow Tip Antenna.