Sensitive float fishing technique?

[john step]

I will say before I continue that everyone is entitled to enjoy their own style and don't wish to seem unkind.

This evening I walked round my club lake and one old boy (younger than me) was sat float fishing. He is not new to fishing and I don't think his sight is bad, so how can anyone who presumably wants to catch fish can sit there with that much float above the surface.

I am not exaggerating when I say there was about 4 inches of brightly striped thick waggler proud of the water reminiscent of Beach Head Lighthouse.Also the huge bow in the thick line dragging around on the surface.

I noticed he had a tiny hook with a maggot and several AAA shot at random places on the line with the crowning glory of a swan shot 2 inches from the tiny hook.

His bearing is such that I didn't venture to offer any advice.

What I dont get is that if someone forks out for tackle, licence, club fees etc why they don't go that step further to research a better way to use the outlay. He obviously wanted to catch as he struck when a small perch managed to drag the weight sideways a bit and make the float send ripples out.

Anyone else come across such anglers?

 

[Philip]

In a word yes ! Sometimes they even have a river float sticking a mile out of the water and are fishing in a lake, but I guess as long as they are enjoying themselves then thats the important bit.

The other thing is sometimes there is no logic to it & I learnt my lesson quite a few years ago when fishing a small commercial lake for Perch. I had all the gear and fancy setup and had a long chat with the owner about my "advanced" tactics then a young kid to our left hauled in a 3lb + perch on the most crude setup you can imagine. The owner laughed his head off.

 

[peter crabtree]

My neighbour who fishes with me on Saturdays fishes the big wagglers which stick out of the water so far I often kid him that the next boat along will moor up to it..
His shotting usually consists of randomly placed BB's.
He does however catch some big old roach occasionally.

 

[sam vimes]

Sometimes it just doesn't matter a toss. However, sometimes it really does matter. I recently fished a small local commie (rod to test). It's lifting with fish, but there's lots of small stuff (roach, rudd and skimmers) that tend to be fairly shy biting.

There was a venue regular already set up on the next peg to the one I chose. This old boy was using a fairly short, thick (pellet) waggler, though was rigged for conventional maggot work. Having watched him for a little while, I was convinced that he was getting bites that he just wasn't seeing due to the insensitivity of the float. I set up with a Drennan glow tip and caught a fish a chuck.

It took about five minutes for him to ask me what bait I was using. After an hour or so of watching me catch, he upped sticks and moved, telling me that he just couldn't pick a peg recently. I didn't have the heart to suggest that picking a peg probably wasn't the issue. I hope the fish were more accommodating on his new peg.

 

[peterjg]

Sometimes à float can be too sensitive and you end up striking too early, especially when using large baits for big roach. Many a time I have incorrectly set the float up and it disappears too easily from every little tug from small fish.

 

[no-one in particular]

I used to fish regularly with a mate; he was a sea angler really with sausages for fingers. He always fished with big floats and weights, he was most happy when he found a huge Polaris float, he would stick a great big arsely bomb on it and he never fished with anything else in the end. I used to plead with him to go lighter but he wouldn’t have it. One day I was catching big bream and tench and the bloke in the swim the other side of him was catching also on tiny floats and 3lb line while he couldn’t hook a bite but he still wouldn’t have it. Lovely bloke though, my regular fishing buddy for years until he passed on.
And I must admit, I dont fuss these days. Very basic set up usually.

 

[theartist]

I spent a whole season trying out intricate shotting patterns as i read an article about how it was good for big roach

Then I spent a couple of seasons watching the fish in clear water

You should see how basic my shotting is now

Bottom line is they don't give a hoot as long as the bait is falling/behaving the same way as the loosefeed, All that matters is that last foot of line to the hook. Shot and the floats that carry them are just a vehicle to get it there

 

[valetudoguy]

I feel like I’m constantly banging on about Asian Fishing recently. However, they use very sensitive long floats for Herabuna (Crucian Carp).

The floats are designed like this due to the nature of fishing with paste. The paste is heavy to begin with and slowly (or not so slowly) devolves becoming lighter. The floats raise up even higher in the water as the bait goes, finally getting to a point that they know they have no bait.

They also don’t use split shot, preferring to use thin strips of lead or lead substitute ribbon. They wrap this around the line for form a barrel and cut it off when the weight is as desired.



It’s certainly a sensitive enough way to fish, even though there can be quite a lot of weight involved, under that float. There is no excessive shooting pattern either.

 

[john step]

Sometimes it just doesn't matter a toss. However, sometimes it really does matter. I recently fished a small local commie (rod to test). It's lifting with fish, but there's lots of small stuff (roach, rudd and skimmers) that tend to be fairly shy biting.

There was a venue regular already set up on the next peg to the one I chose. This old boy was using a fairly short, thick (pellet) waggler, though was rigged for conventional maggot work. Having watched him for a little while, I was convinced that he was getting bites that he just wasn't seeing due to the insensitivity of the float. I set up with a Drennan glow tip and caught a fish a chuck.

It took about five minutes for him to ask me what bait I was using. After an hour or so of watching me catch, he upped sticks and moved, telling me that he just couldn't pick a peg recently. I didn't have the heart to suggest that picking a peg probably wasn't the issue. I hope the fish were more accommodating on his new peg.

Yes sometimes one feels that one cannot comment or advise as some folk are so fixed in thinking.

PS. peterjg I agree with oversensitivity at times but sometimes its just ridiculously heavy with no thought about where shot should go.

 

[theartist]

Yes sometimes one feels that one cannot comment or advise as some folk are so fixed in thinking.

I remember helping a guy catch his first barbel on the float last year, showed him how to rig the float keeping it really really simple. He caught one and I let him keep the float which was a wire stemmed stick, I even let him have my swim which was chocca with plenty of chub and barbel and told him to feed every cast. I returned an hour later to find him with no fish using the stick as a waggler, really riding up and of course he wasn't feeding. It's like everything I said went out the window

It is weird the mindset but I reckon we all have traits that others think is bonkers

 

[john step]

I remember helping a guy catch his first barbel on the float last year, showed him how to rig the float keeping it really really simple. He caught one and I let him keep the float which was a wire stemmed stick, I even let him have my swim which was chocca with plenty of chub and barbel and told him to feed every cast. I returned an hour later to find him with no fish using the stick as a waggler, really riding up and of course he wasn't feeding. It's like everything I said went out the window

It is weird the mindset but I reckon we all have traits that others think is bonkers

I had a similar experience years ago on a stretch which I suspect is the same place on the Lea? I gave a chap half my lump of garlic sausage paste. He wasn't getting anything in a spot crawling with chub. I showed him where to cast and went back to my swim.

When I returned to see how he was getting on, he had chucked the sausage meat in and had continued to use his single maggot and was still blanking. He said he didn't think the meat would work. Apparently it wasn't even worth trying. mg:

 

[nottskev]

I'm usually tempted to try and help if I see someone fishing hopelessly. The results vary. A lot depends on whether the person already has some bits of the jigsaw in place. If they do, they'll probably get the point of your advice and explanation, whether it's plumb up, sink your line, cast here rather than there, keep feeding or whatever. If they don't have enough pieces already in place, it's odds on they won't see how the piece you're offering fits in or why it's important.

 

[mikench]

Why are you all getting at me?

Some people rarely plumb up either.:help:

 

[john step]

Why are you all getting at me?

Some people rarely plumb up either.:help:

OI Mike ! If you can catch bream enough to make Skippy jealous its not aimed at you:wh

 

[barbelboi]

Some people rarely plumb up either.

I rarely plumb up on the rivers/streams local to me as I've a pretty good knowledge of the topography - I tend to guesstimate and then, if necessary, adjust the stick to where I get takes rather than snagging on the weed................

 

[bracket]

Putting to one side some of the extreme examples that have been quoted, I think it is a case of: It's not what you do but the way that you do it. The the first time I drew next to Trent Legend Johnny Moult. I was gob smacked at the amount of float he had showing. This was pre caster and stick float days so no fishing on the drop. The bait was usually presented on or over depth. Suffice to say it worked for him and he could read what was happening well enough. This was on The Rack at Burton Joyce. He gave me a right banjo-ing as I recall. Pete.

 

[bennygesserit]

there is a lot happy splodgers about - but they would be even happier if they caught more
Thing is even a happy splodger can have a red letter day and catch loads of fish
So if that happens once in a while there is no need to improve technique you can blame the weather or lack of fish etc etc

I find this time around in my fishing hobby ( 3rd time 6 - 15 , 48 - 54 , 57 onwards ) I am paying much more attention to reading and thinking about a way to consistently catch on a canal whereas my previous technique was just to throw a very few casters over the float once a minute - now that can sometimes catch a lot of fish ! but ( a confession ) I have never even tried groundbait on a canal , I tried Licjy Bread once and totally overfed it , so it depends , as someone else said , if you want to learn and enjoy learning you will improve but you can still fish poorly and enjoy fishing.


I do remember fishing a pool and the baliff said your float is too big , changed it and started catching , but I am the kind of guy who doesn't get offended at well intention'd unsolicited advice ( unless its when I am cycling and some guy says "oi mate stay on the road not the pavement" [ it was a designated cycle lane ] )

 

[Another Dave]

I feel like I’m constantly banging on about Asian Fishing recently. However, they use very sensitive long floats for Herabuna (Crucian Carp).

They had some of these in Decathlon today. I've watched some of the Japanese 'crucian'* videos and in some ways it appeals to me. Using two hooks isn't something that sits well with me, despite once being the child inventor of the '10 hook stickleback stick'. Those fizzing hookbaits do look great though, i have to say.

Was it you that posted a video here about crucian feeding with underwater footage?


*I have to say our Crucians are a much better looking species

 

[108831]

This is a story I've told many times,I was waggler fishing maggot at Makins(a long time back)catching carp,chub,bream etc,nobody was catching,it was freezing,with a North wind causing a tow,the swim I was fishing was ten feet deep and going back against the wind,I was fishing a 3aa plus insert float with about 14mms of tip out dragging two number ten shot to slow it down a bit,this guy came up and watched me for about ten minutes,then said I'd catch a lot more if I dotted the float right down,normally I would just say 'really',but I thought I'd educate him and explained why I was doing it,he wouldn't have it and got a little disgruntled,I'm not sure,but I probably had a few liners which he mistook for failed bites,if I had,had a dotted float I would have full hooked striking at those....

 

[mikench]

I have loads of floats and vary them according to light conditions and how far out my swim is. The common denominator is always the knowledge that the float I
is intended to be a visual aid to a bite therefore one must be able to see it.

I have recently started using Drennan Visiwags 1 and 2 floats, usually the 1g but up to 2g if I'm casting any distance. They require little additional shotting other than the link swivel of the cralusso type and the bait. A piece of meat or a pellet weighs more than a caster or maggot. I always have At least .5" or a little more showing. The visiwag has a glow tip which glows in sunlight thus making it visible. My question is why would I dot it down to a pimple so that it wasn't visible and couldn't glow? Even the nibbles and sucks of gudgeon, roach and small perch are indicated by the float so it is sensitive. I'm probably wrong but if the float dips, moves sideways or rises then that could be a bite and so I lift my rod tip by way of a strike and usually a small fish ensues or even a larger one.

My laziness in plumbing up is largely caused by my preference to fish overdepth or up in the water. I never use a dumpy pellet waggler.