What is your favorite float for carp fishing

If fishing on the bottom with large baits like cubes of luncheon meat, and large hooks hooks say size 8 an upwards what would be your first choice of float.

The reason i ask is that i am not that used to this type of waggler fishing as i have always fished light line, fine insert wagglers, smaller baits and find it hard to get out of this mind set.

Went for a quick session saturday morning had to be back by lunch time so opted for one rod, 6lb line, size 8 hook and meat and bread flake, started of with a fairly light float but as there was a lot of tow it ended getting pulled under and out of position, so after rummaging through my float box i opted for a fairly thick peacock waggler and fished about 5 inches over depth with a no 6 weight just touching bottom to stop the float from dragging out of position it worked as i ended up with 9 carp and lost three but couldn't help feeling this rig could have been more sensitive or was i fishing about right.

in hte summer I'll fish a pole float on a rod in the margins, thought being that the line isn't laying o nthe water next to the flaot but coming out of the top but it does get knocked about when the carp are rooting on the bottom

if I've to cast furth than the margin I opt for a straight waggler about 3AAA size, size 10 hook and 8lb main line with 6lb bottom - when the carp are feeding confidently it does the job and I don't loose many

Sounds like i was about right then going by what your saying, i have caught plenty of carp in the margins using little dinky floats but then it's usually shallow, sheltered from the wind and with little tow to contend with.

That's when I use the pole float - in sheltered area in the margins
I've found that the heavier lines and straight float don't put the carp off feeding but do help to stop the float going under with line bites

My Favourite Float when Carp fishing is a Crystal Wagger, shotted down, so that the tip is only showing.

And the best thing about it, is when it disappears

Bob

Same as Bob although I tend not to shot it down too much - eyesight going!!

For me, a Drennan Windbeater in most cases. Most of the 'bites' I get when laying on decent sized baits result in the float moving along the surface rather than sinking and the sight 'blob' makes it easy to keep an eye on.

Some of our more social brethren with young eyes could probably see it from the pub! A float version of remote alarms!mg::wh

For close in work I use a float made up from two ends of a swan quill about 2" long and these are jointed with a short length of peacock quill. One end of the swan quill will be slightly weighted to semi cock it and its fished double rubber with the line off the water if possible to stop drift. This I use in the margins for slow sinking baits when I might add a single shot for indication.

This float I got from David Carl Forbes book 'Successful Roach Fishing' (1973) and is a little beauty for the job! It also does well with casting floating crust (unweighted) and offers very little resistance to taking fish....
For fishing further out any bottom fixed float does okay as the line needs to be sunk, but depending on depth, a driftbeater takes some beating.

If you cannot find a suitable float to do the job you want then its not too difficult to make one to suit the situation you're faced with...


ps I suppose a length of peacock quill with the line through the middle and a shot pinched on just under the float would also do the job in margins.....

Why not a peacock Polaris sliding float weighted with a small Arlesey bomb on the bottom 6-10" from the hook? Cast it, let the float rise to find the depth of water, put the rod in a rest with the tip just under the water, reel in until the float sits with just a ¼" showing (all your line will be sunken), wait for it shooting off. Hardly any resistance until it's too late and you always know your right on the bottom wherever you cast.

Nicky

It sounds like it worked ok, so why change?

However, one other approach you could think about (assuming the carp in question are of a fairly decent size) is using the sensitive float fished nicely overdepth with a bigger shot (BB or AA) anchoring the hooklength - this has helped me combat a big tow before.

You need to play around with the actual lengths on the day, but let's say you fish eight inches overdepth, with the big shot four inches away from the hook. I would then undershot the float by a little (a number four or six), cast to the desired point, sink the rod tip and tighten up to the float. It sounds like an insensitive set up, but it really isn't - bite's will either be big sailaways (tip there one minute, gone the next) or possibly big lifts followed by sailaways.... it's like a scaled down lift method really (or float legering depending on what you want to call it) but the advantage is you can quickly set this up with the same float arrangement you'd use for a less wind affected spot.

The Drennan Puddlechuckers are in a class of their own when fishing shallow water.|They come in loaded and unloaded also straight and insert .Tough as old boots as well never had a broken or damaged one yet even after 5yrs of margin fishing and catching doubles with them .

Drennan International

Yea i know its just a confidence thing im not use to using thick straight wagglers they are usually my last choice i always use a float adapter and start with the most sensitive float i can get away with and change only if necessary, but then again im usually fishing for roach, skimmers, and tench with baits like chopped worm, maggot, bread punch or 4mm pellets but then again a carp picking up a bait isnt the same as a small roach picking up the bait and quickly ejecting because the float isnt sensitive enough. i didnt like the idea of having a large shot on the deck but it was all i could do to stop the drift. usually if i have fished large bait it has been on the lift method which in the case propably would have worked just as well.

---------- Post added at 16:51 ---------- Previous post was at 16:33 ----------

sorry oik i didnt see your post i had a puddle chucker in my float box but dont think i have ever used it.