Simplifying floats

[Philip]

Do we really need 2 x no.4, 3 x no.4, 4 x no4 and so on?

At the cutting edge of match fishing where a fish might make the difference between a brown envelope or being an also ran then I’m inclined to think yes but on the more general pleasure fishing stage, where overthinking often leads to under enjoyment, I’m thinking no.

I think your comment applies to so much in angling today; not just float fishing. Like everyone else I have float tubes crammed with far too many floats most which never see the light of day. Its easy to get so focused on tiny details that its easy to overlook the important things such as say spending a bit more time on location.

When I buy say river floats, say Chubbers for example ...I usually just get 3 different sizes ..."Big" , "Medium" and, "Small" ...thats about as far as it goes for me...I rarely look at the shotting weight written on it, I just look at the float and think that looks about the size I will need. Perhaps a load of intermediate sizes would make a tiny difference in very specific situations but any benefit will probably be so small its hardly worth worrying about at least for the fishing I do.

 

[flightliner]

Markg, a friend sent me a picture of of a promotional type card that any tackle dealer in the sixties would have on display in a shop.
It was displaying. Many differant sizes of a fluted designed float with a four sided plastic vane.
They were very interesting as I'd never seen the likes of them in the sixties, they were called Lo —mass float, s,my surname as it happens.
I asked my friend where the card came from and he said they were from a table top sale near Retford, I asked if he could ask the owner if he would sell me one, his reply was that he now owned all of them and he would let me have one!
Tbh I never believed fluted floats were any good, the notion that they "gripped" the current was fine but if the current veered left or right the float would go that way.
When I was seriously fishing for BB with floats I often had trouble with a cross downstream wind so I designed a float to cancel out the cross drift.
It certainly helped.
If I get one of the Lo — mass floats I'try to remember to put it on Steve's thread!

 

[peterjg]

Another advantage of vaned or fluted floats which I forgot to mention: they can readily be over shotted so that they sink but because they are easy to hold back they trot well - you know what I mean - and can be very sensitive.

 

[no-one in particular]

Markg, a friend sent me a picture of of a promotional type card that any tackle dealer in the sixties would have on display in a shop.
It was displaying. Many differant sizes of a fluted designed float with a four sided plastic vane.
They were very interesting as I'd never seen the likes of them in the sixties, they were called Lo —mass float, s,my surname as it happens.
I asked my friend where the card came from and he said they were from a table top sale near Retford, I asked if he could ask the owner if he would sell me one, his reply was that he now owned all of them and he would let me have one!
Tbh I never believed fluted floats were any good, the notion that they "gripped" the current was fine but if the current veered left or right the float would go that way.
When I was seriously fishing for BB with floats I often had trouble with a cross downstream wind so I designed a float to cancel out the cross drift.
It certainly helped.
If I get one of the Lo — mass floats I'try to remember to put it on Steve's thread!

That's interesting Peter, I think they may have been underrated, quote-"the notion that they "gripped" the current was fine but if the current veered left or right the float would go that way." unquote. I don't see that as a problem as in some situations that's what I want. I think these will be easier to mend the line with which is what attracts them to me. I thought I had one but cannot find it, it was damaged so I think I might have thrown it out. I might try to make some, something with a longer antenna maybe and experiment with different sized vanes; haven't used the superglue for a while.. They are selling for £7.95 and £11.95 on ebay!!!

 

[ian g]

Mark , I watched this guy the other day making a fluted float . Might be of interest.

 

[no-one in particular]

Thanks Ian, interesting, not quite what I had in mind, I got lost at the lathe stage, I am thinking more along the lines of sticking some wood on an old cork float I have or maybe some feathers, sort of Purple fashion, he usually follows me and he has been a bit short of ideas lately. I might even make a video.

 

[ian g]

Thought you would have your own take on it Mark

 

[no-one in particular]

Thought you would have your own take on it Mark

Ha, I was always going to do that Ian, but I will stick to the principles of mass and resistance but it wont be pretty, it makes a lot of sense when you think about it; funny why these floats went out of fashion.. I think I will attempt to make longer antenna though for the old eyesight.

 

[ian g]

I put it up mainly to show how he fluted the float which I found interesting . He' quite engaging but the floats he makes are a bit over the top in terms of finish. Still it keeps him happy