Fantastic Forum (Floats).

[Kleftiwallah]

This is the forum I've been waiting for. I hope any answerers? to questions posed here go into much greater detail for us newbies than other forums.

My first question is about float fishing. Down at Portland Bill on Saturday I lost 'a few' rigs. Am I correct in thinking that a float's job is to suspend the bait above the sea bed (and those nasty grabby rocks)? If this is the case, how do you calculate how deep to set the float - length of line below float? Cheers, Tony O-P.

[Rob]

A float can be used to suspend a bait in mid water, but some of the most productive fishing is when the bait is skipping over submerged rocks or kelp, this is where the wrasse and pollack (and very often bass) feed. To combat snags, use a hooklength of a lower breaking strain than the mainline, if you do snag you'll just lose a hook instead of the whole lot.

Use a stop knot to adjust the depth, or I use a special rubber bead which you can get from any tackle shop. Start off shallow and go a bit deeper every few casts until you start to catch the rocks and then shallow up about a foot. You'll still lose the odd hook, but you'll get twice as many bites.

You will obviously have to continually adjust the depth as the tide floods and ebbs. I use an 8lb hooklength with 12lb mainline and seldom lose more than a hook if I snag. If you're close in use a net to retrieve your float if you lose it.

Hope this helps!

[philtherod]

The carp boys use a marker float (a long float equipped with a swivel at the bottom) to measure the depth. Use a plain lead that will easily sink the float, thread the line (10lb BS per Oz of lead being used) through the lead clip, then through a bead, then tie the float to the line. Attach your lead to the lead clip, and cast the whole shebang out to where you want to measure the depth. Allow to sink until it hits the bottom, then tighten until you feel the lead move. Then feed line a foot at a time from the reel, counting as you go, until the float reaches the surface of the water. That gives you the depth in feet. When you wind back in, the float will submerge back to the lead, and you can wind in and start fishing.

Hope this helps, sounds complicated, but is easy to do.

philtherod

[MikeR]

Just a thought, but using a circle hook might help to prevent snagging due to the hook point pointing towards the shank.

[Kleftiwallah]

A pair of cracking replies, thanks Gent's. MikeR, thanks to you also, you dived in between me reading the replies and thanking everyone....Cheers, Tony O-P.

[steve w]

I plumb the depth when I start.Weight and set up your float as usual don't tie on a hook,tie on a 1oz lead and keep adjusting the stopknot until the float's top is just touching the surface.Cut off the weight tie on your hook and you're at dead depth now adjust to the depth above the bottom you want!To be able to adjust for tide coming in simply pick a spot above the water say 10ft up from the surface and adjust your depth accordingly as the tide rises against your mark.When the tide begins to drop reverse the process!

[terryd]

While on the subject of floats whats a good float rig i bought a bubble type float last week looks like a golfball no idea how to set it up yet. May try google

[TomBettle]

I plumb the depth when I start.Weight and set up your float as usual don't tie on a hook,tie on a 1oz lead and keep adjusting the stopknot until the float's top is just touching the surface.Cut off the weight tie on your hook and you're at dead depth now adjust to the depth above the bottom you want!To be able to adjust for tide coming in simply pick a spot above the water say 10ft up from the surface and adjust your depth accordingly as the tide rises against your mark.When the tide begins to drop reverse the process!

You won't be able to do that in the race at Portland, but you can fish the method that Rob described in anything up to 100 feet or more.

We use it with live mackeral for Bass and it is superb sport.
Remember that you want the bait to be just off bottom if fishing in this fashion.

...so close that you will still snag up every now and then. In fact, if you don't snag up occasionally then you aren't in the strike zone.

[steve w]

Tom, if I was float fishing off a boat I would do it by the depth from the sounder and fine adjustment accordingly,the method I discribed is for unknown rock marks!

[TomBettle]

Where we fish for Bass we know that the depth may be (eg and average 10m deep.

Here we would set the float at 9.75m.
If we don't snag at all over the first few drifts we'd deepen up a smidge until we started to snag a bit to regularly and then shallow the tiniest amount.

Maybe I misread the first post (?), but for some reason I assumed he was on aboat and drifting a race (Probably stems from me fishing from a boat and regularly being in Portland Race).

Of course fishing shore rock marks would involve something of a different technique.
I apologise for any confusion I may have caused (myself or others).