Comment

Comment by Travis J. Anderson on March 2, 2012 at 2:50am

Slip floats rock!!

Comment by Dwayne Denison on January 17, 2012 at 1:11pm

amen John

Comment by John Sheehan on January 16, 2012 at 5:02pm

Nothin on these posts will discourage me from float fishin'!! I 've had too much success with it .Even while doin' it wrong LOL!

Comment by Johnny wilkins on January 16, 2012 at 4:56pm

No disrespect taken.

Sometimes when trying to explain things, outside influences really cloud the water. BUT - BUT, you are in the Slip float area and you have seen it said that slip floats shouldn't be used in shallow water. I DO get what you are saying.

Comment by Rob Hilton on January 16, 2012 at 3:44pm

No disrespect intended fellas, but, Lots of 'over-thinking' here... I'm afraid all this Scientific chat will have some of our Big Bluegill mates shying away from float fishing altogether. I grew up in England where Float fishing is very popular and is a tried and tested method of catching fish. First rule of float fishing... Don't use a slip float if you don't have to... I.E. Use a 'Fixed' float when fishing water that is shallower than the length of your rod. (A 12 or 14 foot rod will afford you lot's of leeway here).The most important thing in any kind of float fishing (fixed or slip) is to have the float weighted until it is at neutral buoyancy or "as close as you can get to it".

Prior to going fishing I always set  up the floats I anticipate using in a bucket or a pool if you have one. It's close enough until you get to the lake. If you have to make any slight changes, it shouldn't take very much. I think most people will find with a little experimentation and practice, floats set up this way will give very good results. There will 'always' be variations of sensitivity... and there is no perfect solution to every situation. Let's be honest, if you start considering some of the things mentioned in some of these posts, you'll spend more time playing around with your rig, than you will fishing. Take it from me guys... you can drive yourself nuts trying to think of every possible variant.  Some of the comments I have read here are sources of valuable  information, but some border on the surreal. Set up a few floats and go try them out... it's a very sensitive and 'fun' way of fishing... don't out think it.

Comment by Johnny wilkins on January 9, 2012 at 7:38pm

True- you can only learn what you experience and you can only learn through experience... I would go with lots of practice - that beats experience.

Although, like any sport, if you practice with bad habits, you will only be as good as your setup.

Comment by Leo Nguyen on January 9, 2012 at 7:05pm

LOL Everything has sciences and physics behind it. But, break it down to layman's styles, David and Johnny, make rigs and go fishing! Nothing beats personal experience.

Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on January 9, 2012 at 6:57pm

Wow! I'm with - Johnny this stuff is bordering on the esoteric. Too complex for me. I stick with my home made slip floats and wagglers, and tie my stop knots from mono. I follow the bead and shot patterning he describes, a la the Euro fashion.

Basically, if Johnny says it, I start there.

Little blades added to jig heads, that I can handle. Anything more than that when it comes to floats, well... I can't wrap my brain around more.

Comment by Johnny wilkins on January 9, 2012 at 4:42pm

Well - you guys are blowing me out of the water with the physics - I started a craze-ouch.

Slip float will never be as sensitive as a fixed float. If you have to figure line stretch into a bite/take indication - something is really wrong. No fish will eat and stretch your line. Fish will swim away and stretch line but if you can't a bite- they are not swimming away.

Slip floats have the line come out the top of the float. Once this is the case, that loop in the line will NEVER be as tight as a 90 degree connection to a fixed float to your rod tip. This loop causes slack, catches wind and offers a brief - but actual delay in hook set as your hook set has to involve the entire float - not just the base of the float.

If you want the most sensitive, accurate and best fishing setup - [ especially for neutral to low-active fish] you want a cane pole or fixed pole no reel - no casting. A slip float can not beat a fixed float in these situations.

When you must cast, and when you must cast to water deeper than your rod... - this is the optimal time for slip floating- then you slip float. Note this- I have found one attribute that large gills have - they are perfect feeding machines. Fish don't waste energy feeding by using too much gill action - in fact it is the opposite. When in a 300 bluegill session, the larger fish often times give LESS of a bite indication than the smaller fish. True.

In terms of knot slip, I am referring to when you cast. When you cast, all the pressure of that float will slide up to the knot and the bead will crash against the stop knot in some cases. More stress is applied to your stop knot when it crashes through the guides. This is when that knot is going to tend to go deeper - higher up your line. With the two knot mono rig - the pro version, you rarely experience the slippage. I use a black Sharpie marker and I mark a 1" section of line. Thicker mark - easier to see. I check my depth   every once in a while to make sure the stop knot is still on that mark or next to it.

Now - this is for live bait and for tough bite situations. Vertical jigging a lure through a slip bobber- I would offer - why the bobber? That would just get in the way. But, talking about using a lure - that is not my thing - I prefer au natural, er at least I prefer my food offering to be au natural - I technically prefer camo.

Comment by Leo Nguyen on January 9, 2012 at 10:15am

Right on Dwayne. Stretches is minimal when you have small fries biting, unless a monster decides to grab your line instead. Otherwise, minimal energy is lost, which can be neglected. However! As I recalled, additional energy also lost due to the mono lines absorbs water. Higher density due to additional weight will reduce the total energy transferred due to interference.

As Johnny mentioned, we can't feel the fishes sucking on the baits as reference to bites, since the disturbance energy is so minute. But when they start to run with it, energy vector in a diagonal direction will surely transfer directly to your line, regardless of line type.

So, sensitivity is the key. I completely drop the mono as the main line, and switch to the light braid, as it sits on top of the water, absorbing minimal to no water. What ever energy is transferred from the bobber will be fully felt in the line at the reel. I have the 2lbs mono, and compared side by side. Nothing beats the braid on slip/fixed float rig, or vertical jigging, unless you switch the mono line down to 1lb. I have yet to try that. Gurus here are using them, so, I may have to venture into that too for the experience. I'm not a surgeon type of guy with delicate hands. 1lb test my cause me more grief than pleasure with a spinner reel. Maybe a long rod fixed line type will aid me with the delicate approach to the 1lb line?

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