Ended up using Eagle Claw rubber bobber stops and a golden eye Foam slip float most of the time last year ...Pflueger President UL reel and a Cabelas Easy Touch 7 ' rod.Caught lots of Gills, Seeds, Crappie and Perch and a few Bass and Pickerel.Want to get another panfish slipfloat rod with bigger rod eyes so the stop gets through easier with less friction for distance casting.

Now whats your definition of slip floating?

Jeremy as I know it ,it's a method using a float that slips to a stop instead of using a fixed float.The stop gets slipped around on the line until the depth is reached where fish are holding and biting.The stop will hold it there .If the holding depth of fish is deep its advantage over a fixed bobber is that you can reel the stop thru the line guides and have a short compact slip bobber/ hook /bait package to cast farther and more accurately

Well Ill be! I been usin this and aint even know what it was called. I just called it my ole slidin cork! haha. We mostly fish for crappie with this rig. I have a few BnM 12 ft crappie poles with eyes on it and lil uncle bucks 1:1 reels on em. Now most of the time were fishin water thats anywere from 6ft to 15ft. Its a strait up and down technique due to the fact that its in the heaviest cover we can find most of the time. Slip floatin as you call it is a killer technique. Allows me way more control to vertical fish in tree tops. Weight from the cork is at the bottom so its less likely to have to fight the wind to drop it in coffee can size holes.

The coolest thing I started doing was rigging my BnM 13 ft bream busters. Telescopic poles with slip corks. Since you have all the weight of the cork sittin at the bottom it makes it so easy to control the swing so that you can get under docks, shoot inbetween stumps and slide it into undercut banks.

I use a basspro stopper meant to be used with up to 8lb test, cheap ole walmart 8lb line, 1/8 bullet weight squeezed at the head on the line, hook of choice and a split slip cork. ERNGE and WHITE! Most people dont like the split cork but I personally love em. I may wanna turn around and drift in the middle of the creeks and set up kinda redneck spider rig and I need to get my corks off with out reriging. Works great for me but every scientist has a right to there opinion.

Take a kid slide corkin!
Mayo

Jeremy,you Southern Boys got it going with Panfishing and slip corkin' .Thanks for your instructive post.I used slip floating from shore successfully mostly in April and May ,sometimes I'd wade, last year.I was catching prespawn and early spawn Crappie and Gills mostly here in small NorthJersey lakes.

Steve, do you know what size guides should be on a slip float rod ? My Cabelas 7' Easy touch has real small tip top and guides at the top end. I need to get another SF pole.

Yeah Steve -I can use the Cabelas rod for pitching to structure .For wading and covering larger areas from shore ,while slip floating,I just Have to find a proper rod .

I use a 10' or 12' rod when fishing slip floats (slider rig). These rods are specially made for float fishing.
This is a great way to fish a lot of waters which are deeper than your rod. The longer rod assists in "punching" that float rig out to your target. The added length also helps you to set the hook at greater distances with a lot of line out. The long rod travels faster to the hook-set point than shorter rods. When fishing from shore - go longer. If you have a 10 foot rod, this means you can easily fish 6 - 8 foot of water and cast a fixed float (non-slider). Fixed floats fish better, cast better and are much more accurate, easier to setup.
Sadly, there are nearly no US retailers that carry a really good float rod. Most carry noodle-style rods which are really whippy on the top rod blank. Many times we are forced to pick a medium-action rod when we really want a light action - but stiff rod. I will carry at least one model of float rod coming up. I do intend on carrying one but I am still testing a few before picking one model to recommend. I will however have awesome floats for slider rigs in stock this Spring.
With a long float rod, using the slip float, fishing away from shore in 25' of water is possible. Great for quarry fishing the edge of a quarry wall, or casting past a deep weed bed drop from shore for suspended fish, sliders set up at any depth.

At a later date I will illustrate tying your own knot stops using a piece of fishing line. This is the best stop knot.
The key to a great float rod is that it has a fast action or medium-heavy all the way to within 8 - 5" of the tip. If the rod is too whippy, casting, hook-setting is a lot slower, less accurate. Same with casting.
I do have some killer rigs, gear that you can't find in stores coming up - keep up the great conversation!
The tactics you are using are very good. I hope to boost them to great. One improvement I will offer is helping you fish this rig in the wind with much greater success casting into the teeth of the wind and also holding your float in place. Lastly - line thickness is a huge key. When fishing long distance, I like to use a 3 lb. main line or 2 lb. main line if I can get away with it. If you are worried about snags etc. no problem, my rig includes a leader which creates a breaking-point should you snag a brush pile or lilly pad. A quick tug and all your rig comes back to you, simply put a fresh leader on and get back fishing within 1 minute! If you are using 8 lb. line, tie a 6 lb. leader. 4 lb. line, tie a 2 lb. leader. The connection knots on these should be doubled up. Use a double section of line wrapped where the thicker line connects to the leader. Tie a loop on the end of your main line (after all your float and shot are attached), then your leader loop should connect to that loop. This allows you to break a leader or two on a brush pile or crib without spooking the entire crib and or losing your float/cork. All this talk is getting me excited to go warm-water discharge fishing next week!

That a way John W ,good post!!! Thanks!

I ain't never been guilty of slip floating, but I'm willing to try. I've read up on it when I could and I guess you could say that right now, I'm here for the pictures. I don't see any. I don't mean of the fish either. I mean the set up and them stopper thingys and all. Show me the centerfold will you?

Boogieman

I love using slip bobbers. Allows me to work a jig any way I want without having it hit bottom. Very effective with kids too. Much fewer snags.

I will come up with some pictures and rig setups soon. 2lb. is on the money for cold blooded and metabolism.
All float fishing offers advantages in tough, cold front, Winter, early Spring water conditions. Slip float rigs are slightly less flexible and aren't quite as sensitive as a float with a tiny insert stem.
Fish sip the bait in - it's in my Floating Blog I was trained in float fishing by a World Champion angler from England and fish floats 99% of the time. Great posts guys.

JW and 2lbg,great instructive posts!!! Me, JM and BGBM are all ears!

Count me in as all ears ! I want to hear more, some pictures or vids would go a long way in fowarding your ideas.