2012Floats

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Comment by David, aka, "McScruff" on January 2, 2013 at 11:09am

Nice bunch of floats. I scavenge alot of them along the bank, myself, and will repair them if needed. I dont have as many but most of my "hefty" floats are escapees that I have rescued.

Comment by Allen Morgan on December 28, 2012 at 7:18pm

Dick's Sporting Goods has a foam slip-float that will hold up 5 OUNCES of weight!  My goodness!  What's a catfisherman to do???????

This pic is just what I had in my backpack.  I have more in my van, mostly stuff that I've picked up, and some in my big tackle bag that I'm not using.

Comment by Vince Fusco on December 28, 2012 at 6:56pm

Good looking float selection, Allan. When ever I get to a fishing supply store I head straight for the floats, hoping to see one I have never seen before. They fascinate me, and I have quite a collection of "found floats" that I pick up when fishing. I use a lot of the styrofoam plastic peg floats, and the styrofoam slip floats when I am fishing deeper. They are cheap and work well at a lot of places I fish. ,

Comment by Allen Morgan on December 28, 2012 at 4:49pm

I fish mostly from the bank and by wading.  I do have and use a kayak, but I just don't catch as many fish that way.  It does have it's own sense of adventure, as I'm usually getting really way-back into the creeks and such.

Yes, I do have a lot of heavy duty gear.  I started out fishing for cats, and now fish for just about anything.

Comment by John Sheehan on December 28, 2012 at 4:30pm

Thanks for taking the time to explain things Allen .That's some real heavy duty Fishing .You fish Rivers mostly if I recall .Is that correct ?Also Lakes I guess with a Kayak ?

Comment by Allen Morgan on December 28, 2012 at 4:19pm

Styrofoam is more buoyant than balsa.  Most of these floats can be used for catfish, and you don't need a really sensitive float for that.  When a cat takes the bait, the whole thing goes under, WHOOSH!

The big styro cigars on the left half of the pic all are pre-weighted with between 1 1/2 and 3 oz of lead.  I usually just use a few split-shot beneath these to pull the bait down, although the one with the least amount of weight will hold up a 3 oz sinker.  The long cigar float on the right side, and the same float near the center of the pic, are balsa, and pre-weighted as well.  I can't remember how much weight I use to balance those, but it's not much.

I do have a few balsa slip-floats in smaller sizes mixed in, both pencils and pears.  I usually use those while Crappie fishing, when the bite is very light.  They will pull those under with less effort.

On the upper left side is a battery-powered LED Night-Bobby.  I have caught fish on that.  It can be rigged as a slip-float or a clip.  I prefer not to rig these as a slip; I tend to literally throw these off the line.  I'm looking to replace it with a slip-float that runs the line through the center of the float, and still have one or two LED lights.  I've found a couple, one in plastic, one in balsa.  Neither are really big enough to satisfy me, although the balsa one is close.

I typically just use electrical tape to attach a Lithium-battery LED to the top of the styro floats, and use the rubber grommet thingie that you can get that fits over the top of the stems on the slip floats.

NOT PICTURED are a couple styrofoam pear slip floats.  They're HUGE, about the size of a real pear.  They hold up a 3 oz sinker.  I typically use those on my Flathead catfish rods (where they are currently, why they aren't in the pic), as a Float-Paternoster rig.  The float and sinker work together to anchor a sunfish above sheltering structure, so it struggles to swim down, but can't pull the float under.  I don't watch the float much, other that to make sure that the float moves a bit to indicate the bait is alive.  For a strike, I typically just listen for the bait clicker to sound off.

Comment by John Sheehan on December 28, 2012 at 4:04pm

ok your links up here now too: http://bigbluegill.com/group/slipfloating

Comment by John Sheehan on December 28, 2012 at 4:02pm

Wow !,some look like Sturgeon Floats !Which ones do you use for Cat Fishing? Would love to hear the lowdown on weights and Float combos if you feel like gettin' into it .I'm gonna put this link over at the Slip Floaters group .Thanks a lot Allen .Any reason you prefer foam over Balsa?