Best bobbers

[thomas j swank]

I'm sure you all know that the type of bobber or color of fly will greatly influence the number of fish you catch. I have outfished my buddy many times and occasionally he does the same to me. I first noticed this when the "Wing It" bobbers appeared on the market. I couldn't buy a gill. He was killing them with the "Wing It". The drag resistance on the "Wing It", is so much lower than most. It does seem to have some trouble in the wind. Sometimes If there is a nick on the line, it will not release the line. All in all, its probably my 1st choice. Does anyone have a favorite to fish with? Let me know.

T.

[Johnny wilkins]

Thill was my teacher (still is).
The floats on the shelves were meant to be introductory. The company that makes those floats has made them less effective over the years by removing components and dumbing down designs for cheaper production.

YES there are far better floats. Also- (( tiny )) floats usually don't make good slips. Please take this the right way- but out of the entire Thill product line- there are few to zero (( tiny )) floats. : )
Now, the good news is for gillers - there are much, much better floats out there (coming soon to friends of BigBlueGill.com). I have been so busy this summer that there has a been a large gap in posting. Sorry to those who have read some posts. I will be back and uber-busy this winter.

U.S. Open Bank-Fishing Championships Sat. - I will "weigh-in" more on this topic but I must have sleep, pack and then hit the road in a few hours for Friday practice. So many lines to tie, so little time.
Johnny

[bluegillboogieman]

OK, got to eat my words. Everybody showed up @ 6AM ready to fish. I had rigged my 10 year old grandsons new ultralight with a Thill slip float with a single"B" sinker and crickets. His worked fine, mine didn't. Difference was bead used between float and stopper. My bead was holding the line somehow. I no longer have zero fish on the Thill float. Both grandsons got some nice 8, 9 and 10 inch gills today. While I was coaching them, my quill was doing it's thing like always on the Crimson pole. My grandson's mother, our youngest daughter came in first again with biggest gill of the day, "Ole Purple Face". Quills and Thills did the job today. Crickets were also the ticket.

[bluegillboogieman]

I bought some small Thill slip bobbers to try slip float fishing. I have to say I am underwhelmed. I have to put a lot more weight for a sinker to get the slip part to work. The Thill is weighted, which I like, but the bobber stopper just lays where it landed, the cricket is being kept away from the big boys! I use a single "B" sinker usually to get the slow, almost natural fall of insects as they sink. I've had to put 3 of them on to get the cricket to pull the line through the slip bobber. It's just being ignored, ZERO fish on it so far. Crimson pole with good ole quill is still tearing 'em up.

[bluegillboogieman]

Hey LOFR, they had Crimson poles on sale too!

[bluegillboogieman]

Grandsons birthday party Saturday. He wants to be at the pond @ 6 AM. We'll see. His dad asked me to get up the bait today so it's one less thing tomorrow. Went to the last surviving bait shop in town for crickets. Big sign on the door GOING OUT OF BUSINESS, everything on sale. ( except crickets!) Looked around, saw a tray of porcupine quills. Grabbed the whole thing, got 'em for about half price. Didn't really need 'em right now but they ain't that easy to find anymore. Like bait shops! I want to thank LOFR for teaching me how to use them properly, though I still don't have the hang of it on a fly rod. But I got the CRIMSON pole use down pat. Truly the best float ever concieved. Mine lifted up a half inch yesterday and I hooked a 12 " papermouth in the top lip just because this super sensitive float told me something touched my bait.

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

Nothing beats the good old fashion African Porcupine Quill in the 7 to 9 inch size , they float vertically out of the water 2 to 3 inches, they have zero resistance ,so you know when a fish is just licking it or just swimming by. Quills are simple to adjust depth and they let you know if your fishing too deep by not standing up.

[chris]

the smaller the better i like thill the best