Float Making Materials

[sis the roach]

slider floats

After a frustrating couple of trips fishing for big roach in deep water I`ve come to the conclusion that theres no float available to do the job properly.

 

So...........its time to make some.

 

The floats are going to be sliders, bodied wagglers to be exact. I will be making the floats with long inserts in the top to accentuate the dropper shots settling.

 

Been having a mooch on ebay and found some balsa bodies so now I need to get the stem material. In times past when I used to make my own I used sarkandas reed but it was a sod to paint and fairly brittle. A few searches have made me consider peacock quill but I`ve never used this before. Is peacock the way to go?

 

Also, the insert. Someone suggested the bamboo skewers from Sainsburys, does this still hold good?

 

Next, the bottom ring. Obviously this needs to be small to stop the knot slipping through. Is straightening a small hook the way to go or is there a better method?

 

One thing I bumped into when searching was that somone recommended loading the float a bit. Is this worthwhile, does it stop tangling and the float flying up the line on the cast?

 

Yonks back I used to knock up my own wagglers but stepping into the world of slider floats seems to open a whole new can of worms.

 

Any advice is appreciated!

[Dick Dastardly]

Budgie

 

They`re for stillwater mate. The roach in this particular lake seem to like overwintering in the deepest areas of the lake, which can be as much as 18ft. If I can get them up in the water (usually later in the day) then a loaded crystal fished on the drop at half depth can be brilliant but most of the time the roach are either on the deck or in the last two foot of water.

 

Ok mate.When I lived in Germany we fished a pit where the average depth was 30' even close in.Roach were the main target and slider float was the method.

 

I started on the standard book reccomended slider float set ups utilising shop brought floats.Soon realised that for the job they were not the best! Basicly it soon became apparent that the heavier bulk load of shot you used the quicker your bait gor down to the fissh and less the float "walked back" up the line whilst this was happening. Started making 5-6SSG floats which did the job yet were still very sensitive. Best way I found to make these (and to keep the overall size down ) was to forget the traditional balsa body with cane/quill stem.The float was shaped out of a single piece of balsa.Im sure modern materials such as posifoam would be even better but Ive no idea where to source it and how to work with it.

 

As usual the type of eye mounted in the base was important.Better to use a larger than traditional eye and a bead so it was more free running.

 

Bulk shot ws often replaced by a large ollivette/drilled barrel lead.Hook link ws best attached by a swivel to avoid tangling on the way down.

 

Will try scanning one of the origonal floats tommorow.

[Severn Wolf]

Basically it soon became apparent that the heavier bulk load of shot you used the quicker your bait gor down to the fissh and less the float "walked back" up the line whilst this was happening.

 

Yeah, it really is a balancing act eh!

 

I got hold of a couple of Ultra sliders t`other day and gave `em a run out on Saturday. The 4ssg float I chose ended up taking 5 1/2 ssg! Lovely to use, no `walkback` and a joy to cast but the tip was just too bulbous for finicky roach. Its a good starting point for the home made jobbies though.

I ended up on a Drennan peacock waggler that took 2 1/2ssg. Didn`t settle as well as the Ultra but the tip was fine and bites showed up really well. 138 roach to 1.13 seemed to prove that the float was ok!

 

Emma on here kindly sent me some quills to try for which I`d like to publicly thank her! Lovely gesture which is well appreciated.

 

I was wondering that you mention cane stems. What sort of cane? I`m planning on knocking up floats with a range of different stems so I can try `em side by side and work out the best material.

[chavender]

wooden BBQ skewers are between 2.5 & 3mm dia and dirt cheap ,theres these very good beach i think stems on e-bay and i beleave some use the bamboo cane ribs out of a screen / blinds from Ikea

 

i've been happy using the BBQ skewers and the stems off e-bay as they make good incerts as well

 

happy float making

[Dick Dastardly]

Here is a scan I just did of two of the floats I used back in the mid 80's.Would only come out in blck and white for some reason.The eye set ups not shown as these were on adapters and I cant find any of them!

 

[BRPS]

If you're looking for something suitable " off the shelf " then might I suggest that you look at the Benwick Sports website under the floats section. Those manufactured by Drake and Tamas Walter seem particularly appropriate..