Most durable stillwater float

[Angly]

What the most durable make/design of float for stillwater margin fishing. I'm presuming a straight waggler, but which make and/or material? They're to go with the whips that my partner & son use, and therefore need to be fairly durable. So far we've had peacock wagglers crush and/or bend, and crystal wagglers crack and fill with water. Any suggestions?

[Vagabond]

I have porcupine quills that I have fished rigged either "top and bottom" or "bottom only" for around 60 years (and some of those were in use by other anglers before that !)

 

Same goes for bird quills, although they are not quite so robust.

 

Have just seen the reference to margin fishing. When margin fishing (and by that I mean fishing under the rod tip) I use "top and bottom" rigging which allows you to keep the line off the surface.

 

I only use waggler rigging if fishing more than a rod-length out - ie to avoid surface drift.

 

I can't see any advantage of using waggler tactics under your rod tip - comments anyone?

Edited May 20, 2009 by Vagabond

[gozzer]

Have just seen the reference to margin fishing. When margin fishing (and by that I mean fishing under the rod tip) I use "top and bottom" rigging which allows you to keep the line off the surface.

 

I only use waggler rigging if fishing more than a rod-length out - ie to avoid surface drift.

 

I can't see any advantage of using waggler tactics under your rod tip - comments anyone?

 

I agree Dave, I think it would be more of a disadvantage using a waggler like that. You get a more direct strike fishing top and bottom, and you have more choices of shotting patterns.

 

As for durability then 'porkys' do take some beating, but I don't think they're as easy to get hold of as they once were.

 

For fishing under a whip, I'd go for a suitable pole float, or a stick float, depending on the conditions, and species I was expecting.

 

John.

[chavender]

use a standard pole float ,over paint it with sally hanson " hard as nails" nail varnish (its a tuff clear varnish) apart from that the porcupine quills are ,as stated very tuff

[Angly]

With their whip fishing, they are fishing 'to hand', so with a 6m whip, they have (approx.) 6m of line, and of course for easy striking they want a fairly direct line between their whip and float, which by necessity will be (say) 5m away in 1m depth of water - not under the rod tip. Hence the waggler. The added benefit of coarse is being able to sink the line to combat the ever present East Anglian wind!

 

The problem with pole floats Steve (and both whips came with a pole float set up) is that they aren't very durable, in fact they are probably the least durable floats I own.

 

I'm having a shed clear out soon, I have a feeling there might be some of my old fishing gear in there, including porcupine quills, failing that I'll keep my eyes open for some.

 

Thank you.

 

P.S.

 

Can anyone give me a very rough idea of shooting capacity per porcupine quill length?

Edited May 21, 2009 by Angly

[Steve Walker]

The old plastic carbonite/dippa floats were pretty robust, I seem to remember. Haven't seen them in ages, but they were a good system of interchangeable tips, stems and bodies.

[Andy Macfarlane]

I might be wrong Angly but I think that's a 'how long is a piece of string' question. I'd imagine porcupine quills have to be made a tank tested to give you an idea of how they'll perform on the water because the quills will be old, new, long, short.

 

I think.

[Sportsman]

With their whip fishing, they are fishing 'to hand', so with a 6m whip, they have (approx.) 6m of line, and of course for easy striking they want a fairly direct line between their whip and float, which by necessity will be (say) 5m away in 1m depth of water - not under the rod tip. Hence the waggler. The added benefit of coarse is being able to sink the line to combat the ever present East Anglian wind!

 

The problem with pole floats Steve (and both whips came with a pole float set up) is that they aren't very durable, in fact they are probably the least durable floats I own.

 

I'm having a shed clear out soon, I have a feeling there might be some of my old fishing gear in there, including porcupine quills, failing that I'll keep my eyes open for some.

 

Thank you.

 

P.S.

 

Can anyone give me a very rough idea of shooting capacity per porcupine quill length?

 

 

I use 4-5" quills and they take around 0.4g

[Angly]

The old plastic carbonite/dippa floats were pretty robust, I seem to remember. Haven't seen them in ages, but they were a good system of interchangeable tips, stems and bodies.

 

 

Not heard of those Steve, I'll have an Google and keep my eyes/ears open.

[Angly]

I might be wrong Angly but I think that's a 'how long is a piece of string' question. I'd imagine porcupine quills have to be made a tank tested to give you an idea of how they'll perform on the water because the quills will be old, new, long, short.

 

I think.

 

No , you're absolutely right I'm sure Andy, I was just hoping of a very rough guideline.