Pole float weights

[Lopz]

Hi all,

Can anybody tell me what 4x10, 4x12 etc mean in relation to pole float weights does it mean the float takes 4 No 10 shot or 4 No 12 shot for example? Also how do you know how many shot a float takes when talking in grams for example how do you know how much shot a 0.5g or 1g float takes? I know you can shot them by trial and error but it would be nice to know roughly how much shot each float can take. Is there a chart available?

 

What size float is regarded as a small or large float i.e. how big or small do pole floats get?

Thanks for your help

[david platt]

Hi Lopz,

I make my own Pole rigs up myself because

I found that most of the made up rigs I

bought were not weighted correct so, I

bought a little device from the Angling

shop, which was a pole float cup, it is the

same size as a 2p, Qtr of an inch deep

with a raised piece in the middle the

centre of this is rubber with a hole in it

the method is.

Get your self a bucket, fill with water,

hold the pole float cup place the end

of the bristle of the float you want to

shot in to the hole in the rubber, then

place cup in water put in the weights

until the float is shotted to your likeing.

I know this does not answer all of your

question but, I hope it helps

david

Ps the wider the brim of the bucket the better

 

[ 17 April 2002, 08:37 PM: Message edited by: david platt ]

[Mally]

Hi Lopz,

 

Right correct me if i'm wrog but this is my undersatnding of pole float's and i have fished with a pole for about 5 years now. Anything with a 4xsomthing on it is generally a small float, used in really sensitive setups or in shallow water or both. Foat sizes in grammes are much easier, Basically you want .1 of a gram for every foot of depth, so in a five foot deep swim you would want a .5 gramm float. However this is only a rule of thumb, if you were in a five foot seep swin and you were fishing on the drop then you may wany to use a lighter float, say .3 of a gram, i think this equates to around 4x12. Or if you were fishing a eight foot swim on a river which was flowing and you wanted morre control over your float, i.e. to be able to hold back then you may well use a much heavier float, say up to 2.5 maybee even three gramms? But i wuold also have a .8 gramm float set up to run through "at pace" as you never know how the fish will respond to a particular presentation. As for float sizes up to three gramms will cover 99% of situationss you are likley to come across unless your going to ireland or somewhere of the like. A 1 gramm float should take around 7 or 8 number eight shot plus a couple of samll droppers. Hope this is of help to you, after time you will come to not even look at what it says on the side of the float, experiance will tell you which float is right and roughly how much shot will be needed to shot it!!

 

Good luck!!

[davidP]

I may be wrong about this, but I'd always assumed that because the continental floats were always marked like this it referred to styl lead sizes rather than shot sizes. Hence 4x10 would refer to 4 size 10 styl weights. This would mean that a 4x10 was actually lighter than a 4x12 as styl numbers work in the opposite way to shot in that they get lighter as the number gets smaller.

 

For what it's worth, here's the values given on my tub of styl weights :

 

Size 12 - 0.064g

Size 11 - 0.048g

Size 10 - 0.035g

size 9 - 0.025g

Size 8 - 0.017g

size 7 - 0.010g

 

And here's a comparative list of shot sizes taken from an Angling Times shot conversion chart sticker they gave away a couple of years ago :

 

2 x AAA = SSG 1.89g

2 x BB = AAA 0.81g

2 x No.3 = BB 0.40g

2 x No.4 = No.1 0.28g

2 x No.6 = No.3 0.20g

3 x No.8 = No.4 0.17g

No.6 0.105g

No.8 0.063g

 

Reading it again it doesn't actually seem to make sense. AAA = 0.81 but 2AAA = SSG which is 1.89g.

I've always worked on the principal that 2 x 8 = 6, 2 x 6 = 4, 2 x 4 = 1, 2 x 1 = BB, 2 x BB = AAA & 2 x AAA = SSG, and it's always worked out pretty well. The thing is that the reasons for the specific shot sizes are lost in the mists of time, and as with so many things from past, there is no guarantee that there was ever any specific corrolation between the sizes.