Has float fishing becoming a dying art?

[Dick Dastardly]

Does that make me an old git then?

 

90% of my fishing is done with a float, I only reach for the ledger gear when conditions or the type of water make a float impractical.

 

Mat

Im afraid so Matt! :)It seems that its regarded as an old fashioned method used by old men now as even youngsters go straight into boillie and buzzer fishing now! Not decrying or blaming anything/anyone (although I do think its a GREAT shame that more people don't at least start off using the float) simply commenting on what I have seen both on the banks and in the shops over the past few decades.

[wotnobivvy]

Great news. SHMBO just came home from shopping, and there is a float on the front of my Anglers Mail. OK it's a pellet float, but might it spark a revival

[Andy_1984]

I do see a lot of carp anglers fishing a float so it cant be all their fault

 

i think there has definitely been a shift toward a certain type of angler fishing ledger tactics as it allows them to sit and drink lager or roll a fat one without having to watch a float but I would say it is actually the attitude of the angler rather than the species they choose to fish for that dictates the method they use.

 

Oi, i dont drink.

[sebn]

I would tend to agree that it is a dying art, but that is only annecdotal from my own experience. On the lakes that i fish on my club water it is incredibly rare to see anyone using a float. If i do see anyone using them it does seem to be older guys. Personally i love using floats but i also spend time ledgering on longer sessions for carp. Even on longer sessions when not a lot is happening i love getting out the float rod or pole and spending a few hours catching roach etc. There is just something so "interactive" with using a float, something that i just dont experience when ledgering.

 

I do think it is a generational thing also. When i was younger, around 6 or 7 i started going to the local public pond with my dad who liked to use a pole. I grew up using floats and if i am honest i wasnt really aware of the "ledgering method" until much later in my life. I took a long break from fishing and started again a couple of years ago. (I'm 28 for reference) I have a great friend who is my fishing partner (of the same age) and he grew up ledgering and very rarely, if ever, using floats. Even today, his prefered method on most waters is ledgering. I recently picked up a couple of cheap poles and gave one to him, we decided to spend a day at a new water fishing for species other than carp. He really really enjoyed it, it wasnt something that he had done a lot of before and it was great to see his excitement when watching the float bob up and down. I dont think the kids now days get much exposure to float tactics with magazines and tv shows, so they arent aware of the magic of the method.

 

This year we joined a local club that has access to some great waters and some amazing river stretches. Since the opening of the new season we have concentrated on fishing the rivers with float tactics, trotting and fishing the pools. I love it, something great about roaming along a river watching a float. There is obviously times where we use feeders and ledgers whilst targetting the barbel in the river, where its appropriate, but there is definitely something magical about float fishing.

 

To be honest, i am rambling now and lost my train of thought. Just thought i would share my irrelevant thoughts.

[Andy Macfarlane]

Not at all methinks. Certainly me, Andy_1984 and our fishing buddies all float fish par for course and I'd say I see more people using floats, albeit badly, more than I ever did. It used to be just arelesey bombs and drilled bullets everywhere but now even if it's the lowest form of float fishing being employed, the bubble float, it's still float fishing of sorts. I also think it's a matter of experience for the bubble-float crew. Give them 5 minutes to see why proper floats work and why and they'll soon try....mostly.

Edited July 11, 2013 by Andy Macfarlane

[robtherake]

Oi, i dont drink.

 

A teetotal Scot! Whatever next

[terry t shirt]

I Recently tried replenishing my stick / wire stemmed floats the thing I noticed instantly was I couldn't. None of the shops near me stock any range. One shop dug out a box of old image floats that nobody brought then and I didn't want now either (he still wanted £2 a float )

[fishy_con]

The first method i was taught was float fishing, first on the basingstoke canal and then trotting on the wey, it was then that i was shown how to use a feeder set up and got my first quivertip Ive never been a carp fisherman firstly because it seemed too expensive and also very boring. That being said I would like to try it properly at some point but i much prefer being mobile by the river than stationary beside a lake (at least in this weather!) come winter i might be happy to wrap up in realtree and get back in the bivvy lol

[kirisute]

Waggler fisherman all the way! Hate ledgering and I don't even own a method feeder!!

If I really really must; then I float ledger or use a Polaris

[Rusty]

Float fishing rivers? No I don’t think it’s a dying art, there are plenty of trotters out there who are keeping it alive.

 

Stillwater float fishing is a different matter, hardly ever see it these days and that’s such a shame because like a lot of anglers my introduction to the pastime was watching a perch bobber or quill desperately hoping that the next bite wasn’t another minnow. It’s a skill in itself and I don’t have it, end tackle and presentation are so different to what you might do if sending a float down the river.

 

I’d love to be able to float fish a lake properly.