Fishing with Floats...Panfish

[Matt Johnson]

Floats come in all different shapes and sizes. Whether you're looking for bright colors, weighted, slip, stationary, they all have their place and time. Choosing a float seems like a tough decision at times. Here are a few ways to determine what floats fit for what situation, as well as some different stylesof floats and how they are effective on panfish.

Like stated earlier, floats come in all shapes, sizes, styles, colors...and determining which float to use can be tough sometimes. Picking a float that best suites your situation is first and foremost.

SLIP FLOATS

Designed for fishing in slightly deeper water where the float doesn't get caught up on the rod tip when retrieving. Setting up a slip float might seem difficult at first, but after rigging one up ts rather easy. Equipped with a slipknot or rubber stop, you want to slide the knot/stop onto the line by either running the line through the small plastic tube (knot) and pushing the knot onto the line, or putting the line through the wire opening (stop) and pull the rubber stop over both the wire line and fishing line ending up with the stop only on the fishing line. Most of these kits will come with directions, and will be explained in detail.

Once you have yourknot/stop on your line you are ready to rig up your slip float. Some people will add a bead before the float, but it isn't always necessary. The bead acts as a stopper between the float and the knot/stop, just an added feature. After applying your knot/stop you can now slide on the float by running the line through the top of the float through bottom like a straw. Now the float is rigged and ready for a jig/hook. I like to use weight of some sort when rigging a slip float. Split-shot work very well, or else a jighead. Once you have the jig/hook tied on you are ready to hit the water.

Adjusting your slip float is easy, all you do is slide the knot/stop to the depth you want the float to stop at. The higher you slide the knot/stop the deeper the bait will be. I always pull the knot tight once I get my depth set, that way there won't be any chance of the knot sliding while you fish, which would change the depth at which you have the float set.

Now your slip float is a fish catching machine!

STATIONARY FLOAT

These are your floats where you lift the spring and slide the line into the groove style of floats. Designed for fishing in shallower water. A good choice for fishing the weeds and shallow pockets, or around docks and such. No need to rig anything other than the float for this one. Rigging these floats are easy and pretty straight forward. Another example of a stationary float is your classic round red and white bobber.

BUBBLE FLOATS OR CASTING BUBBLES

A float designed so that it can be filled with an amount of water so you can cast small baits easier. These floats are made of plastic and can be both slip and stationary style floats. A very effective float to have on windy conditions or when finesse fishing with a very light jig or fly. I also like to use these floats when popper fishing, makes it easy to cast those lightweight poppers.
The more water you put in these floats the heavierthey get, and the less resistance it takes for the fish to pull it under. Adjusting the resistance of these floats can come in handy as well, especially on light biting panfish.

Once determining which float is best for you, than you have to adjust the float so it fishes properly. A lot of fisherman bypass this part of the preparation. If a float is set to give too much resistance than you might be missing a lot more strikes than you should be. Panfish are known forinhaling and exhaling all in one motion, and a float that gives too much resistance wilnot only cause you to miss strikes, but the fish will also feel that resistance and spit the bait out before you get a chance to set the hook. You want to have your float rigged so that it can be taken under by a fish with as little pressure as possible. Some ways to do this is to add split shot, a heavier jig, down-size your float, or add more water to your casting bubble. This way those light biting panfish won't know what hit em!

Now that you are rigged and ready for action, you can decide how you want to fish your float. Are you going to use live-bait and let the bait do the work? Are you going to jig live-bait below a slip float? Are you going to use small plastics below a stationary float in 2 feet of water? There are so many ways for you to present your bait and float and so many different techniques on how to do it.

Live-bait rigging is a popular method, and this method is more of a wait it out approach where you allow the bait to do most of the work. This technique is good for slip floating deeper water or over the tops of rockpiles and weedlines. Minnows, worms and leeches are always good choices, but maggots, insects and grass shrimp also produce a lot of panfish.

One of my preferred methods for float fishing is to use a stationary float with a small plastic without live-bait. This way you can cover water fast without re-baiting. I like this technique for shallow water and around docks. There are two different sequences I like to incorporate when fishing this way. One, a pop/jerk followed by a pause, or two, a steady pull followed by a pause. The pause allows the plastic to return to the starting position, which is the position I chose to be the strike zone. More often than not the strike will occur during the fall or pause phase. You float acts as both a strike indicator and positioning device.

I've touched on just a few of the possibilities that floats can bring, and there are endless more ways to incorporate a float into fishing for panfish. Determining which float is the best for you and getting rigged up is the first step. Balancing the float is next, and this step can be one the most important. After that, its just a matter of how you present it that seals the deal.

Check out more about float fishing...
Fishing With Floats...Panfish

Good Fishin,
Matt Johnson

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Matt Johnson Outdoors
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[Ymmit]

Thanks Matt.

Tim

[CrappieJohn]

Very good post and information Matt! Something I'd like to add here is that if you are using the small rubber football-shaped stops, be sure to purchase the size appropriate for your line size and just before you thread your line thru the wire loop, put a little spit on the rubber as a lubricant so the rubber doesn't split or run off center. If you are using a braided line, use the tie-on stop...theres too much "slip" in the braid to stop the rubber style from creeping up your line.

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Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom

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[delmuts]

again ! great info matt!!