The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Santiago wrote:I have access to an old LAA match stretch on the Thames that has not been fished for decades and is completely overgrown bankside . Do you chaps think that it might be worth trotting a float down

I think your living the dream. Every fisherman dreams are of a stretch that nobody fishes and you have it all to yourself.
Not knowing whats in there is also exciting, just think of all the methods you could try. You could spend years doing this and probably still only scratch the surface.

Have you chaps seen the floats in Kirpan's "Bamboo Winders" thread?
They appear to push the stick-float concept back a few decades...

Vole wrote:Have you chaps seen the floats in Kirpan's "Bamboo Winders" thread?
They appear to push the stick-float concept back a few decades...

I looked, but couldn't comment as I can't think of anything interesting to say. If they are 80 years old, as mentioned. I feel sorry for the poor anglers that used them. I wonder what line and hooks they used.

Vole wrote:Have you chaps seen the floats in Kirpan's "Bamboo Winders" thread?
They appear to push the stick-float concept back a few decades...

viewtopic.php?f=66&t=20639&p=280289&hil ... RS#p280289

It looks like they are fished using string and maybe had a catgut hook link.

The string is probably braided silk. In a recent ebay lot I purchased, some float winders came with quite a few lengths of this type of line.

As for the fishability of the floats, I've made a few plugged quills of very similar design and can vouch that they are both exceptional in casting and bite detection and equal to modern floats. I can also see many similarities between plugged quills and stick floats, enough to say when stick floats were first on the market they were not actually new but merely a re- invention.

Yes, the line looks a bit "whatever comes to hand" *, and the cast would certainly have been hair or silkworm gut, but those floats are a gem of a find, and show that the idea of a slender float with a buoyant tip and dense base goes back probably before the First World War, and possibly a lot further.


*Of course, it might have been "Finest Linen Twist" according to the packet it came from when it probably cost a week's pocket money.

Had a few of these made recently. I've yet to wet a line with them but I can't see why they wouldn't work.

Santiago wrote:The string is probably braided silk. In a recent ebay lot I purchased, some float winders came with quite a few lengths of this type of line.

As for the fishability of the floats, I've made a few plugged quills of very similar design and can vouch that they are both exceptional in casting and bite detection and equal to modern floats. I can also see many similarities between plugged quills and stick floats, enough to say when stick floats were first on the market they were not actually new but merely a re- invention.

Isn't everything a re-invention of something else. Fishing is a very simple sport/pastime usually over complicated by angler's trying to make out it's more than it is. There isn't that many alternatives to floats. Basically a float that is fished bottom end only can be categorised as a wagglers. Floats that are fished top and bottom are river floats. They have various names Sticks/Avons/Balsa's and there are many more sub categories of these.
A simple Quill float can be fished waggler style or top and bottom. Surly the most versatile float out there.
I think if it wasn't for the resurgence of match fishing, we would probably still be using quills today. Every float has been developed to help a matchman get the maximum from his peg. Some were designed to help casting. Some for better bite detection. Others concerns could be strength, so that they can withstand the hammering they get in a 5 hour match.
But one thing is for sure, they all lead back to a basic float like the Quill.

Well put Backhand.

This slight change of direction in this topic has made me decide to try and make some quill floats for doing the same things that I use balsa one's for. It will be interesting to see if the quill one's actually do everything that I want from such float. It won't surprise me if they actually do.