The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Hi all not sure if this has been discussed before or whether it's a pure made up piece of information, but talking to the old man recently we got talking about stick floats and he mentioned that apparently some form of stick float was designed for use on the Macclesfield canal. Only other bit of information about it he remembers was it was a friend of Graham Marsdens that was using it, hopefully someone on here can help.

I think the originals were indeed made for canal fishing by benny ashurst ?
Some interesting stuff here

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-th ... ny-ashurst

That was a nice read, always nice to know a little about how things came about.

If my memory serves me right some of the very first patterns of stick floats were from the likes of Kevin and benny ashurst these were known as the Trent trotters that the Nottingham lads used to use

Billy lane around that sought of time was more of an Avon float and waggler man,

I have a vast collection of sticks and have got a few of the original Trent trotters myself along with other floats from the names I've mentioned and also Ivan marks etc

All the best

Stuart

Apparently Billy Lane's least favourite float was the stick float and he reckoned they were only useful for trotting casters. He waxes about them in his book Encyclopedia of Fishing Floats.

Santiago wrote:Apparently Billy Lane's least favourite float was the stick float and he reckoned they were only useful for trotting casters. He waxes about them in his book Encyclopedia of Fishing Floats.

Apologies yea sorry mate, Billy was was more of an Avon float man aswell as his passion for wagglers

All the best

Stuart

Benny Ashurst was widely reputed as developing the stick to fish his local 'flash' with chrysalis.

Tengisgol wrote:Benny Ashurst was widely reputed as developing the stick to fish his local 'flash' with chrysalis.

Best fishes

Stuart

According to his book " Match fishing with Benny Ashurst" his idea of the stick float settling in a slow arc was to be able to register the shyest of bites from canal roach as the bait fell through the water. The stick floats use on rivers became an advantage later as casters gained in popularity.

The history of billy lane was correct at first he never cared much for the stick float but in his later books he did like the wire stem stick float.
See match fishing by billy lane