Traditional style floats: best places to find them.

[GarryProcter]

DaceAce got there before me, and of course offers sound advice. Peacock quill and sarcanda reed also are possibilities as the 'stem' of your waggler (both can be bought on-line). In fact last season I made a few very simple short 'wagglers' for perch fishing on the Macclesfield Canal, as I couldn't find anything in the shops. They were simply short lengths of peacock quill with a portion of cocktail stick inserted and glued in the base, so that I could use a non-traditional Drennan 'quick-change' attachment. A bit of appropriate paint - black for the cocktail stick and fluorescent red, yellow, and (non-fluorescent :D ) black for the tip. They worked very well.

I would not want any payment for floats - I meant I would give them to you. As an old professor I know about young poor students (and I was one myself for ages)! The only 'problem' is that I won't be making any for a while yet as all fishing and real fishing-related activities (as opposed to these virtual ones) are on hold, as Mrs GP is recovering from an operation and I have to look after her. In the meantime, if you are short of any materials, or can't find them easily in small quantities, just let me know. If I have any I'll be happy to let you have them (free).

Finally, if you haven't done a search yet, do have a look on here - there's loads of info on float making, and several amazingly talented real float makers are members (I'm just a 'hack').

[MaggotDrowner]

I would definitely be interested in a couple of floats next time you make some. That's very generous of you! I hope your wife gets better soon. My Mother and Grandmother have both had operations in the last few weeks. I have spent the majority of my Christmas holidays running around after them both.

Those short perch wagglers sound interesting. I have been looking and there does seem to be a lack of smaller sized floats about. I was wondering how you know roughly how much shot will be needed to cock a float before you make it. I was hoping to try and make some that take somewhere around 3-4BBs. To be honest though, I'll be happy if my first floats work at all!

[Vole]

A spaghetti jar or a 2l soft drink bottle , cut off at the shoulder to make a long cylinder, will hold enough depth of water to do a quick shotting-up of a foot or so of quill/ reed/ dowel; once you know how much shot a foot will carry, it's simple to estimate the length of material needed for a desired shot-load.

When you start joining different materials together to make bases, stems and inserts, it's important to consider their densities; a float with dense materials at the base will tend to "flight", dart-like, on the cast and to sit stable in the water, whereas cane antennae tend to make an unstable float which practically waves a flag at you when a lift-bite registers, but tumbles in the air when cast - meaning tangles if you go too far, too hard.
Top-heavy floats can also be a pain to cock, lying trapped in the surface film... one of the secret benefits of the sight-bob is its help in breaking the grip of surface tension. Elder pith is particularly useful here.

[Nobby]

When there is spaghetti in the jar I go to an old hot dog jar I got in Lidl...it's about 12 inches tall and can be used to test the shotting of all but the longest wagglers.

[River Roach]

Loads of great advice here. I'm in exactly the same boat, so a couple of evenings ago I got impatient and thought I'd try it with stuff I had in the house, I had already bought some balsa on my travels a few weeks ago.

It's time consuming but that's what Iv really enjoyed about doing it.

They are far from pretty, but Iv had fun so far.
Looking forward to painting.

It's abit of a strange collection of floats but all just floats that Iv thought " damn I need a...."

[Scott Thompson]

Nice first attempt, well done.
I bought some of that cheap 'araldite' once took 4 weeks to set!!! Go for the traditional float making methods and dont glue the bodies to the stem let the whipping hold them in place.

[River Roach]

As you can see I'm yet to open it. I had questioned it because I didn't drill the balsa I just pushed the stems through so there nice and tight.
Il go without

[Kevanf1]

I have to point out that not all plastic floats are modern ones There are some very old floats that were made of plastic. They have also been made out of paper and very thin wall aluminium tube in the past. It is quite possible to set up you new cane rod and pin and then use a flaot tht is in fact older than they are..

[MaggotDrowner]

Those do look good! I've just had a rummage around the shed and found some old dowel. I think it's pine though. I think I'll still have a practice with it. Why is it balsa is used? Is it because it is light?

Also, if I wanted to make some small perch bobbers, what kind of weight of cork do I want to be using. I don't want it to be too buoyant and for the fish not to be able to pull the float under! :chuckle:

[Kevanf1]

I think it is possibly to do with material density. Balsa 'possibly' being less dense than pine? Please, somebody feel free to step in and correct me if I am wrong. Essentially, balsa is a lighter wood compared to pine when put into water. It floats better so it cocks quicker than pine. You can make floats from pine but when you cast them into the water they do take a lot longer to cock and thus you could miss bites.

I would say the smaller you can make the perch bob the better.