The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

I have been having some success with floating baits for carp recently . I always fish either a free lined bait ( normally dog biscuits ) if the distance allows or a small controller float fixed between line stops . One thing for me however is to hide the line immediately next to the hook . I either drape it over weed lilies or hang it from reeds etc . However further out when fishing with a contoller I get the line near my bait to sink , either by using flourocarbon or fullers earth or mud .
However I met a guy at my local lake who could not understand why I fished with the line next to the hook sinking . He preferred to have the whole lot floating and produced a tin of line floatant and proceeded to grease his line offering me the same . He even greased the line up to the bait .I declined and carried on catching with a sunk line . He blanked but assured me he regularly caught and today was an off day .
I then carried out a couple of experiments with the line floating having been greased and my normal approach . The floating line ( to me anyway ) stuck out like a " furrow" in the surface , while my sunk line was barely noticable .
Now does anyone else grease the line while floater fishing ?

The carp fisherys I go ban any type of floating bait but only alow zigs (just below the surface) so far I have had a mallard duck on swim feeder maggot on the bottom a diving duck on a boile meant for carp if I see a swan coming reel in Iam not wrestling one of them the ducks went back ruffled and hurt pride my father was fly fishing on a estate in the lakes suddenly had a take two mallard ducks took off the lake one on each dropper after they were released he put a worm on said be able to fish on the bottom got a big eel mike

I have always preferred to have the line floating - less drag when striking.

Do you remember the Gardner suspender floater rig?

Hi Olly , yes I have seen the Gardner rig and also a " beachcaster rig " where the bait was on a short paternoster . All too much for me !

I have the line floating but too many fish spook by seeing it when about take the bait.
I once considered passing the line through a hollow reed stem so it looked like the floater has drifted into a but of flotsam.
Maybe I actually try it out....

I usually have two 8mm cork balls threaded on then line 12-24" from the bait. I'll grease behind those if I really need to, but never in front.

I find the carp at my club lakes tricky to catch on top in open water. The best surface technique for me is to find a set of pads or reeds they patrol and then the line can be hidden by drawing it over a pad so the bait naturally rests right on the edge. Sometimes I dangle it off reeds. I have also attached small twigs to the line with float rubbers and then pulled the line through so the bait has a little free movement but will lie back against the twig – that works very well. If you throw in some baits as see where then end up and how they look often they seem to migrate to a reed or the edge of the general flotsam – both give you ideal opportunities to hide the line.

I really enjoy surface fishing but am currently finding the bigger fish are ultra wary of surface baits and tend to vacate an area if they see them – of course this may not be the case at all where you fish.

No need to thread it - float bands at each end would do the job!

it depends on various factors as to whether they will take the bait in open water - one of the most important being light.
In bright sunny conditions if the fish are rising to a bait and they are facing towards the sun as they approach then they will hardly ever take the bait - the line obviously becomes very visible to the fish.
However if they approach the bait in any other circumstances it seems to depend far more on a whole set of factors - lack of direct sunlight, overcast weather, low light , line specifics - ie colour, diameter, time of day( close to sunset often induces them to feed more), water colour and clarity.
Another factor that I believe is crucial is if the bait smells even slightly different to other free offerings- ie any taint from your hands and certainly oil/sweat from your fingers. Also after repeated casting the last few inches of line before the hook tends to no longer remain straight , and will also likely have a taint from your fingers/hands. This may sound picky but I'm absolutely convinced that this is a big factor.

Julian wrote: ↑Sat Jul 29, 2017 11:14 pm it depends on various factors as to whether they will take the bait in open water - one of the most important being light.
In bright sunny conditions if the fish are rising to a bait and they are facing towards the sun as they approach then they will hardly ever take the bait - the line obviously becomes very visible to the fish.
However if they approach the bait in any other circumstances it seems to depend far more on a whole set of factors - lack of direct sunlight, overcast weather, low light , line specifics - ie colour, diameter, time of day( close to sunset often induces them to feed more), water colour and clarity.
Another factor that I believe is crucial is if the bait smells even slightly different to other free offerings- ie any taint from your hands and certainly oil/sweat from your fingers. Also after repeated casting the last few inches of line before the hook tends to no longer remain straight , and will also likely have a taint from your fingers/hands. This may sound picky but I'm absolutely convinced that this is a big factor.

I'm not convinced the hooker has to be the same as the free offerings. I prefer the reverse, which is to keep free offerings free and not be associated with being caught and tend to use hook-baits that are bigger/flavoured. So for example a bigger bit of bread or some pre-soaked mixers with pineapple and yellow colouring fished in threes. I can bung three of those on a size 4 about thirty yards without any controller.

While the sight of line can matter (larger carp can't even see the bait when they take it), I think the affect of the line on the behavior of the bait matters more and more often. When a carp sucks at the bait, a free offering will slip neatly down. Stiff mono stops this, flouro is even worse. I've overcome this with a short 1" braid link and there have been days hook-to-mono will barely get a decent take but 1" of 6lb silkworm get's the coconut every time.

In open water, I've noticed that often the 'break point' of line strength to takes is often 8lb-->6lb (un-stretched, so 0.23mm to 0.20mm). This might be sight related but I think myself it's more 'stiffness' related.

While I'm on my soapbox, almost no controller is worth bothering with on small waters. Carp soon learn to associated them with danger. The only one I've ever done really well with is a small bubble float, the sort with no metal bits in the eyes, and I usually break that out for half a pre-soaked mixer or pinch of flake on a size 14. Or a stick.