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| Fishing Float |
Using a fishing float gives you the advantage of
being able to quickly and easily figure out the depth of your fishing spot.
Knowing the depth lets you adjust your target fishing depth and hook up with
the fish you are after. If, for example, grunt fish were your target, it will
not be a good idea to bait them at the very bottom of the site, whereas
flounder would be found there. Various types of mackerel and sardine may be
targeted at the upper third to the middle depth, and sea bream may be baited at
the bottom third depth.
To measure the depth with a fishing float or floater,
a stopper must first be placed on the main fishing line. There are rubber or
vinyl stoppers for this purpose, but they start to slip as the hole in its core
widens after repeated adjustment. Using thin nylon string which is thicker than
normal sewing thread is a good as a stopper.
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| Float Stopper Over Main Line |
Estimate the depth before tying the stopper. Let's
use 20 feet as an example. Extending and measuring 20 feet of line at a fishing
site is not always easily done. Besides, there are so many tools and useful
fishing gadgets with limited space to load them up when fishing, and a long
tape measure is easy to forget. What I usually do is use my body for
measurements. My arm span when fully extended and measured from finger-tip to finger-tip
is slightly over 5 feet 10 inches. I would extend the main line to three arm
spans from wrist to wrist to get be near, but above 20 feet and tie the stopper
at that point. Of course, I could go to four arm spans and work my way up from
a little over 23 feet, but I prefer working my way down from about 17 and
a-half feet.
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| Green Thread in Picture is the Stopper |
On the first stopper tying attempt, it is best to use
a fairly long section of the string. A basic Surgeon’s knot is tied with the
nylon string over the main line. Leave about an inch and a-half of excess
string hanging down and away from the thumb while they hold and position the
string over the main line. Then make a fairly wide loop with the string going
behind the main line and back to the front where the thumb and forefinger are
grasping the string over the line and complete the loop by going past them and
heading behind the line again. Once that is done, slide the free end through
the loop while making sure that it wraps over the main line from below.
Continue going up and through the loop in the same way again. This process is
repeated about five times before pulling the ends of the string to tie the knot
of the stopper. Do not exceed doing this seven times, especially if you are
using a baitcast reel as a thick knot may catch on the level wind. Be sure to
leave a bit of string on each end to grip and retighten after adjustments.
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| Protect Floater from Hitting Cast Set Up |
You are now ready to attach the fishing floater.
Before sliding the main line through a swivel and snap for the fishing float,
unless the swivel is specially designed for the floater, a small plastic bead
with a hole wide enough to thread the main line is needed. Without the bead,
the loop of the swivel will pass right over the stopper's knot, rendering it as
being useless. Naturally, a swivel with a loop smaller than the bead must be
used.
Incidentally, having two short rubber tube sections
with a round toothpick or bamboo skewer segment inserted through them over the
main line will serve as a good stopper to keep the floater from coming into
contact with the cast and bait setup at the bottom end. It is best to set
this stopper to be slightly longer than the length of the fishing float.
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| Float Upright |
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| Float Not Upright; Depth Overestimated |
Since measuring depth is the objective, simply having
a sinker attached to a snap at the bottom end instead of the cast setup is
highly recommended. If the main line snaps accidentally, the loss is much
easier to bear by doing this.
If the
floater is upright after casting, the depth is exact or has been underestimated.
If the floater does not stand it has been overestimated. Gradually adjust the
stopper position while casting again to get the correct depth, and adjust again
to bait depth and catch your target fish. May your floater keep busy shooting
into the water and out of your sight, thereafter!
Take a look at more Bait Cast Fishing Tips and Tidbits
at: Bait Cast Fishing From Land To Sea!
Baitcastfishing.com
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