Floats, Slib bobers v fixed & why?

[NatePressotto]

So all the time I see videos and posts all around the internet where guys are using slip bobbers and only fishing 3, 4, 5, 6 foot deep... why?

Typically when I'm fishing a float for crappie I'm fishing in 20 foot of water or less and almost never more then 10foot down with my float(crappie often feed up and placing your bait bleow them is a good way to catch less.. +pending the water your in and the bait your fishing being 10' down may have your bait visible to fish in 15-20+ fow).. Being I'm almost always fishing less then 10 foot down with a float my preference is a fixed float.

Be it a little few gram river float fixed with the airline tubing like you would fish trout with or a little 16th Oz thill crappie cork.. both work fine.. I prefer the the river floats as they are easier to adjust and don't put any stress on your line.

Key is making sure its a vertical float not a round bobber.. often times a crappie will take your bait with an up bite and the float will lay down rather then go under.. or maybe just drop slightly sideways on a lite bite.. you'll never see that on a round bobber..

Why fixed over slip for me...? Less moving parts. Easier to repeat a presentation. I absolutely hate a bobber stop, especially while ice fishing(though ice fishing is the only time I use a slip lol.. fishing 15-25' down over 30-40fow..) Dang things are nothing but fuss and hassle.. aside from the stop being obnoxious you have the variable of the line hanging up as it feeds through the float.. not always but often you use a slip you find your self coaxing the line through the float or moving it to make sure the stop is all the way to the float. Even when the line feeds smoothly it is still another variable effecting how that bat is falling/being presented in the water.. each time you drag your bait your now pulling that line up through the float and having it work its way back to the stop (maybe this is a good thing some days?) rather then just dragging the bait smoothly with the float and having it swing back down natural.. let's not forget about the little beads .. so.. that's kinda my take on slip v fixed.. obviously slip when your fishing deep and you have to, but why all the slips when fishing less then 10' down?

Just somthing I ponder that I thought might be a good topic for this group as well a cpl little tid bits that may help some less experienced anglers reading..

So what's your thoughts? Slip? Fixed? Why?

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[silverside]

I use only a slip. The only time I use a float is 15-20 fow with minnows and that is not very often. Hard to cast a fixed at that depth. If in shallow water, no float.

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[NatePressotto]

I use only a slip. The only time I use a float is 15-20 fow with minnows and that is not very often. Hard to cast a fixed at that depth. If in shallow water, no float.

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Great, thanks for the response! When you are fishing that slip in 15-20fow how deep are you setting your bait/ placing your stop? Also what length rod are you using for your float setup?

Thanks again,

Nate

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[Ketchn]

The why part is simple , very few specialize in the art of float ketchn.
Fixed floats are way more deadly for sure in as mentioned, less than 10 foot deep situations.
For 15 years I have preached to the masses about how to do it.
The advantages are very simple .....
ketch lots more fish with lots less frustration......
I never use minnows and never use a slip float.
Pencil floats that pinch on are my weapons of choice
When set up correctly , even the slightest of takes are easy to see.
If you have not been out with me when we use floats.
Then you just don’t know how deadly it is .
And I use floats year round as well.
Being a fella that stands on dry ground way more often than most crappie anglers and hammers the crappie day in and out, it’s a must do thing if you want to be Ketchn....
KABOOM is the word

[shipahoy41]

I am a slip float presentation person, in fact I make my own weighted slip floats because I could not find what I wanted at Amazon or Walmart.

Advantages of my slip float bobber:



1) A weighted slip float will cast farther than any float that just has a weight on the line or pinch on weights on the line. This is great for bank anglers (Man or woman) and for people in boats who want to stay farther away from their target area so they do not spook the fish.

2) A weighted slip float is more accurate when casting to a particular area than a non weighted one that is at the whims of the wind.

3) A weighted slip float can be fished effectively from 8 inches to 25 feet and that is generally the depth range that I personally fish. Some people have used slip floats to depthe of 65 feet.

4) I make my weighted slip float for about eight cents each using a 4"x1/2" pool noodle, a hard plastic straw, a drilled out weight and some loctite glue...so I do not mind losing them in structure where the fish live. Bobbers at the box stores are about 33 times as much to buy! You can look at my You Tube Channel (shipahoy 41) and see how I make them. CARTER DIY SLIP FLOATS FOR CRAPPIE, PERCH, AND PAN FISHING - YouTube

5) Indestructible. You will lose the bobber before you can break it.

6) Very lightweight and wind resistant.

7) Easier to cast than fixed floats. When you cast a slip bobber the bobber, weight, and jig are in an area near to the top eye of your rod when you cast it out. If you are using a fixed float with a three foot leader (Or longer) before you get to the jig it is more difficult to cast out and it effects the accuracy.

8) Cost. Eight cents each versus 33 times that much each is a no brainer for me. (Multiply that cost out for 25 bobbers and see for yourself)


9) My weighted slip float will support a jig from 1/64 ounce to 1/4 ounce jig head. If you are using heavier jigheads just increase the size of your noodle.

Disadvantage of a fixed float

1) It is fixed in the same position and it takes longer to change the depth you are fishing. With a slip float you just move the rubber bobber stop.

2) The springs and sometimes the clip on wire on the fixed bobbers will fail after repeated use.

Mike

[NatePressotto]

The why part is simple , very few specialize in the art of float ketchn.
Fixed floats are way more deadly for sure in as mentioned, less than 10 foot deep situations.
For 15 years I have preached to the masses about how to do it.
The advantages are very simple .....
ketch lots more fish with lots less frustration......
I never use minnows and never use a slip float.
Pencil floats that pinch on are my weapons of choice
When set up correctly , even the slightest of takes are easy to see.
If you have not been out with me when we use floats.
Then you just don’t know how deadly it is .
And I use floats year round as well.
Being a fella that stands on dry ground way more often than most crappie anglers and hammers the crappie day in and out, it’s a must do thing if you want to be Ketchn....
KABOOM is the word

Thanks for the response ketchn.

I'm with you 100%.. I never use live bait.. no doubt it's effective but imo un necessary and more of a hassle then its worth.

I rarely fish then from land, once in a while off my dock when they are in close in the spring but I find some days the slow/still presentation of fishing under a float is exactly what they want..

What a riot when floats are dropping left n right..



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[NatePressotto]

I am a slip float presentation person, in fact I make my own weighted slip floats because I could not find what I wanted at Amazon or Walmart.

Advantages of my slip float bobber:



1) A weighted slip float will cast farther than any float that just has a weight on the line or pinch on weights on the line. This is great for bank anglers (Man or woman) and for people in boats who want to stay farther away from their target area so they do not spook the fish.

2) A weighted slip float is more accurate when casting to a particular area than a non weighted one that is at the whims of the wind.

3) A weighted slip float can be fished effectively from 8 inches to 25 feet and that is generally the depth range that I personally fish. Some people have used slip floats to depthe of 65 feet.

4) I make my weighted slip float for about eight cents each using a 4"x1/2" pool noodle, a hard plastic straw, a drilled out weight and some loctite glue...so I do not mind losing them in structure where the fish live. Bobbers at the box stores are about 33 times as much to buy! You can look at my You Tube Channel (shipahoy 41) and see how I make them. CARTER DIY SLIP FLOATS FOR CRAPPIE, PERCH, AND PAN FISHING - YouTube

5) Indestructible. You will lose the bobber before you can break it.

6) Very lightweight and wind resistant.

7) Easier to cast than fixed floats. When you cast a slip bobber the bobber, weight, and jig are in an area near to the top eye of your rod when you cast it out. If you are using a fixed float with a three foot leader (Or longer) before you get to the jig it is more difficult to cast out and it effects the accuracy.

8) Cost. Eight cents each versus 33 times that much each is a no brainer for me. (Multiply that cost out for 25 bobbers and see for yourself)


9) My weighted slip float will support a jig from 1/64 ounce to 1/4 ounce jig head. If you are using heavier jigheads just increase the size of your noodle.

Disadvantage of a fixed float

1) It is fixed in the same position and it takes longer to change the depth you are fishing. With a slip float you just move the rubber bobber stop.

2) The springs and sometimes the clip on wire on the fixed bobbers will fail after repeated use.

Mike

Hey Mike, thanks for the detailed response!

Awesome stuff with making a product that suits your needs/desires better then somthing you can buy..

As for your reasoning as to the why's of the questions.. weighted float makes a lot of sense for someone fishing from shore.. typically I'm on the boat and prefer to be well within casting distance of my target with even the lightest of floats.. the more wind/chop on the water the closer to the float I prefer to be in order to see every little twitch/move it makes.. if it's real windy and I can't find fish behind a wind block then I don't fish a float that day.. too much wind just makes float fishing a hassle imo.
To the statement of a fixed float being difficult to cast or less accurate, I don't find this to be the case at all.. I think the bobber stop traveling through my guides to be more of a hindrance to accuracy and distance then say having 5-8ft of line between my float and my jig..

I think an important factor in float fishing that I should have addressed in my original post is the appropriate rod.. my preference for a float rod is a long lite powered moderate action noodle.. having a 9-10' foot rod allows you to have a good length of line out 6-10 and still be able to cast and or flip the fish in the boat.. with a 10ft rod I can cast with no problem a 10-12' depth set jig.. standing on the raised front deck of my boat puts me a couple feet above the water and then add a few more (or much more with some effort) feet for for the high on your body your casting feom... 10-12ft setting np.. being set 10' deep has you fishing effectively 20fow no problem.. imo and of course there's days when they my be stuck on the bottom but I'm very rarely fishing more then 10-12' down when I'm in 20' of water.. the long rod serves other purposes as well.. being able to lift a lot of line on your hook set being one of them. Often times my float rod is sitting next to me while I'm casting another rod without out a float for cast and retrieve.. when I see a bite and pick that rod up I want to be able to lift any slack and put a good hook set on them without having to reel in a ton of line.. another thing that long noodle allows is being able to keep pressure on the fish while limiting the force on the hook point.. too much power and your ripping lips and pulling hooks.. (Mike this prior part is for the random reader who might not be aware of these things.. not necessarily directed at you.)

Soo yea I guess rod plays a huge factor is this.. if your using a 5'6" rod casting without a slip could be a challange. With a long rod and ability to get as close as you want to your target, I'm not sure there's an advantage to the slip v fixed?

Oh yea, as far as ease of adjustment.. there is nothing more simple to adjust then a float affixed by airline tubing.. you simply slide it which ever direction you want it to go. While i have never had a sping fail i can picture it.. as for adjusting those, if your using braid and wrap it two or 3 you will be able to slide it in either direction but the resistance of its own buoyancy will not cause it to chage depth when its being pulled under.

Thanks again for sharing and participating in the discussion. Great job on the floats..




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[Hanr3]

I use slip floats 100% of the time. I can fish from 2' to 20' in minutes. One of the advantages of boat fishing, ability to fish any depth and try different locations on teh lake. Sometime the fish are near flats or teh bank, sometimes they are 20fow next to trees or over brush. Keep the knot tight and it slides thru the pole eyes and bobber fine. you may have to do a little flip of the pole to reel it in. Sometimes the slip gets hung up on the first eye. 90% of the time, I don't reel it far enough to get in teh eyes.

As for the line getting hung up on teh bobber. Time for a new bobber or different line. you can wear a groove in teh bobber top. Doesn't happen with slip bobbers with beads in teh ends as much. It happens mostly on bobbers without beads. So I prefer bobbers with beads stuck in the end. I also prefer mono line, its thicker and less likely to wear a groove.

I want my bobber to be neutrally buoyant. By that I mean, I want the bobber to have little to no resistance and will slide under water with the slightest pull. If my minnow is moving the bobber, it's perfect. I don't like weighted bobbers. I want the weight about 12" from the minnow. This keeps the minnow within 12" of teh depth I set. Yet, give teh minnow freedom to move about within that 12". More of a natural presentation. If the minnow is swimming to get away, the crappie will chase and hit harder.

But if fixed bobbers work for you, I wouldn't change. I only have 1 fixed bobber in my tackle box, and it's a mini Leinenkugel Beer can.

[silverside]

Great, thanks for the response! When you are fishing that slip in 15-20fow how deep are you setting your bait/ placing your stop? Also what length rod are you using for your float setup?

Thanks again,

Nate

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I kind of mis-spoke I think. 15-20 is my bait setting when I fish in 30-40 water depth. For this I use 6 & 6.5 ft rod.

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[NatePressotto]

I use slip floats 100% of the time. I can fish from 2' to 20' in minutes. One of the advantages of boat fishing, ability to fish any depth and try different locations on teh lake. Sometime the fish are near flats or teh bank, sometimes they are 20fow next to trees or over brush. Keep the knot tight and it slides thru the pole eyes and bobber fine. you may have to do a little flip of the pole to reel it in. Sometimes the slip gets hung up on the first eye. 90% of the time, I don't reel it far enough to get in teh eyes.

As for the line getting hung up on teh bobber. Time for a new bobber or different line. you can wear a groove in teh bobber top. Doesn't happen with slip bobbers with beads in teh ends as much. It happens mostly on bobbers without beads. So I prefer bobbers with beads stuck in the end. I also prefer mono line, its thicker and less likely to wear a groove.

I want my bobber to be neutrally buoyant. By that I mean, I want the bobber to have little to no resistance and will slide under water with the slightest pull. If my minnow is moving the bobber, it's perfect. I don't like weighted bobbers. I want the weight about 12" from the minnow. This keeps the minnow within 12" of teh depth I set. Yet, give teh minnow freedom to move about within that 12". More of a natural presentation. If the minnow is swimming to get away, the crappie will chase and hit harder.

But if fixed bobbers work for you, I wouldn't change. I only have 1 fixed bobber in my tackle box, and it's a mini Leinenkugel Beer can.

Thanks for the detailed response hanr.

I understand fully as stated fishing a slip when you need to fish a float deep.. but if 90% of the time your not reeling your stop into your guides isn't that 90% of the time you could be using a fixed float??

I, like you feel like anyone and everyone should fish as they see fit but the above may serve as food for thought..

Agree with you whole heartedly on neutral buoyancy/ matching weight to the float. I'm almost always fishing plastic so for me the weight is my jig head not split shot.. typically 1/32ed Oz jig under my floats.

While I have quite a few slip bobbers I can't imagine I have ever used one enough to put a groove in..

I'm a braid guy through and through.. unless I'm fishing for a species in manner that the stretch that mono provides is an advantage I'm looking for the thinnest DIA per pound I can find. That's always braid.. +no coil/memory, better sensitivity and cast ability, far stronger, no stretch, high viz, floating... love braid lol.. that said, some are far better then others.. suffix 832, suffix 832 ice, power pro, silky awesomeness.. spider wire, fire line is like braided steel cable smh, hate it..

I spawned this discussion because I genuinely want someone to express the advantages of a slip when fishing a bait less then 10' deep.. I'm happy to learn a thing from a child.. while of course I get fishing a slip when you want a bait 20' deep but if I like you am setting my bait 10 or less feet deep 90% (or more) of the time, and I'm using a rod that can accommodate that setting then I still haven't heard an advantage of a slip float?? I can have a slip on a different rod for the 10% or less of the time that I'm fishing a bait more then 12' deep but is there an advantage to the slip for the other 90% of the time?

Thanks again for sharing!







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