Spider Rigging with Floats

I will ask a question. I was out spider rigging last week and passed another boat that had 8 rods out and each rod had a float on it. We were in 10' - 12' of water. Anyone one on here use floats? How much line do you put out from the rod tip? Seems like the rod would always be pulling the float to the side or pulling the line up if you are using slip bobbers? So why use floats? I assume to make it easier to see the bites? I imagine it would have to be good size bobbers with a 1/2oz weight. Can someone explain their setup. I may want to give it a try.

Easier to see bites is my assumption also. I would also think that it would be a solution to bouncing lines in a high wake area. Dunno.

This sounds a lot of the way I spider fish. To start with let me say that 2/3 of the lake I fish is less than 12' deep. I fish with B&M 10' blackwidow poles with about 8' line on them so I am only able to fish about 7 1/2' without a cork on the pole. Most of the time I fish without the corks when the fish are deep and when the fish come into shallower water then I fish with corks to keep the baits above the fish. Like when fish come in to spawn in 4 to 5 foot water I will run 2 corks at 4' deep and 2 at 3 1/2' and 2 corks at 3' deep as I normally fish 6 poles at a time when spider fishing. I use my trolling motor at the slowest speed that I can and sometimes just coast very slow. When I get to catching them I will notice which poles and what depth the fish were biting and adjust everything to what they are liking. I have caught crappie with artificial baits and mostly with minnows this way and it seems to work for me pretty good. I do have some 10' reel and rods for when the fish are in the deepest water in the lake mainly in the hot of summer but 90% of the time I use the way I explained. The poles seem to handle better and faster than the reel & rods for me when I get to catching 4 or 5 crappie at a time. When my wife goes with me she also has 6 poles out at the 2 back sides of the boat fishing the same way. We both have buoys close at hand and when we hit a place where the crappie gives us some good bites we throw one over the side so we can circle back through and catch them again. This setup is also a lot cheaper using poles also so those that have not tried spider fishing may want to give it a try also. Well it works for me here is a picture of the fish I caught last Friday and if you lookup the Archusa reports on the Mississippi forum you can see more of my fish caught this way.Attachment 264681

That looks like a big ole bluegill at the bottom!

Something new every day!

So now Scrat, this is interesting, at least to me as I'm not much of a spider rigger.
Are you pushing any of those 10' rods in front of the boat? or all faned off to the sides?
What kind and size floats are you using? Single jig, or double, and what jig size? I'm assuming no other lead?
I have 6 or 7 of those same rods that would store easily on my boat, and also a couple longer ones.
Another thought, are the floats strictly to control depth? if so, would a tiny reel taped on, with the line thru the rod tip work also?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by yobuck

So now Scrat, this is interesting, at least to me as I'm not much of a spider rigger.
Are you pushing any of those 10' rods in front of the boat? or all faned off to the sides?
What kind and size floats are you using? Single jig, or double, and what jig size? I'm assuming no other lead?
I have 6 or 7 of those same rods that would store easily on my boat, and also a couple longer ones.
Another thought, are the floats strictly to control depth? if so, would a tiny reel taped on, with the line thru the rod tip work also?

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Yes I push the poles off the front of the boat although they are some what spread so not to let each other get tangled with each other or getting into the trolling motor when using the corks. The poles in the back that my wife fish is 3 off each side spread so not to tangle. I run 6 off the front and she runs 6 off the sides at the back of the boat. We have a bass tracker pro 16 the type that has the floor in the bottom of the boat not a casting type deck in other words so it is not wide enough for two people up front like some boats have spider rigging. I single rig them with what ever size jigs or lead as to cork size. Now when using the corks it is a very slow troll as to just move fast enough to move around most of the time just using my trolling motor on lowest setting and just touching it and letting it coast as not to spook fish in shallow water. I mostly use minnows a lot because I catch my own but do use jigs sometimes and always have them on board for when the bite is really on as they can be faster to use than minnows. Now when it gets hot in the summer and fish go deeper I don't use the corks as to get deeper. My Lake I fish is mostly 3 to 12' water so I don't have to fish real deep even in summer. Yes the corks are mostly for depth control and my wife really likes them best to see the bite. Give it a try this spring when you find what depth they are just fish the corks right over them. Hope you have lots of luck and I will be looking forward to seeing your fishing reports and pictures. Here is a picture of the type corks I use. They are real cheap and can be purchased every where. I also keep my 10' reel and rods on board also but mostly just use the 10' B&M poles.
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NDc5WDYwMA...U-1A9/$_35.JPG
Here is a picture of my boat also.
Attachment 289370http://www.thill.com/wp-content/gall...ts/sspe150.jpg