# Float trolling



## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

Occy - no Ive never seen such a thing before - but I did whach a clip on you tube last week - it was fishing in Afghanistan - they were using RPGs in the river!!!! This also produced quite a spalsh.

So why did he need the float??? Not fully sure of the logic there??

Wopfish


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

wopfish said:


> So why did he need the float???


Casting weight?
To keep the jig near the surface?
Bite indicator? :lol:


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## reefcheck (Jul 20, 2006)

In Perth they use such a rig as a standard way to catch herring and occasionally also pick up tailor. Basically a solid, egg-shaped plastic blob float, sometimes with a hole for stuffing burley into, then a swivel and around 1 meter of trace to small simple lure or baited hook. Cast using the weight of the float and retrieve, with the float causing surface splash. I've slow trolled this type of rig over very shallow reef behind the yak, using a blob and a small fly as the lure and it also works fine in that way.

Up north at Ningaloo, same technique to cast unweight crabs etc over reef shallows for snapper. Use to plastic blob to cast then let it drift back with the wash over the reef etc


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## sitonit (Dec 29, 2006)

I often use this technique particularly when targeting small (1-5kg) kingies off the rocks and occasionally from the kayak it allows me to fish at a specific depth and sometimes it is the only way fish will take the bait/lure it is like using a down rigger, i discovered the fish liked it by accident I was fishing deep with a float when I had cast to the wrong spot and retrieved the rig at pace when the fish started hitting it people around me were using lures and weighted baits for no result, I then experimented using sp's and found this works too, off the kayak it means I can set up to fish at any depth and troll my bait/lure, I have posted about this before a while ago.


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

I supposed so Squidder - if the chopper were just taking small 5-10g lures i can see that.

If not though the float would not nearly fly as much as a 15 - 25g slug on its own. In fact out of all lures I think the metal slugs like spaniards and chromne slices - they are the ones that go the farthest on a cast

Wopfish


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## SharkNett (Feb 20, 2006)

This may work even better if you get the floats with prism tape. Lots of flash to draw attention.

Rob


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

Hey Sitonit

Surely when you fast retrieved your float - doesnt the baited hook end also rise to the surface???

WOPFISH


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## sitonit (Dec 29, 2006)

Hi Wopfish the rig is main line with float stopper, float, float stopper sinker swivel, trace hook/lure the sinker keeps the bait down I find when the kingies are only following this rig encourages lots of bites. I am fishing large bobby floats and large sinkers. I havent really noticed the bait coming up I am generally not casting 50m so over a long wind it may but even when trolling I havent noticed the bait on the surface but the troll is slow.


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## wopfish (Dec 4, 2006)

Sitonit

interesting approach - I might give it a go from the yak . I think this has brought up something quite refreshing and that is that I think the techniques for fishing from the yak are still being developed - I certainly feel that dropshotting on the drift is a very smart way of yak fishing and productive and maybe your float fishing style is also soemthing very suited and quite similar to dropshotting - except for instead of the wait bouncing off the bottom its floating from bottom to mid water. One thing - do you need to be watching the float in order to strike - if so not so good fro trolling out the back??


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## varp (Sep 12, 2005)

Interesting alrighty - I imagine the float is having a teaser, popper type effect with all that blooping and carry on.

Probably prompts a bit of a competitive then opportunistic response. Worth keeping in mind these techniques when you need an edge.


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## keza (Mar 6, 2007)

I have seen the guys on the rocks using this many times, they use a weighted float to give them the casting distance and a metre or 2 behind they have up to 3 small lures or flies. The floats are sometimes dressed with reflectors.
The idea is that the fish are attracted by the float but then see a few small fish following it and bang!
The big island guys favour this method on the rocks where i go and they pull in far more fish than anyone else, i have seen them get bonito and salmon but is seems any palagic will grab it.
The other benefit is that if the fish are eating small stuff and won't touch the bigger lures you need for the distance this is a way to get little lures infront of them.
Their lures and float skim across the surface.

I don't know if the kayak could pull it fast enough to give the same effect.

Kerry


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## Crikey (Oct 30, 2005)

Paul,

While Balmoral was firing earlier this year I was out one morning and met up with "Tugboat" or "Redfin" can't rememeber who. He was fishing with a popper about a metre above a saltwater fly. The hooks had been removed from the popper and the trace to the fly was tied to the tail eye on the popper.

The popper supplied the weight to cast the fly on spin gear and creates a commotion of the retrieve. The pelagics were quite fussy at the time and I was doing OK with 5grm and 10grm slices, I would have thought the popper and the fly should have given some exciting surface follows.


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## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

Gday Occy, I started using something sort of similar the other day.

Get a bit of pool noodle and attach it to the line on a loop about 300mm for the end with a jig head gulp worm and stinger hook.

The float is to keep it just above the weed and out of tangles, hasn't caught anything yet thou :?

Cheers Dave


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## varp (Sep 12, 2005)

This is a float that pops. Common in the US apparently.


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## Wattie (Apr 30, 2007)

Hi all,
I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t know if it is along the same theme, but I use this method a lot.

I have a No 4 float with a metre long leader with a medium sized hook with a small piece of green straw. I bend the hook out almost at a 45 degree angle to the shank. I have trialled many ideas and this one wins hands down. The straw is available in most fishing shops.

You would not believe the amount of fish that I get with it. Before I got the Yak I used this method all the time from the rocks and beach.

I would cast as far as I could and retrieve it reasonable quickly. I catch mostly herring (bull and small). But have caught heaps of Skippy and salmon using the same method.

Since I got the Yak I still use the same set-up.

I use two rods (one each side), cast out to each side about 10 metres and then start paddling.

The speed of the yak seems to be ideal because this is how I seem to catch most of my fish.
I will add a picture of some snook the Matthew and I caught late last year using this method.

The float is used for casting the distance, the lure is then able to run along at a depth of about 4 inches below the surface.

I have used other lures on one rod and the straw on the other. And the straw wins hands down.


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## varp (Sep 12, 2005)

How'd ya go Occy?

Wattie - can you post a pic of the rig? I'm having a bit of bovver getting a handle on the bent hook shaft.


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## Milt (Sep 2, 2005)

Wattie,

Yes please post up a pic of hook and staw setup. A few people I know often troll a clear tube / straw for salmon when the schools are around with good success.

Varp I like the float :wink:

Milt,


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## PoddyMullet (Aug 29, 2005)

Occy, another use of casting floats and retrieve is the fella's on the Vic westcoast. They target garfish off the rocks with a slow retrieve and use sandflea's (aka hoppers or sealice) as bait, a hopper on a garhook trails the float about just shy of a rod length behind the float. The basic technique seems to be able to be adapted and tinkered with for a whole host of stuff of assorted sizes :shock:


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## Wattie (Apr 30, 2007)

Sorry about the delay in getting back.
We have got a new computer and we are having trouble ....we being me. Anyway this is the lure that I was talking about.

At the end of this one metre lure is a No 4 float.


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## andybear (Jan 15, 2006)

This is probably a bit off the mark with the subject......but.....

When I was about 10, I was fishing in Pommieland, in a lake, using a brightly coloured float, and did a quick retrieve, and a Pike (freshwater esox lucius I think) grabbed the float, and I had him on for ten or twenty seconds before he managed to get the stem out of his big gob! I was not fishing for pike, and it took me by surprise I must say.

At a later date, I came back kitted up for some of these, and had some luck. We used to use 2 floats, one was a pilot float that stayed on the surface regardless of what the fish was doing....

Anyway, that was nearly half a century ago.....Cheers all Andybear :lol: :lol:


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