It depends upon how deep your swim is. You may find the smaller sizes are no good. Here on the bristol avon, where Topper invented them, you are dealing with depths of 10 – 14ft. We use toppers up to 10BB especially if there is a bit of water on.

We would usually bulk the BB shot about 18inches from the hook length loop and have about 18 inches of hook length. 2 no. 8 droppers would be added equal distance apart.
The end shotting would vary depending upon conditions and whether its dotted down or not.
You’ll need to adjust this shotting depending upon bites as well. The advantage of this float is that it can be held back because of the bulk weight. Your 3, 4BB floats may be a bit light.

toppers nephew makes brilliant floats heres the link http://www.freewebs.com/ackoos–floats/riverfloats.htm

@pellethead76 wrote:

toppers nephew makes brilliant floats heres the link http://www.freewebs.com/ackoos–floats/riverfloats.htm

Seconded,Ackoos floats are very well made,and the shotting is always spot on.Great product.

Hi Simon,I fish for Maver Bathampton (Merv ‘Topper’ Haskins was the team captain back when he still fished matches). The main use for the Topper is in pegs over 7-8ft in slower moving rivers like the Bristol Avon (average depth 10-13ft)Below this depth you would be better off using a stick float. Topper doesn’t make them anymore but I’ve never seen any others that match his!! His originals are made from a blue, very light weight/buoyant polystyrene on as straight a crow quill as possible. All the others I’ve seen are either too short and dumpy in the body or curved like a dogs leg, or the top of the quill is too long/fat above the body.
Always fished bulk down, the classic Topper is 6BB to 15BB. Topper had the knack/experience to get his spot on in shotting. An average 10BB takes 10BB bulked in BB’s and 2 or 3 No.8’s as droppers to take the float down to a pimple on the surface.
Fishing shorter lengths (2-3 rods)you can spread the droppers. To cast always hold the bulk and pull back the rod tip to get some power into the cast (always underarm)and as the cast comes to an end feather the line (like a waggler) to get everything into a straight line.
The big advantage of the Topper over a stick is that you can fish it down the middle of a river (wind permitting). The 10BB+ Toppers can be cast 20-30m with experience. Problem here are tangles. The bait comes back over the bulk or droppers if you get the distance apart of the shot wrong. Start by bulking all 3 No.8’s about 9″ from the hook and the bulk about 1ft plus above this. (ie hook to droppers should always be well less than dropper to bulk) Once you get good at it you can spread the droppers even on a long chuck but this takes a lot of practice. I’ll guarantee you’ll get loads of tangles to start with but keep at it!! Having fished with Toppers for more years than I care to remember mine start at 6BB right up to the mighty 16BB versions. I’d personally question the use under 6BB.
It’s a very positive method and used on our Bristol Avon (where Topper invented it) you usually fish it with rock hard balls of ground bait laced with caster/hemp. One ball a chuck if they’re having it. Loose feeding brings the fish up in the water which you don’t want with a 10BB bulk sinking the bait like a rock!! It’s a method to catch at dead depth or just off. Best of luck and persist through the tangling stage, you’ll get good at untangling before you perfect it!!

Simon, just to back up what orexina has said, I know Andy prefers to use the more streamlined Poly bodied Toppers on the Thames rather than the traditional Cork or Balsa bodied ones.

Just a personal kink of mine but on the Thames this year I’ve been using an olivette instead of bulking BB’s. It looks weird and sounds as though you’re casting a very small bomb but personally I think it’s even more tangle free than a bulk and provides less resistance to the bite. I had nearly 15lb of Roach in 2 and a half hours using this method at Wallingford a couple of months back and the bites were virtually unmissable even fishing Tares at 25-30 yards.

As with all areas of fishing there’s the basic principal and then the minor variations to suit a method on the day. If there’s a good flow then the Olivette works well. In summer if the flow is minimal it’s sometimes a case of ‘finding’ it especially with the preferred upstream breeze. The advantage of the longer bulk is that it gets ‘picked up’ more by the exact flow (near the bottom) in these conditions. Years ago there was a perfect middle ground with tungsten tubing. This was soft enough to be cut perfectly to suit the size of float, had the length to pick up the flow and, like the Olivette was less prone to tangles. Sadly, like Merv’s Toppers this went out of production years ago.
The basis of the Topper is to present the bait at the speed of the flow. Holding back almost lifts too much out of the water to see bites properly as the classic Topper is quite a slim streamlined float. If the fish want it slowed right down you’re better off with the river shaped (body up) bolo float and an Olivette and droppers.

@simon pavey wrote:

Funnily enough Katarino the olivette option was going to be my next question..
(By the way it was me who helped you weigh in and get photos of your bream at the champs).

Oh Christ, You should have said. I thought I’d met you at one of the Runneymede bashes but obviously didn’t recognise you? TBH I was a bit shell shocked on the day, it went from disaster to “sod it, only needed one more” all thanks to a bit of cloud half way through. Had a nice holiday though ~clap ~clap

Regards the poly bodied Toppers, if Davies haven’t got them try Thames Valley Angling in Reading, they usually have some floating about although I believe there is a problem getting good quills at present.

hi simon
try this link and contact mark haskins (ackoo)
http://www.freewebs.com/ackoos–floats/riverfloats.htm
im sure he will help you with your quest and if you have any technical questions he could always ask his uncle topper.

One more point Simon. As with most methods the most important thing is feeding. For obvious reasons you don’t want the fish coming up in the water. You have to adjust your feeding against what you would use for the wag. The best advice I had for the topper, particularly when loose feeding, was to give them a bit more a bit less often, it seems to stop them coming up looking for it.

hello mate can i help i supply davies

I use your floats then, but Davies have been out of stock for a while, might be worth giving them a call. (It was Stu who said they were having trouble sourcing?)

its trying to get decent quills mate since the bird flu you cant import them any more so supply is limited.

I know that workmanship anyware ,its george’s handy work .

I knows george ,we both make traditional floats ,pretty much the same ways .my float site is down at the moment ,so im taking a break from making floats ,i’ve got too build a proper dedicated site .

ackoo :its trying to get decent quills mate since the bird flu you cant import them any more so supply is limited….

….mark ,cormorant quills are perfect nice and strait and strong .but a little harder than rook/crow feathers too get hold of ,unless you know a fishery owner with the appropriate license

could do with a few hundred then mate hint hint
just doing a few now