Nice floats mate, but I find Hillbilly Shindigs do the job fine. 🙂

why hasn’t that float got an ice breaker attached? deinately not a meat float imo more like a crude old fashioned paste float :rolleyes:

Everybody knows that the best float is the one that goes under a lot 😀 😀 😀

Seriously. Floats look good, the long tip will help with liners, but I would have thought a more pear/teardrop shape would help with stability and liners. Although if conditions are right I always try to use a slim a float as possible to keep the resistance to a minimum.

Tight lines.

Nothing wrong with it , if you are happy with that’s half the battle,

well meat floats for me if you are fishing with really big lumps then a paste float is ok, however if your fishing with mainly 4mm or 6mm cubes then any float with a slim profile normal 1.5mm bristle will do I make my own beefed up chianti’s or another range called the pinks which Mark Wells has by the shedload for this sort of work, a lot of lads like the diamond floats for this work we are talking the 6metre line on the deck so a long fiber glass stem will give you stability, diamond body with or without a side eye in the middle of the body. and either a top side eye or spring eye will give you strength and robustness when bagging, float size doesn’t have to be to big as meat isn’t a heavy bait some brands are almost newtral bouyancy bit like fishing pellet

A couple of observations i made last year were that anglers were fishing all baits, including meat dead depth or dragged slightly up the slope with a float that had a thickish and shortish bristle dotted down. It was then a case of lifting into all indications.

I also noticed that skimmers however gave a lot of lift bites, so a longer bristle was advantageous.

But saying that i also messed about with lifting and dropping hair rigged meat on this line and for that i found about an inch of bristle was plenty, or an undershotted float if you wanted to come off bottom completely. Hair rigged meat was deadly for this.

I also found that you needed to play with your shotting patterns and change something if you weren’t catching. The fish were there but you had to present it to them how they wanted it on the day.

But this is in water no deeper than 5 foot, any more than that and i would have imagined you would need something stable with a longish bristle to give you more options.

In a lot of articles I have read on the subject most of the top guys aren’t afraid to fish heavy floats (up to .75) to suit conditions, granted their usually on about Larford and having never been there I don’t know the depths.What I’m trying to say is, do we put to much emphasis on finesse when really its a bagging method used in the latter stages of a match and strong floats, line and hooks are needed to capitalise on this.I realise not every session will be like this, just food for thought though.

I think strength is a given, and like you say, sometimes if the fish are there or you save this line for the last hour then i don’t think you have to worry about finesse too much. But if you want to get the most out of these lines for the majority of the match then finesse is an absolute must.
My studies have come from watching some of the white acres regulars and no kidding they will make a slight change by moving a shot 1/2 and inch. They are also dotting down, because often even from wise carp i think the fish are picking the bait up but your not seeing it. They are fishing with an incredible amount of finesse and attention to detail. A few of them have it sussed and they are clearing up on it.

From what i have seen its very much like how Les Webber fished the maver match this final, but with meat rather than pellets. But crucially its not all meat, they are feeding pellets as well as meat and fishing banded hard pellet on the hook. Its a numbers game.

Change the subject a bit but i know from your recent posts your playing around with making floats. Have you ever considered making a decent paste float? I am talking a serious heavy duty bagging paste float for 100-200lb weights.
I have always struggled to find a no nonsense bagging float with a very long tip and a long stem for stability.
I have tried most of the commercially available ones and some of the handmade and every one has a fault of some sort, or a compramise. either not strong enough or the balance/proportions were wrong. The eyes were too weak, in fact if you use the double rubbers method then you don’t need float eyes at all. The double rubber stops the line wrapping over the tip when shipping. The loaded ones had poor stability and were affected badly by wind and tow. Weak materials etc etc, the list goes on.Tips not long enough or made from the wrong materials.

If i ever get around to it I might spec something up .

im struggling to understnd what you are trying to achieve? A KC Carpa 1 or Carpa 2 would do the job without the need for wire. Why the .06mm wire in particular?

The wire on a Chimp only bends if the latex is the wrong size for the diameter of the wire and the line together (to tight). 3 bits of latex are also better than 2 to reduce the chances of the wire bending like a bow on the float. Also 3 bits of latex are better for holding the float in place on the line in a light but secure way.

I dont find that i need to fish shallow that often. However, on days when the fish come up in the water and im forced to fish shallow. I use a type of float i made 15 years ago that does not have an eye. Its a simple polly ball with about 1 inch of 12lb line going though the center of them. They are attatched with 2 bits of silican/latex rubber. No tangles, can be fished 2 inches deep or upto 3ft deep. Great for slapping. Im able to hang a bigger bait up in the water by simply using a bigger polly ball, (I got about 1 million mixed sizes for about £3 from a material/fabric/dress making shop).

When playing around with up in the water type floats a few years ago. I found that i got more hook ups with the polly ball floats. So, they are my float of choice in most conditions when im fishing shallow.However, as i,ve already said. Im no expert on shallow fishing because i dont find that i need to do it that often.

I dont have an issue in using the other option to you. The main line going though the body of the float. Im a fan of the KC paste and the carpa power. Have a look at the Carpa power in particular but i dont think it sits right for shallow fishing.

Sounds about right for shark fishing from the back of a boat, Chris. From what i,ve seen. A big polly ball (balloon) is the first float of choice for this type of fishing. Great idea but you have the wrong venue for that style of fishing. Water craft, mate. Water craft!!!

I’ve had to remove some posts following complaints and will lock the thread if I have to.

Once you girls have put your hand bags away… You asked about making floats without an eye for shallow fishing, why bother when there are perfectly good floats already on the market?

Topic locked.