Flat Float Advice Please

[Maesknoll]

I fished a match Sunday, using the Cralusso flat float for the first time. I had set it up as advised, but found I was missing a lot of bites.

I even had a couple of bites that pulled the elastic out and I still didn’t contact the fish!!

The swim was about 7′ deep, with a medium pace, I was using a slightly overweighted 5g float, which was sitting quite steadily in the flow.

Any tips or advice on how best to set up and fish these floats would be welcome, thanks in anticipation.

[PoolFodder]

Here’s my thoughts, 5g seems a lot for 7ft of water when it’s only a medium pace. I would use no more than a gram and half with an inverted pear shaped float and inch it through.

[Cream of notts uniParticipant]

yep, certainly use a lighter flat float if you are going to use one, something more like 0.75g – 1.5g. also, at the first sign of a bite, take all the tension off the rig and let the float go down stream.the fish should then take the now more free moving bait easier. when the float dissapears give it a good firm strike upwards and bob should be your uncle.
Or as Pf reccomends, something like a sensas jean desque dotted right down will work very well in a medium pace flow situation.

[Cream of notts uniParticipant]

yep, certainly use a lighter flat float if you are going to use one, something more like 0.75g – 1.5g. also, at the first sign of a bite, take all the tension off the rig and let the float go down stream.the fish should then take the now more free moving bait easier. when the float dissapears give it a good firm strike upwards and bob should be your uncle.
Or as Pf reccomends, something like a sensas jean desque dotted right down will work very well in a medium pace flow situation.

[Cream of notts uniParticipant]

oops, damn slow internet

[Colin MParticipant]

Yes Pools Fodder is right – use a lighter float. One other thought – which Cralusso float are you using? The ones with the sharp ridge/shoulder are designed for holding back hard/dead still. Make sure you are not using the slightly rounder, more bulbous Cralussos – they are designed for inching through the swim.

[TF_JMCLincoln]

“The ones with the sharp ridge/shoulder” = Torpedo

“slightly rounder, more bulbous Cralussos” = Bubble

[Maesknoll]

I was using the Torpedo, the tactic being to ball it in and then fish with the float held back hard/dead still. I’d been advised that it would be better to fish with a float of that weight, rather than one of a gram or two.

I had it set up with about 3′ of line between the pole tip and the float, a 4g olivette and locking shot about 2’6″ from the hook and a No1 shot as a dropper about 12″ from the hook.

Would you use a back shot?

I didn’t need to have a pole float that could be run through the swim, as I could fish the stick on a rod quite effectively to present a moving bait.

[Cream of notts uniParticipant]

5 gramme in 7 foot of water still sounds too heavy even for holding still, try a smaller dropper or a couple of smaller droppers, clearly the fish are picking up the bait, not taking it properly due to the large dropper and olivette providing too much resistance to the movement of the bait. i’ve seen fish, particularly eels , rip lacky out the pole but still not be hooked, having just grabbed hold of the maggot/worm and run, then rejected the bait when they’ve felt the elastic come out.
Also, when fishing any distance past a rod end , you will really struggle to get a stick to go down the swim in line with your groundbait in a perfectly straight line at inching through pace ie barely moving.you might be able to go through at half pace, but any slower and, even with a backshot, you would need a favourable upstream wind to hold the float at inching through pace. With a lighter flat float/round bodied float you can go over you groundbait at a mere crawl, even hold the bait still for however long you need to in order to stimulate bites.
I would definitley use a backshot too, they make rig presentation a lot easier.

[TF_Slider]

TBH the float is way too heavy for 7ft of medium water .

What size normal float woulf you use ? 2-3 g maybe in 7ft so I would say you need a flattie of around 1.5-2g to site properly in the flow and still offer the sensitivity you require to hit bites, however, if you had laccy pulling out and still didnt hook up to the fish you may an issue with your hook or length of line laid on.

[Anonymous]

Hi Chaps
you can judge what size flat float you need by the way the float sits in the water.if its too heavy or too light then it wont stand correctly or lean forwards or backwards.I’ve fished upto 10g on the Thames at Medley which is only 4ft avarage.maybe your elastic is too soft to set the hook?these floats offer no resistance so you need to strike quite hard.I always use a hollow elastic

[Maesknoll]

Food for thought here, next week I’ll be back on the river (Bristol Avon at Newbridge) target species will be mostly bream and skimmers. Depths range from 8′ – 13′ and flow from slow to medium.

Any suggestions how to rig up for this would be useful, i.e. distance from pole tip to float, size and placing of backshot, size of float. positioning of olivette and droppers.

TIA

[Author]

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