Rig Jigs

[Ianpick]

He must have gone at it a bit to damage that with a bit of wood.

 

[Mr Fish]

@Mr Fish
The two areas I intend trying them out are both only about 4 or 5' deep at high water.
The
I did try it once last year in very windy weather when the sea was a bit lumpy.
I had one take when the float drifted back to the sea wall and it shot off like a bullet only to have the fish drop the bait.
I think they might be used to slowly move a bait across a sandy bottom for flatties as well.
Flatter water may be important here.
Nothing ventured nothing gained as they say.

Ah fair one, plenty shallow enough then.

Yes, lumpier conditions can play Merry hell with sea float fishing unfortunately.
Sometimes it’s not so much whether the fish might be there, but whether you can use a float in the conditions to properly fish for them.
It doesn’t take much to screw your drift, or too much wind pulls the line around and drags the float behind it.
I’ve had occasions when I’m getting bites but the drift is literally no more than 30 seconds and you have to constantly keep resetting and mending the line, gets a bit tedious.

Some days it’s easier just to pack the float away and try something else.

Sorry, nothing to do with jigs! Unless you jigged yourself float about ?

 

[Stevie69]

i made mine using half inch mdf rips it adjusts in the center using a hook for the different lengths. Can extend up to 5ft. I use it all the time hands free and no line or hooks dangling everywhere.

 

[Battered]

View attachment 7228i made mine using half inch mdf rips it adjusts in the center using a hook for the different lengths. Can extend up to 5ft. I use it all the time hands free and no line or hooks dangling everywhere.

That was exactly my point, hands free.

I was thinking along the lines of making a wider version to do a load of rigs at once.

 

[Trampster]

View attachment 7228i made mine using half inch mdf rips it adjusts in the center using a hook for the different lengths. Can extend up to 5ft. I use it all the time hands free and no line or hooks dangling everywhere.

Nice one! SImilar to what I'm in the process of constructing. ??

 

[Trampster]

@Ianpick I hadn't had it long at the time, and wasn't there when he tried to get the chuck off. He said he'd only used a bit of wood! There were two chucks with it, but when I investigated later, the 2nd chuck is a different thread and won't fit the headstock, so I don't know why he was messing with it.. ??

 

[Kine262]

Only problem with weighted floats is they’re not a slider in the traditional sense so you’re restricted to however long you can make your trace.
Works well for garfish in the top layers and possibly mackerel if they’re near the surface (I tend to find they’re usually deeper) and pollack tend to be nearer the bottom.

Then again if your rough ground is only say 12 feet deep at most, your six foot trace will certainly be near enough to attract the attention of the fish.

I did once buy premade weighted ‘sliding’ floats from a shop thinking I’d do away with sliding weights and beads, and realised the inherent flaw in the design ie the depth is limited to whatever your hook length is.
And needed a stop immediately above the float otherwise when you got a bite it just pulled the line through.
I did catch garfish though, which wasn’t surprising in the top layer.

You probably know all that though, but might be useful to people that haven’t used them before.

(Btw I can get a one ounce sliding float 50 yards easily enough on a float rod, the problem is trying to see the damn thing at that range)

These help!

 

[Mr Fish]

These help!
View attachment 7346

Ha yes, they’re visible! How big are they Will?

Usually I use the standard one ounce typical sliding sea float, which are pretty visible anyway.
The problem at range is they can get obscured by waves too but mainly it’s just too damn far away!

 

[Ianpick]

These a couple of floats that I've made, left one is 4oz right 3oz. Teak. I have some Ash ones that weigh in at 5oz.
I've cast the 4oz one 70yds over grass, not giving it much welly.
The float acts as the weight so all the terminal stuff can be clipped above it to stop tangles.
The idea is that when fishing fairly shallow water using these will be like freelining a bait at a good distance.
The weight, size and shape of the float will, hopefully, provide enough resistance to hook the fish. Bite detection will be on the rod tip.
I'm hoping for pollack mainly. Bass, mackerel, garfish can help themselves if they like.
On a second or third rod, using a different approach will be, at least, interesting.
On a flat sandy beach, a longish hooklength weighted with a few lead shot, should move the bait around and perhaps attract a few bottom feeders.
Time will tell.

 

[Kine262]

Ha yes, they’re visible! How big are they Will?

Usually I use the standard one ounce typical sliding sea float, which are pretty visible anyway.
The problem at range is they can get obscured by waves too but mainly it’s just too damn far away!

They do various sizes mate. I have a couple that are about six inches long and carry one and a half ounces but they go right down to about 1/8th of an ounce. They are called sight bob splashers and were originally designed for commercial carp puddles where the splash of the float landing attracted fish, but I find they make great sliders for sea fishing. The blob on top helps visibility up to about 60 metres. Any further than that and I would be looking to use the floats with the orange dart flight tops.

Because the weight is built in to the float they cast really well.

 

[Mr Fish]

They do various sizes mate. I have a couple that are about six inches long and carry one and a half ounces but they go right down to about 1/8th of an ounce. They are called sight bob splashers and were originally designed for commercial carp puddles where the splash of the float landing attracted fish, but I find they make great sliders for sea fishing. The blob on top helps visibility up to about 60 metres. Any further than that and I would be looking to use the floats with the orange dart flight tops.

Because the weight is built in to the float they cast really well.

Ah I see, cheers Will.

They’re not ‘true’ sliders then? Ie the weight and bait drops down and the float slides up the line to the depth set?

 

[The Third Earl]

@Mr Fish
The two areas I intend trying them out are both only about 4 or 5' deep at high water.
The
I did try it once last year in very windy weather when the sea was a bit lumpy.
I had one take when the float drifted back to the sea wall and it shot off like a bullet only to have the fish drop the bait.
I think they might be used to slowly move a bait across a sandy bottom for flatties as well.
Flatter water may be important here.
Nothing ventured nothing gained as they say.

I fish an estuary harbour wall with a float , when the tide comes in it moves one way, when it goes out it moves the other, I float fish using frozen sandeel for Bass, but one day, I forgot to adjust the depth as the tide was dropping, the result was the sandeel was dragging along the bottom when it reached the end of the wall where there was a raised sandbank, as said, I discovered, quite by accident that the flatties were waiting at the base of the sandbank for food items that were being washed along with the receding tide, the food items were gathering in an area about 12 feet long , if I let the bait go into that area and drag along the bottom as it shallowed up the flatties were onto the sandeel like a Jack Russell on a nest of rats.
Not Bass, but good fun , especially as some of them were a good size, they put up quite a scrap on a light float rod.

Dave .

 

[Ianpick]

Just the sort of fishing I like Dave.
Experimentation is potentially such fun.

Or a complete disaster, but finding out is the essence of angling.
That's how angling develops, small steps.