Floating Rigs

Basic Floating rig

Personally, I find floating rigs are an excellent way to do coarse fishing, especially in wild places where the bottom has thick vegetation or is muddy. I'm going to share here some floating rig designs that I normally use.

Basic Floating Rig

To construct the rig, I use thin transparent mono lines in the poundage of between 12 to 20lb. As for the float, or bobber, I would use a cheap & readily available plastic bobber. Just tie your hook on the end of your line, then attached the bobber to your main line using the spring locks on top & bottom of bobber. Slide it up or down to adjust dept of bait presentation.

The size of these tackles is entirely up to you but try to use logic & common sense to match them appropriately. Don't use a super sized Bobber with a tiny hook when you know there aren't going to be big fishes in the pond. Rule of thumb when float fishing in new waters (or paypond) is to start with small rigs then when the fishes seem to be bigger & tougher, upgrade to heavier tackles. Always remember, float fishing is a finesse technique. Keep it simple!

Long Bobber

Assortment of long bobbers

Another form of Float that I frequently use are the long bobber designs popular in UK. This type of bobber is very sensitive to bites & any small disturbance to the bait is reflected on the bobber shaking up & down. This bobber design is also resistant to wind & underwater current so it move less than the conventional ball shaped bobbers. This design is slightly more difficult to rig as you'll need to use split shots to secure the bobber on the line.

Live Bait Floating Rig

Here's another form of floating rig designed for live baits. This is a popular rig used at Saltwater payponds for Barramundi (Siakap) fishing. To tie this rig, you'll need some thick leaders, minimal of 30 to 50lb test & also a specially weighted bobber that has a sinker permanently attached at the bottom.

Float fishing is an exciting & fun way to catch fish. The thrill is to seek the bobber dives rapidly & disappear. Then you wait for 1 or 2 seconds before striking to set the hook.

Here are some of the fishes I've caught with floating rigs.