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Help me put together a float rig

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float put rig
12K views 7 replies 6 participants last post by  theryang299 
#1 ·
I am currently using a fishfinder rig. Some days it seems to work and other days the crabs eat up my bait like hotcakes. Some have suggested using a float or a balloon. Should I just add that to my setup or is there one particular rig that is simple and works well to keep my bait off the bottom? Can anyone point me to some pics of a good setup? Also, what about method? It seems like it's going to be moving around quite a bit with a float on it. I have a hard time keeping it in place sometimes even with a 4 or 5 oz pyramid sinker on there. Any suggestions? Thanks!
 
#2 ·
#3 ·
Have you tried drifting your bait with no additional weight? Many times that can be productive, especially if you're in an area with a good current, which is sounds like you are. Big bass are opportunistic feeders. Many times they'll lie in wait for food to come to them on the current. Your bait won't do this if it's anchored to the bottom. Try casting up current of and letting your bait drift with the current, preferably drifting past some structure where a bass may be wating. Crabs won't bother it, and you'll cover a lot more area this way. thumbsup.gif

This is basically what you would do with a balloon rig. The balloon just keeps your bait drifting at a set depth. I've only used it with live bait, but it could work with cut bait too, if you can get it out into a current where it can cover some territory.
 
#4 · (Edited)
:a_goodjob:I wrote this in another forum, can be a little time consuming but has proven very effective for me on the beaches here in Maine. My suggestion is rig up 5-10 of them, more than enough for th whole season (unless you're fishing around rock pilings or other structure and have frequent break-offs. I've had the same float on all season so far without so much as a nick. Good luck man, hope it helps.

I buy a bag of floats of various sizes, shapes and colors ranging from plain old round to cigar floats and others. Attach your sinker directly to your leader (not rigged on a slide of any sort) using a snap swivel or split ring. I prefer pyramid sinkers as they tend to hold bottom better off the beach where I do the majority of my fishing. I never go lighter than a 5 oz. or heavier than a 7 oz but this will vary on the location your fishing, (moving water such as a river or in/around tidal pools you'll want a lighter weight (3-4 oz. egg sinker) to allow your offering to be swept up in the current). Use a fluoro leader (circle hooks are ideal for this method for floating worms or even clams), then slide a bead down stopping a few inches up from your hook, secured with a loosely tied overhand knot behind it so the bead stays in place. Next, slide the float onto ur line followed by another bead and another knot behind that. I usually tie up a bunch of these in advance ranging in length and use them accordingly depending on how high the surf/strong the undertow etc. Last step to secure the beads to the float, apply a small dab of Gorilla Glue on either end of the float in the hole and press the beads into to secure it tight. The Gorilla Glue makes a decent seal once it dries and keeps everything in place. Use this rig with two sandworms on a circle hook (1st rigged through the head, fed a couple inches and pulled thru leaving the majority to dangle, 2nd one hook thru the back and out thru the head in between the pinchers) and I'm telling ya man, stripers go nuts for 'em. Try it out and let me know how ya make out, I promise ya won't be disappointed. :a_goodjob:

StriperHyper ~ Will
 
#6 ·
Sorry but WAY too much involved. Like Jake said drift the chunks. They will eventually end up on the bottom where the crabs are. If you aren't getting luck after putting bait in the WHOLE water column then move to another spot with no crabs. Drifting or floating doesn't mean your bait is floating on top of the water. That's the last thing you want. You will find out that alot of your hits will come from mid to top of the column. And if that's where they are and you are on the bottom with a 5oz weight you won't get shit. But then again if there aren't crabs eating your bait fish the bottom with a head and hope for a fat girl.
 
#5 ·
Thanks for all of the replies guys! I'm going to try out some of your suggestions and see how they go. I'm trying to picture exactly how these rigs work but I'm not sure. If the hook is only a few inches away from the float, that doesn't cause any problems? It seems like you would want it a ways away. I was trying to let my bait drift around in the current but it gets far away real quick sometimes.

So basically, I want a sinker followed by a length of leader with a float somewhere towards the hook end. So for instance, if I have a 3ft leader and I have the float 1 ft from the hook, then my bait will be floating about 1ft above the floor? If I skipped the sinker, then my bait will be 1ft under the surface?

I'll give your suggestion a shot StriperHyper. How long of a leader do you normally use with that setup?
 
#7 · (Edited)
It sounds a lot worse than it is to make them, and I will reiterate that this method would ONLY be effective for fishing the beach, not so much a river, the canal or Biddeford Pool. The surf in OOB, while usually not very high, has a strong undertow and is usually loaded with crabs on any given night. Sometimes a float is the only way to go down there and is the difference between catching fish and feeding crabs. Believe me I've tried thinking of easier ways to rig up these floats, I just haven't quite put my finger on it yet. The only other thing I could suggest is perhaps skip the beads and glue altogether and use something like a dime sized rubber stopper to keep the float from sliding.

To answer your question lost, you wanna rig up a few of these floats and have them vary in length depending on the condition ur fishing in. Standard would be 18" fluoro leader. You only need the float to be 5-6" up from the hook, but yes, theoreticall the further up the float the higher off bottom you'll be. I have great success floating worms just off bottom up here, just out of the reach of the pesky crabs. You dont wanna skip the sinker though as you'd be floating on top.....which I suppose COULD work but it's more of a long shot. Let me know if ya rig one up and try it out, I'd be interested to hear how ya make out. I know a couple/few of the new guys, both down the Cape and up my way, tried them out last year and also had pretty good sucess.


StriperHyper ~ Will
 
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