Friday, 5 October 2012

A go at making my own pike floats

I've decided to make my own pike floats recently, i'm just a little tired of forking out £3 a float! This was my first attempt....

I started off by purchasing a length of 13mm balsa dowel, cost me £3 from Hobbycroft and was enough to make 5no.  7 inch floats.

Following this, I sanded off one end ready for the wire loop (being careful not to let the dog eat it). I could have used a swivel, but these are quite costly so I decided to spend £1.50 on 4m of 1mm brass wire. This was twisted around a thin screwdriver to make the eye.
 
A hole is then made into the dowel using a nail, and the eye is glued into place using araldyte.


The balsa is cut to make a float 7 inches long, and sanded off at the other end. I then applied a coat of normal household matt white, followed by some white gloss. The end is the painted either orange or black (both will be needed to suit conditions), and ta da!!
I'll be giving it a go this weekend...
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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous8 October 2012 at 10:34

    Hi Jimmy

    Nice looking floats, do you use these on the Tees? Whats your normal float set up for the Tees?

    Thanks

    Matt

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jimmy8 October 2012 at 18:08

    Hi Matt, thanks. I have a few orange ones and a few black ones to hand for whichever would be best. I use, in order slid up the line, a couple of drennan float stops, a rubber bead, the float and a fox egg sinker, prior to tying the trace on. The depth is set using the float stops until you get to the point where the float lays flat. Then i put the rod in the rest and tighten up until the float semi-cocks. This provides excellent bite detection. Probably not so good in loads of flow, but i tend to fish the slacks just outside the main flow anyway!

    Cheers

    James

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous9 October 2012 at 08:16

    Thanks Jimmy. So is the egg sinker on the bottom?

    I have only fished for pike acouple of times and have only fished an in line float set under depth so that the dead bait can 'flow' around the slacks.

    Matt

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jimmy9 October 2012 at 18:15

    Yeah, you want the egg sinker to be on the bottom, with the deadbait and trace lying flat.

    Good luck!

    Cheers, James

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous14 January 2014 at 14:59

    I make a simular float for myself, but I paint one end Orange and the Yellow or Black, I put an eye in either end so it's easy to put the float oh either way round depending on the weather conditions

    ReplyDelete

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