Bait fishing with bobbers - Float fishing - how to catch fish with bobber

hey Luke here with Captain carb comm and I'm going to talk to you about bobbers floats strike indicators whatever you call them we're going to tell you how to use them pros and cons what they're for when to choose and which ones to buy we're going to cover it all okay when it came time to do this video I had no clue how many bombers I owned it's kind of embarrassing really don't tell my wife like she doesn't she doesn't need to know how much money I've spent on this um but I got almost every type of float they they make I've got at least one of them and I'm going to tell you a little bit about all the different types and when you use them and why you use them so this is the classic red and white bobber that most of us grew up with here in the States it's very very cheap it's inexpensive just doesn't require any hardware you just clip the bottom on and flip the top onto your line it's this little spring here super easy okay it doesn't require tying any knots doesn't require any beads or Stoppers just clip it on go super cheap one of the big problems with this is it's not very sensitive okay if you get very aggressive fish like bluegill that will just pull it under and move it around it doesn't really matter okay you're kind of good enough for you know for a lot of the fishing we have here in the state but it breaks really easy to these things you'll see these washed up on the shore all the time because as soon as they get cracked then they fill with water and they think okay well you can get styrofoam versions of exactly the same thing for only a few pennies more so if you're looking for durability there you go this is the next step up as far as visibility goes I think these things are easier to see as well now with the issue of cast ability sometimes you need to wing these things pretty far but the problem is is they're so light it's hard to get any distance with these so if you look here on the bottom okay this one right here has led in the bottom and this one does not this one has a little bit more letting it so that you can get a little bit better distance to it gives it some weight okay so you can get these styrofoam styrofoam bobbers with or without lead depending on how far you need to cast the problem with these round floats is that they're not sensitive at all the cheap the durable they're easy to see but a fish has to pound it for you to be able to see what's going on the advantage though is that there's very very stable okay so if you're fishing with live bait this is the type of bobber you want you want a chunky thick one like this if you're fishing for fish that are very sensitive and they're just taking out the bait this is not a good choice so the next step up is you can get these floats right here they're like cigar shaped and when they're cigar shaped and they're long and skinny like this they go up and down in the water column that gives you an increased sensitivity to bite now one of the things about it is once you make them cigar shape though you need to have weight to make them sit right side up because they're supposed to sit like this in the water without weight they'll lay on their side so these ones right here come with little lead weights already installed on them this makes them easy to cast and open soon as they hit the water is it right sign up so this is a little bit of an improvement on this also very affordable very easy to see you can kind of get stuff that's half and half okay so this right here is a great these are two great floats for live bait they've got a little bit more of the cigar shape so they're a little bit more sensitive as the bait traveling the shape allows you to see which way they're going very easily from a distance as it pops up and down you can see that but they are chunky enough that the live bait can't pull them under okay now you may have seen big old huge floats like these this is made by a company called cat spirit this is gear design for 200 300 pound wealth catfish out in Europe and these are what we call buoy float okay so what this is is when you're kayaking you're bait or you're rolling your bait out so you take a boat and you're bank fishing but you go out like two three hundred yards and you drop your bait offshore your need is massively huge floats so that you can see what's going on two three four hundred yards away okay so this gives you a increased visibility and often you're using big chunky live live bait like you use a young carp or a roach or something like that so and these ones even got little holes here where you can you can attach a glowstick so you can see what's going on at night some of them will have little flags on them so you get a little bit visibility here's another great example here these are some floats that are made from PVC in a pool noodle and some swivel all Cris floor is my buddy who runs the buddy river catfishing and YouTube channel it's partnered with a company that makes these I'll put a link in the description but these are great for live bait for flat heads they're big they're chunky so you can put a big ol fat betta on there and that baits not going to be able to pull this under and also it's got these little holes on the top where you can take one of those little glow stick bracelet things they're super cheap to get at Walmart and you just like stick them in right here and so all those people little glow sticks will attach to the top and you great for night fishing there's actually companies that make floats with electronics to have lights in them so you can turn on the lights at night or you can see bite indication you can tell when a fish is hitting it at night these are a pencil floats or cigar floats and I've got a bunch of different types here and what this is is they're giving you the volume the size necessary to keep live bait from submerging your float but they're giving you that sensitivity where they go up and down in the water column this is important because this allows you to detect what's called positive bites so for instance if a fish grabs your bait and swims upward it on a bobber it'll do nothing it will just sit there you won't notice any change on this because it's writing half in half out of the water if a fish comes and hits your mate swims up with it it'll go and lay on its side now one of the problems is these don't work as well in moving water ok rough water moving water they kind of go all over the place and it screws up the sensitivity here are some floats from China that are designed for still water carp fishing and these are designed for pole fishing now what I mean pole fishing I mean no real you're just using like a 15-foot long pole with just a string attached to the end and like a cane pole and they fish for carp with these so you don't need to cast you're just dipping the float in but these are the ultimate and extreme sensitivity they this coloured part is right around the top of here is where they ride in the water and you can watch this go up and down it takes almost zero force for this float to move up and down on the water so extremely hook shy fish extremely sensitive bites you can detect with these so this is the ultimate and sensitivity but you lose a lot in visibility and cast ability but that's okay because it's designed for fishing like 15 feet from the shore 20 feet from the shore and you're not casting them you're using a pole this right here is the British version of the same sort of thing these are pole floats or max floats for commercial carp and lers and this one got a little rig holder and this one's just the loose float but same sort of thing extraordinarily sensitive this takes this this flow right here is designed to hold about two grams so two grams of lead and bait and hook and everything so it just sits right there and you can catch fish so easily I mean you will have a fish farts nearly you'll detect it and then you got things like here little pencil floats things are being really sensitive good for small fish and this one comes with weight in the bottom so it so when I say it float what I mean is that if you just put it in the water and lay like this if you put a little weight on one end it'll sit right side up and drilling this in the water okay okay so that's called local when it goes fixed right side up this has a little weight built into the bottom so it automatically pucks without you having to add more weight floats like this and floats like this you have to add the right amount of weight to make it now if you want to make your own super cheap pencil float for this ultra light sensitive fishing take a straw from any fast food restaurant pinch it with your pliers and use a lighter to burn the end so it seals and flip it around and do the same thing to the other end you can make it as long or short as you want and it works great it's a very sensitive pencil float then you take a real small hook like I like to use the number fourteen hook when fishing for like bluegill and pan fish and Pierce it through the bottom sealed part pull it through and then tie an overhand knot so that the float doesn't slide up and down the line too easy put a weight on there to make sure the float sits upright and you're off to the races you can see here I'm just crushing these bluegill with a little instant mashed potatoes number 14 hook and this pencil float the float is so sensitive I know right when to set the hook so I'm gut hook a none of the fish I'm losing much less bait and I'm catching a lot more bluegill quicker a company called rainbow makes these awesome bubble floats in a couple of different models but they're all basically the same principle there are these clear bobbers that you can fill partially with water to give them some weight so you can cast them there's a plug at the top of the bottom to let the water in and out and then you can thread the bobber on to your lines like a normal float I use these a lot when I'm surface fishing with very shy fish so the simplest way that most bobbers attach to your line is they just have these little spring-loaded hooks right there on the bottom you depress it the hooks exposed to clip your line in and then you do the same thing on the other side and attach it no hardware necessary no Knox necessary all very automated other floats but these are just a bead this one this one these they just slide onto your line like a bead and they are free to go up and down unless you use a stop or not and what you do is on the top and the bottom of the float or on just the top depending on how you want to rig it you slide the little plastic beads and then you tie a stopper knot and that stopper knot prevents the bead from traveling any further up to the lines but it's adjustable you can pinch it and move it up and down your line and that's what keeps your float from just going wherever it wants that's how you set the depth of your float is with a stopper knot and a bead my Chinese float use a similar principle but they use these little rubber stoppers or all of that and you buy them in whisk on these little wire bit and they slide on to your to rig here in the States some of them work that way too like these little stop it that's how I rigged these float them using shiners to catch that if you don't have any of these fancy Stoppers or if you don't know how to tie a stop or not shove a toothpick into your bead while it's struggling your line clip off the excess then use the pliers to shove that point as deep into the bead as you can it'll keep the bead from going anywhere on its own but you can still move it around and adjust it just like a stop or not the British float attached to your line with a little bit of silicone tubing you clip clip off a section of tubing slide it on your line and then jam the float into the tubing and the friction keeps it from coming off some of them also have like this one has this little microscopic little loop so you feed the line through the loop and then jam it into the tubing and you're set the biggest problem with silicone tubing is you have to buy it in the right diameter to match your float and if you don't have it the exact right diameter it won't have enough friction to work with the Chinese floats we have these little teardrop shaped rubber adapter that slide to have a swivel on one end and like a little rubber hole on the other and you feed this on to your line secure it with beads and then you Jam the float in there and then you can pull the floats out and replace it with a different float and adjust the size and type of your float on the go electrical tape is a great substitute for all those float connectors you simply take a piece of electrical tape and use it to attach the line to your float and your float will stay put but allow you to adjust it and slide it up and down the line with a little bit of force it also doesn't seem to come off in the water so it works great oh let me also show you this type of float which is a little bit different this is a float used for live bait fishing for stripers or flathead it's got a clip that goes on to your line your mainline here and then it's got this stopper here and you depress it and you pinch it onto your line and what happens is as soon as the fish hits you set the hook and it jerks the line between these two little grippers and then the float runs free and then it doesn't interfere with the fight it's a great technique if you're using big bait for big fish whether saltwater or freshwater so we talked about the different types of floats out there and some of their pros and cons we've talked about how they attach to your line now let me tell you some tricks for using a float out in the field show you some ways that I actually catch fish with these float the most common reason I use a float is to get my bait off the bottom to get it above snags and weeds and to get at the same level of its official feeding the fish aren't feeding on the bottom get your bait off the bottom so floats will do this for you floats are also fabulous for staying mobile and small rivers or creeks you can cast into the current and let your bait drift right into a hole really naturally and you can cover a lot of ground very quickly it's a great way to find fish and to catch a lot of fish very quickly especially if you're just using one rod I love this on small rivers bobbers are fabulous when fishing and currents bottom fishing and heavy current can be a real beast because your line won't stay put using the bobber to just drift around in the current is a much more natural way to present your bait and then you don't have to fight the current you're using the current to help you get to the fish and heavy current can mask bites so a good Bob or strike indicator can help you you're getting hit I also like to use bobbers and bass when I'm just trying to find a spot in a new piece of water I can go around the shore cast let it sit for a little bit move on try a new spot I can cover a lot of ground very quickly and find out where the fish are at this is great for bass fishing catfishing pike fishing any sort of ambush predator this is a great way to go find out where they're hiding if you're in a boat a bobber is a great way to fish especially if you can't anchor so if your boats drifting around you can cast your bobber off and let it drift with the boat and so it's a great way of fishing from a kayak or a float tube or a boat that you can't anchor up I also like to use bobbers with live bait the live bait will swim around and cover a lot of ground and you can try to find fish as your bait swims freely around dragging the bobber behind it this is a great technique for catching largemouth bass and other predators if you don't want to let your live bait swim freely you can use this live basement rig this rig suspends your bait under a bobber but anchors it into one place so it can't swim off it allows the bait to swim around this tethering system keep it above the snags but you're keeping it in one spot this is a great live bait bank fishing method if you're in heavy snags this is what the rig looks like you got a bobber and then you've got the swivel in between the bobber and the lead and the swivel is pegged in place with two of those beads with the toothpicks in it and so you can adjust it up and down with your fingers but the bait can't move it the loons make great floats especially because they are large and catch the wind so if you want to drift your bait long distances with high visibility a balloon works great tie a simple overhand knot onto your line and you're off to the races you by casting this out with the wind to your back you can let the wind or current drift your balloon out much further than you could possibly catch the large balloon is easy to see from far distances and it's a bigger surface area so the wind as it moves it better the Chinese and European micro floats you see in this video I love the use for micro fishing or for catching pan fish especially when I'm just using a cane pole or one of these telescopic fishing pole it's great for small creeks and ponds especially where you have very shy fish they're used to being hunted those clear floats are great for surface fishing so when I'm surface fishing for carp or I'm using a fly a dry fly on a spinning rod I like to use those clear floats they give me a lot of casting ability from their weight and I don't need to add any extra lead and there's clear so they don't scare the fish as much and they work really great for carp because carp have such great eyesight and they are so cautious with surface fishing this works particularly well for grass carp which are one of the most cautious fish I can ever catch on the surface thanks for watching I hope you learned something new if you like this video we put out new videos every week so don't forget to click Subscribe and if you like this - you may also like these videos check out this video with my top 10 favourite knots and my six favorite Bing fishing hacks including this one they'll keep your rods from ever being pulled into the water thanks again and don't forget to click Subscribe

Channel: Catfish and Carp

Views: 704,868

Keywords: fishing, bait fishing, fishing with bobbers, bobbers, floats, how to catch fish, how to catch fish with bobbers, fishing with bait, float fishing

Id: tBqoi4HZWw4

Length: 18min 54sec (1134 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 25 2017