![Freshwater fishing floats](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Freshwater_fishing_floats.jpg)
A fishing float or bobber is a lightweight
buoy
A buoy () is a floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents.
Types
Navigational buoys
* Race course marker buoys are used for buoy racing, the most prevalent form of yac ...
used in
angling
Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techniqu ...
, usually attached to a
fishing line
A fishing line is a flexible, high-tensile cord used in angling to tether and pull in fish, in conjunction with at least one hook. Fishing lines are usually pulled by and stored in a reel, but can also be retrieved by hand, with a fixed attachm ...
. A float can serve several purposes:
* firstly, it serves as a visual
bite indicator
A bite indicator is a mechanical or electronic device which indicates to an angling, angler that something is happening at the fishing hook, hook end of the fishing line.
Types
There are many types of bite indicators. Which ones work best de ...
that helps the angler assess underwater status of the
baited
hook
A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...
and decide whether to start retrieving the line;
* secondly, it can suspend the hook and bait at a predetermined depth, which helps the angler target specific fishes;
* thirdly, as a
terminal tackle
Fishing tackle is the equipment used by anglers when fishing. Almost any equipment or gear used in fishing can be called fishing tackle, examples being hooks, lines, baits/ lures, rods, reels, floats, sinkers/ feeders, nets, stringers/ k ...
, it adds
mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
and allows the hook and bait to be
cast
Cast may refer to:
Music
* Cast (band), an English alternative rock band
* Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band
* The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis
* ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William
* ...
farther against
air resistance
In fluid dynamics, drag (sometimes called air resistance, a type of friction, or fluid resistance, another type of friction or fluid friction) is a force acting opposite to the relative motion of any object moving with respect to a surrounding flu ...
;
* and lastly, due to its
buoyancy
Buoyancy (), or upthrust, is an upward force exerted by a fluid that opposes the weight of a partially or fully immersed object. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus the p ...
, it can carry the baited hook to otherwise inaccessible areas of water by drifting along the prevailing current.
Angling using a float is sometimes called float fishing.
Floats
Floats come in different sizes and shapes, and can be made from various materials, such as foam,
balsa wood
''Ochroma pyramidale'', commonly known as the balsa tree, is a large, fast-growing tree native to the Americas. It is the sole member of the genus ''Ochroma''. The tree is famous for its wide usage in woodworking, with the name ''balsa'' being ...
,
cork
Cork or CORK may refer to:
Materials
* Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product
** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container
***Wine cork
Places Ireland
* Cork (city)
** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
, plastic,
Indian sarkanda reed, or even bird/
porcupine
Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of family, Erethizont ...
quills. The float is used to enable the angler to cast out a bait away from the shore or boat while maintaining a reference point to where the bait is unlike
bottom or leger fishing. The angler will select an appropriate float after taking into account the strength of the current (if any), the wind speed, the size of the
bait he or she is using, the depth the angler wishes to present that bait at and the distance the bait is to be cast. Usually, the line between the float and hook will have small weights attached, ensuring that the float sits vertically in the water with only a small brightly coloured tip remaining visible. The rest of the float is usually finished in a dull neutral colour to render it as inconspicuous as possible to the fish. Each float style is designed to be used in certain types of conditions such as slow or fast rivers, windy or still water or small confined waters such as canals.
History of floats
![Fishing rod float](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Fishing_rod_float._Lake_Baikal._Eastern_Siberia.jpg)
It is impossible to say with any degree of accuracy who first used a float for indicating that a fish had taken the bait, but it can be said with some certainty that people used pieces of twig, bird feather quills or rolled leaves as bite indicators, many years before any documented evidence. The first known mention of using a float appears in the book "Treatyse of fysshynge wyth an Angle" written by
Juliana Berners
Juliana Berners, O.S.B., (or Barnes or Bernes) (born 1388), was an English writer on heraldry, hawking and hunting, and is said to have been prioress of the Priory of St Mary of Sopwell, near St Albans in Hertfordshire.
Life and Work
Very l ...
in 1496.
''"All maner lynes that be not for the grounde must haue flotes, and the rennyng ground lyne must haue a flote, the lyeng ground lyne must haue a flote."''
The method described, involved boring a hole through a cork so the line could be passed through and trapped with a quill. Later books such as "the Art of Angling"by
Gerald Eades Bentley Gerald Eades Bentley (September 15, 1901 – July 25, 1994) was an American academic and literary scholar, best remembered for his seven-volume work, ''The Jacobean and Caroline Stage,'' published by Oxford University Press between 1941 and 1968. Th ...
in 1577 and the classic work "The
Compleat Angler
''The Compleat Angler'' (the spelling is sometimes modernised to ''The Complete Angler'', though this spelling also occurs in first editions) is a book by Izaak Walton. It was first published in 1653 by Richard Marriot in London.
Walton continu ...
" first published in 1653, written by
Isaak Walton
Izaak Walton (baptised 21 September 1593 – 15 December 1683) was an English writer. Best known as the author of ''The Compleat Angler'', he also wrote a number of short biographies including one of his friend John Donne. They have been colle ...
gave greater detail on fishing and using floats.
Prior to about 1800, anglers made their own floats, a practice that many still carry on today. As angling became more popular, companies started to make floats in different styles to supply the growing demand. By 1921, companies such as Wadhams had at least 250 mainly
celluloid
Celluloids are a class of materials produced by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor, often with added dyes and other agents. Once much more common for its use as photographic film before the advent of safer methods, celluloid's common contemporar ...
floats in their catalog.
Since those early days, the fishing float has become the subject of much practical and theoretical change. English anglers such as Peter Drennan (Drennan International) and Kenneth Middleton (Middy Tackle) and American fishermen like Chicago's ex World Champion Mick Thill (Thill Floats) have built up large companies designing and marketing fishing floats. The English companies have been supported by major league anglers such as Ivan Marks, Benny Ashurst and
Billy Lane
William David Lane (born February 6, 1970 in Miami, Florida) is an American builder of custom motorcycles, owner of Choppers Inc. in Melbourne, Florida, known for his 2009 conviction and imprisonment in Florida for a drunk-driving incident in 2006 ...
.
Common types
Avon
The Avon float is a straight float with a body at the top. It was designed to cope with the fast flow conditions of the English
River Avon. Many early floats were Avon style having a cork body pushed onto a
crow
A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifical ...
quill. It is fished attached to the line top and bottom.
Bubble
Bubble floats are small hollow balls which are used to control the fishing line. They may have the facility to be partially filled with water to control how much float is above the water. They are used in situations where a normal float cannot be cast, such a working close to the edge of reeds or heavy surface plant growth. The bubble float can be allowed to drift into the area without tangling.
Dink
The Dink Float is most commonly made of a cylinder of dark foam with a smaller cylinder of cork on the top painted for indicator. The line is run through the top, wrapped around the cylinder and through the bottom. Main advantage is that the float needs no stopper on the main line, the wrap of line between the top of bottom of float will hold it in place.
Popper
A popper float, commonly called a 'popping cork' is designed to mimic a large fish feeding at the surface with rod action. There are different styles of popper floats, some use a metal wire with beads at each end to make a clicking noise when pulled through the water, while more modern floats make use of a concave top, which make a deep ''chugging'' sound when pulled through the water, imitating the sound of large predator fish feeding at the surface. Some popping corks also have pellets inside, designed to mimic bait fish jumping at the surface when rattled.
Quill
The quill is one of the earliest floats, originally it was a bird feather quill but with the opening up of new worlds, porcupine quills from Africa became a standard for the float. It is fished in the same way as a stick float.
Self-cocking
Self-cocking floats can be of many styles but they are all weighted so that in the water they automatically stand upright without the use of shot or weights on the fishing line.
Stick
The Stick Float is a straight float with a taper. It is always attached to the line both top and bottom. They are made from two different materials, a light, buoyant top section of balsa wood and a heavy stem of hard grade cane, non-buoyant
hardwood
Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...
, or plastic. Unlike the Avon float, the stick has no body; it is just a tapered rod.
Waggler
A waggler float
is the term given to any float which is attached only at the bottom to the line. They come in two different types, straight or bodied. These two types can come both with and without inserts (antennas). They are made from a variety of materials including quills (such as peacock), balsa wood, cane, plastic and reed.
With direction control
![Fishing Floats with Dirction Control](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Fishing_Floats_with_Dirction_Control.JPG)
Floats with direction control change direction by planing or moving to one side when given a tug.
[Lieb, P.J., 2005]
"Planing float with lateral motion control"
U.S. Patent 6,874,271.
File:Expo belle epoque 18.jpg, Stages of manufacturing a fishing float
File:Plate II-Francis-The Slider.JPG, The slider and other floats, from ''A Book on Angling
''A Book on Angling'' – ''Being a complete treatise on the art of angling in every branch'' is a work of angling literature with significant fly fishing content written by Francis Francis, angling editor to The Field and published in London in ...
'' by Francis Francis, 1876
File:SHORE_FISHING_DIAGRAMS.jpg, Techniques for using fishing floats with direction control
Notes
{{Authority control
Recreational fishing
Fishing equipment