DIY Floats

[Buffalo Hunter]

In Australlia, fishing for Blackfish( Girella Tricuspidata) is seen as an ancient art practiced by cranky the old ballies. This is a load of rubbish as you don't have to be an old ballie to become a "gun" Blackfisherman.

In fact it is actually quite an unusual method of catching this herbivorous species. the bait of choice is sea weed or sea cabbage ( both Algae) that grows in the intertidal zone. The gear is basically a soft medium taper rod of 12ft fished under a float with 2 to 3 KG line. They grow to an average size of 1 to 1.5 Kg and give you a great fight when hooked.

Fishing the ocean rocks can be hazardous so you have to wear cleats on your sand shoes to give you grip on the rocks or wear the spiked rock boots.

I believe that you could catch both Galjoen and Hottentot using this method of fishing. Look in the entrails of the next Galjoen or Hottie that you catch and you will notice quite a bit of weed inside their guts. So why not give it a try when the water is too calm to fish with the normal baits.

 

[Buffalo Hunter]

Cleats attached to sand shoes to prevent slipping on ocean rocks.

 

[SAfish]

Those floats look awesome. Can you give more information on the materials you have used?

 

[Buffalo Hunter]

Hi SAfish,

The body section is made from cork which I turn out on a lathe. The thicker top section is made from 6 to  8mm dowel which is joined attached to the thinner bottom section (rounded Bamboo/ Cane) The two sections are joined and glued together inside the body of the cork . The body of the cork is filled with filler, undercoated and double top coated with gloss enamel then fiinished with a coat of marine varnish. The tops are double fluoro painted and double marine varnished as the fluoro is only water based.

The longer style floats are several cork sections glued together. I mainly use Champagne corks which I soak in water to expand the cork. The floats are weighted with moulded lead weights at the bottom so they float vertically in the water. Some of the thinner looking stems are actually thin metal rod ( eg. bicycle spokes)

You may notice that some of the floats have eyelets attached top and bottom. These are used as running floats for fishing in deeper water so you can cast the float without having the problem of a long trailing trace end.

The different sizes of the cork and float length are used in different water conditions ( rough and calm)and also sea and estuary applications. Generally estuary floats are much thinner in profile to cater for the much smoother water conditions.

Let me know if you need any further info.

BH