Bubble Floats and Controller Floats

First published 31/8/2011

We have Terry Branston to thank for supplying us with this interesting article about Bubble floats and Controller floats

Controller and bubble floats are used exclusively for surface fishing. The floats only job is to give extra weight to the end tackle which enables you to cast them the required distance. Controller floats come in various weights so you will need to change them according to your casting requirements. The weight on the bubble floats on the other can be adjusted easily by simply adding or removing water from within the floats. The bubble float has two bunged holes on the body which makes changing the weight very easy.

There are a number of ways to attach the controller float to the line but by far the best way is to push a piece of rig tubing through the swivel at the top of the float. Then thread the tubing on to your main line before tying your hook link to the main line, and simply push the end of the rig tubing on to swivel on your hook link. This is known as a safe rig because the float will easily eject form the rig if the fish breaks the line. This will stop the fish from towing the float around the lake and will reduce the risk of the fish snagging and ultimately killing it.

Bubble floats on the other hand have either one or two eyes built in to them or they have rig tubing through the middle. On the floats with the rig tubing through the middle of them you can simply thread the line through the tube before tying on you hook link. The rig tubing will then simply push over the top of the hook link swivel to secure it. The two eyed bubble floats will retain themselves on the line when the line is threaded through both eyes so they will not need any ledger stops or weights to retain there position. If on the other hand your bubble float only has one eye then you can treat it and fish it like a controller float.

It does not matter which type of float you choose for you surface fishing as both will give you excellent bait presentation. The most common mistake when surface fishing is to make your hook link to short. The hook link should be no shorter than 3ft in length as any shorter runs the risk of the fish being spooked by the float itself. At the same time your casting will be impaired if your hook link is too long, so a hook link of about 3-5ft would be perfect.