River Season Countdown: Choosing the Right Stick Float

By Scott Johnson, Soar Tackle

With the June 16th river opener just around the corner, my mind is firmly on running water. To wet your appetite for the upcoming season, I wanted to share an exclusive excerpt from my upcoming book, focusing on one of the most common questions I get asked in the shop: How on earth do I pick the right stick float?

Here is a sneak peek at the chapter...

Excerpt from 'My Guide to Stick Float Fishing'

How do we go about choosing the right stick float to use? This will come with practice and you'll find what patterns work best for you, but first, I would be looking at the water to give me a few clues:

• Is it a steady flow?

• Has it got a bit of pace to it, or is it turbulent with small swirls and boils?

• What depth do you think the water is where you intend to run your float through?

• Which way is the wind blowing?

Reading the Wind & Water

Let's look at a couple of typical scenarios.

First, imagine the water is fairly calm with a nice steady pace and an up-river breeze. Looking into the water, we can make out some streamer weed along a gravel run, which looks to be around 5ft deep. And I'm thinking a nice slow falling presentation that will rise and fall as I run the float through the swim.

One thing to note is the wind direction—it is quite important when fishing the stick. To help with control, always try and fish the float into the wind. The reason for this comes down to how we want our line to lay on the water's surface. A down-river wind (wind blowing behind the float) will want to push the line in front of the float, or even pick the line right up off the water. It is possible to fish a stick in these tricky down-river winds, but it takes a little more practice and a slight change in the rig setup. (We will look at that in The Next Step).

Selecting the Float

In this scenario—a steady 5ft run with an up-river breeze—I’d select a 5 or 6 No.4 Lignum type stem float with either a domed top or a shouldered version. I'd use the shouldered version if there was a little more flow as the shoulder will help you when holding back hard.

• Why the Lignum stem? In a nutshell, the float wants to lay flat (floats). We would shot these types of floats shirt button style (strung out shot). The float will naturally help slow those shot down on the fall, thus giving a rise and fall more naturally under the float—a beautiful way to trot down your swim.

• Why the 5 No.4 size? As a classic rule of thumb, always select a float that carries one No.4 shot per foot of depth. There are always exceptions to the rule, but a 5 No.4 float for a 5ft deep run is the perfect starting basis.

Second Scenario

If the swim has more pace and is a little more turbulent, you may want or need the rig to work with the rise and fall a little deeper in the swim. You'll also need the float to have more stability, so instead of wanting to just float (lay flat when no shot is added) you need a float that sits up—almost, shall we say, self-cocks.

This is when the wire stem comes into its own. That wire gives weight to the base of the float making it sit up quicker and aiding it to ride the more turbulent water. It'll also be less inclined to ride out of the water when held back hard. Again, you'll find these floats a domed or shouldered for the same reasons we talked about above.

Shotting would be a small bulk about mid-depth, then a few strung out shot towards the hook length, thus giving you that rig that will rise and fall but at a lower depth.

All of these we will cover in more depth as we learn more.....

Want to know more?

I have put together a short Youtube video show and explaining the differences between these stick floats,  you can check it out here. Don't forget to grab a brew first!

There is also my other videos that you can have a browse through, Enjoy.

You will also lots of hits and tips in My Knowledge Base, Theres even a float shotting guide that you may find really useful.

If you want to get yourself and you kit prepared for opening day, pop in and see us at Soar Tackle in Kegworth. I'd be more than happy to chat river fishing and answer any questions that may help you this season.

Tight lines for the 16th!

Scott