Stick Float Fishing - How to Master the Stick Float ?

The stick float fishing is a little more difficult to master than most other angling tactics and is therefore rarely fished by the novice. But for those that work at polishing the necessary skills, there are few more rewarding ways of putting together a bag of silverfish.

Unlike a feeder or a straight bomb, which presents a static hookbait that fish are free to inspect at their leisure, running a moving bait past them under a float forces them into decisive action.

“Bites tend to be very positive on the stick, as the feeding fish have to make a choice whether to take the bait or lose it forever in the flow"

“A block-end (maggot) feeder is excellent on rivers such as the Trent, but I reckon that fishing a stick forces them into feeding hard and generates much more competition in the shoal. The more competition there is for food, the more fish you will catch.

“The only problem is that most anglers have either never fished a stick float or are not doing it correctly. But when you do get it right, there really are few techniques more rewarding or satisfying.”

To find out more about how we fishes this superb river tactic, we met up with the Dynamite Baits Development Team member and Middy-backed expert on the banks of the Trent at East Stoke, controlled by Newark & District Piscatorial Federation.

What to Look For

As the stick float is a tactic best fished a maximum of two rodlengths out, locating a swim with a decent depth in the margins is the ideal place to start. It will also help if the water flows in a smooth glide, rather than tumbling around like in a washing machine.

“The smoother the water, the better the presentation will be, If there are lots of swirls or boils on the surface, this usually indicates an underwater obstruction – stones, branches or a weedbed, for example.”

Today’s swim had a further advantage because it was on the inside of a bend. This is where the water is less pacey than in the main flow of the river, so again bait presentation is much improved.

The all-important Float

Like wagglers and pole floats, stick floats come in a huge variety of sizes and types. Selecting the right one for the day depends upon a number of factors – the depth, the smoothness of the water, the intended quarry and the distance you intend to fish are all essential considerations.

In general terms, a wire-stemmed float is best in boily water or for the less-experienced float angler because it is more stable and therefore easier to control. On the downside, the extra weight of the stem will affect bait presentation, so it’s a balancing act.

The spool needs to filled right up to the lip

A cane stem is perfect for fishing on-the-drop for silverfish, as the shot can be strung out, shirt button-style, but these floats are a little harder to master.When sizing up what weight of float you need, We uses the ratio of one No.4 shot per foot of water. With today’s peg being 8ft deep, his starting point was an 8xNo.4 float.

Float rods of 13ft-14ft are the ideal length 

You can go heavier or lighter, depending on the speed of flow and the direction of the wind. Ideally, We will use the lightest float We can get away with on the day.

For the shot, We always loads his rigs with No.8s because more smaller shot offer a greater range of shotting patterns – bulk, spread or paired are all possible.

This choice will again depend upon what we are targeting. The shot will be spread for on-the-drop silverfish, or possibly bulked if chub and barbel are the main quarry.

We always have the shot starting from halfway down the rig. This ensures the fish stay nearer us bottom where we are easier to catch. But if we do come up to intercept the loosefeed having the smaller shot means I can quickly adjust the rig to compensate for this.”

Depth-wise, we always plumbs up both in front and downstream, so we can start the session just tripping bottom.

But as the day continues we will fish from 6in-12in on and off the bottom, depending on how the fish are feeding.

“If the bites are finicky, I will fish overdepth, so the hookbait drags on the bottom, leaving the fish more time to take the bait. If they start to come up, I spread the shot and shallow the
rig accordingly. Another good tip is to always attach the float using three rubbers. Then, if you split one, there’s no need to re-rig".

The best stick float baits

Regardless of the species, we uses a mixture of bronze maggots, hemp and casters. The latter two baits are mixed together in a ratio of 70:30.

Fishing off the rod tip enables you to loosefeed by hand. Anthony tends to feed every run down, feeding around 30 grains of hemp and 10 casters.

“These baits are perfect for creating a bed of bait which is ideal for helping to hold larger fish in the swim for longer,”

“On the hook I generally use either single or double maggot, as they catch everything, but a swap to single or double caster will very often bring a bonus fish if they are in the swim.”

To ensure that the hookbait falls naturally through the loosefeed, we casts the rig at one o’clock, feathering the cast so the rig  lands straight. The casters and hemp are fed slightly upstream of this and the maggots even further (at 12 o’clock) because they are lighter and take longer to sink.

To catch effectively, the hookbait needs to perfectly mimic the loosefeed, otherwise it will look suspicious and be rejected by the fish. To achive this, we regularly lifts the line off the water so that it is behind the float, a process known as ‘mending’ the line.

If the mainline is allowed to bow and get in front of the float, the rig will zig-zag across the flow in an unnatural manner that’s unlikely to earn you a bite.

It is then simply a case of feeding every cast, or to your bites. If they dry up, try going overdepth and cutting back on the feed, as a big fish may have moved in.

If this doesn’t make a difference, shallow up and halve the amount of loosefeed because you may have fed too much and pushed the  fish downstream. Remember that there is no magic formula to fishing the stick float, it is all about trial and error, and refining your technique.

“It may take you a couple of hours to get it right the first time you try, but when you do, you quickly realise just how effective it is when looking to bag up on rivers. The excitement when your float dips under the surface is almost unrivalled.”