tips on floater rigs

[FOOCKCHUCKER]

can anyone please help me with some finer points on the floater rig. have been doing the drop the sinker over ; let out about 15 to 20 meters of line but then have had diffrent points given on what to do next. some say click the reel into gear in a low drag setting and let it sink slowly while others say after dropping the bait let it sink slowly all the way to the bottom in free spool. will be at the barwons weather permittng this weekend using fresh slab mullet and pillies. have had limited succes using both but some help on a method with each bait and some species would be greatlly received.

[Tony_N]

FC

Yeah I'd be interested in the various ways people do this too.

I need to be careful and make a disclaimer that I have only been fishing outside for two years and am not an expert , otherwise Damon33 will be down on me like a ton of bricks. However, the way I was taught for snapper is to use a pea sized sinker directly onto either ganged hooks (3x4/0) for a pilchard rigged back to front (ie the bottom hook through the eye of the pilchard) or two hooks one tied at the end and one sliding on the line - end hook threaded through the pilchard 2 or three times and finally through the firm bit of the head then the line bound around the tail of the pilchard about three times in the same place, then the 2nd hook holding that binding on by passing it into the fish from behind the binding to the front of the binding - the line should first be bound around the 2nd hook a few times before it goes into the bait and under the binding . Back -to -front rigging because the theory is that the snapper take the bait head first. Another method is to butterfly a slimey mackeral and the third (bottom) hook in the gang sits in the slit of the butterfly. I use swivels between the hooks.

The size of the sinker depends on the current - but the idea is to have the bait descend slowly with the burley. Tendency in my experience is to catch less fish this way (catch more bottom fishing) but it does seem to bring the bigger snapper up . Can catch other species including mackerel and tuna with this setup

I use a baitrunner (with lowest drag on the BR) sitting in a rocket launcher and pull a metre of line off it every so often and when I think it has got near the bottom in slow current I pull it in and recast it 10 -20 metres back from the boat again

Have heard of holding the sinker while the bait goes back and some swear by that technique. I haven't tried it.

FWIW

Tony

[Jeremy]

when I'm floatlining, I'll cast the bait out to the side of the boat a bit and then leave the reel in freespool with the ratchet on (or baitrunner mode). Once the line has swung towards the back of the boat with the current, I feed more line out regularly and keep feeding it out until I think it is on or too close to the bottom. Then reel it in and start again. The idea is to keep the bait roughly at the same depth as your burley for the same distance back from the boat. The more current there is, the more lead you need and the more line you need to keep feeding out. Sinker should be just enough to keep about a 45 degree angle on your line and should be on top on the hooks.

Important to keep and solid burley trail going regularly and feed line almost constantly off your reel. The harder you work, the more fish you will catch. Don't be afraid to feed out 100 m of line from the reel in a bit of current.

Don't have the freespool set too light on a baitrunner reel or overhead. When a snapper takes it hard you can get a backlash on your reel and bust off.

Bait quality and presentation is all important. Try to catch some fresh tuna on your way out. Hard to beat.

Good luck on the Barwons. Don't be surprised if you get some dollies come up in the burley trail and have a rod with a bait or lure handy when they do.

Jeremy

[Volvo]

Whats the sayin??"Different strokes for different folks" or sumthin like that anyways..
And ide say it would have ta depend on what your fishin for..
For my local area chasing lipper for instance and whatever happens ta swim by in the process i find it best either using a ganged hook Rig, say three 6/0 to 7/0 mustard 7200's i think they are..Bait bein whole Pillie OR!!! one Gamakatsu Octopus 8/0 to 10/0(Black) For Cuttlefish,Squid.Occy or Fresh cut up bait..
Pea size sinker(IF POSSIBLE) tide allowing or adjust sinker size till ya get the right one to suit the run...Free running right up against your hook..Coupla meters of leader(50 to 70lb) between your hook and main line...
Habit of mine which ive found to work well is to anchor uptide a little way from where i think my Fish are and that way i have to cast a fair way back from the Boat and float my baits down to them..
Process for floating is to let the line run off my spool in freespool with thumb adjusting line run out and ready to brake if n when fish hits..
Depending on how much run there is , is how fast i'll let that line run out too..
Prefer it to run it out comfortable speed so not to get any overun on spool plus dont want it on the bottom too quick as like someone may have mentioned earlier that you can most times find the best fish a third to halfe way off the bottom..especially where Red Jew are concerned..
Lipper will meet a bait halfeway on its decent to the bottom and can hit it at a good rate of knots so be prepared otherwise you can get some overun ey(Birdsnest)..
Sometimes when fishin for Red jew i use a reel which allows the ratchet on whilst in freespool and the tide to drag line off the spool without it having to be helped along by hand..Cast,engage freespool and ratchet, peel off a heap of line and let the tide do its thig from there on whilst chuckin out the odd piece of cut up Pillie for berly..
Floating your bait down this way helps the bait find the Fish rather than the Fish find the bait me reckons ...
About the only dissadvantage with this method for me is you have to be extra alert if a Trout comes along for a nibble as thats exactly all they will do , have a nibble and if your not on the ball they've got ya Bommied unless you pick em up out in the open....
Cheers

[FOOCKCHUCKER]

thanks lads will put all into practice and if all else fails will go to the old bottom bounce and hopfully jag a feed p.s. i also think there could be a dollie or to around the bottom of the banks