Tactics
They’re not just about beating the floods
How to win with a flat float
FISHING the flat float is the sort of method you hope you’ll never have to get out of the bag because it’s usually seen as a last resort for catching a fish on a flooded river when all else has failed. In recent years though, that’s been far from the truth.
When used in smaller sizes, these lollipop-shaped pole floats can take some massive weights of bream, skimmers, barbel and perch depending on the river you’re tackling. They allow the angler to completely change the presentation of the bait, holding it dead still in a way that larger conventional round-bodied floats can’t.
A flat float is a disc-shaped slim piece of balsa wood that wouldn’t look out of place in a sweet shop and they range in size from 1g to monsters taking 60g which are normally used on big powerful Continental rivers.
Fished correctly, the ‘flattie’ lets you fish with a hookbait set well overdepth and because the flow of the river has less body to push against, the whole rig sits correctly without being pushed upwards in the flow, bringing the hookbait with it as can happen with a larger-bodied pattern.
Norfolk’s Broads are a river system where the flat float has scored heavily this summer and autumn for bream and skimmers – so much so that it’s often the only pole rig anglers will set up. Wensum Valley Angling boss and Matrix-backed Daniel Brydon is one of those anglers and he agreed to show how to fish the ‘flattie’. We met him on the River Thurne near the village of Martham to talk through this unusual method.
PLUMBING UP
“Some anglers use a clip-on plummet on a large dropper shot so that they know all of the hooklink is laid on the deck.
“I don’t though. Instead I use a normal plummet and place the olivette of the rig around 2ft from the hook. I then adjust the depth until the olivette is just off bottom, leaving three dropper shots laid on the riverbed to help keep the hookbait totally still – at this point the bait will be around 18 inches overdepth.
“It goes without saying that the olivette should make up most of the float’s weight because those droppers won’t dot the float down when it is in the water. I’ll adjust the depth only if the river is really pulling and I want to slow the bait down even more – in this instance I can go up to 3ft over.”
SERIOUS TACKLE
“Flat floats are heavy and you’re after bigger skimmers and bream on the Thurne, so tackle is beefed up to match.
“Mainline is the tough-as-oldboots 3lb Maxima to a short 6ins hooklink of Matrix Pro Micron. This ranges from 0.10mm to 0.14mm depending on the size of fish I’m after.
“For hooks, I’ll fish a size 14 Matrix All Round pattern for worm or a size 16 or 18 for maggots. A size 14 sounds big, but with worms it ensures enough hook hold and also limits the chances of the worm doubling over on the point.
“Elastic is a solid No6. Line length between float and pole varies on the wind so in ideal conditions this can be 2ft, but on windy days I up that to as much as 2m. I’ll also put a big backshot on the line when it is windy.”
USE WORM HOOKBAITS
“Because skimmers love worms so much they’re THE hookbait to use. I’ll fish a small section of dendra around 1ins long, but will also try two fluoro pink or red maggots as a change. There are days when worm doesn’t work as well, but, by and large, worms will catch the bigger fish.”
BURY THE POLE TIP
“I’ll always keep the pole tip under the water as this adds stability to the rig, especially in windy weather although you’ll need a bit strike to pull through the water and propel a big float and a few feet over overdepth line so hit them hard!”