Wednesday 8 July 2020

The Best Float Money Can Buy

There is a float out there that on it's day will out fish any out there, one that is cheaper than the rest yet more sensitive, one which can fool the biggest and most cautious of fishes, it is also a float that will take you back to being a kid again, it is of course the humble matchstick.


Matchsticks can only be used in certain scenarios so let's get realistic here, you're not going to hit the far bank of the tidal Trent with one, nor will it hold it's own in a weirpool or any significant current and you will also get owned by any windy weather, but use it on a tiny a river on a calm summer's day and you will realise how cumbersome even the smallest waggler or stick float can be in comparison, for fishing on the drop perhaps only freelining can beat it, It's a whole lot of fun that cannot be er......'matched'.

It's on small streams where it really comes in to it's own. If you can see the fish feeding midwater on baits like maggot, hemp or pellets it can be so effective, bread, corn the list goes on, any bait that's not too heavy will work. The beauty of this method is it just doesn't spook the fish, only this weekend was I running a float through spooking the fish left right and centre so much they weren't really feeding well, it was gin clear and sunny and I could see the whole show and they could see my float, I changed to a matchstick and they started to feed much more confidently. I picked off a couple of barbel on pellet before changing to maggot which saw five chub in as many casts, all of which were caught just under the surface as they were feeding so freely, it was fun hectic fishing when they weren't responding to other methods.


On many occasions you can actually see the bait and the matchstick is just a vehicle to get it out there with a no8 or no6 for casting weight, granted that's not much weight and casting can be a learning curve, it's best to have a decent length rod of at least 13ft and be willing to compromise with the cast to get the distance required. I find a flick with the bail arm closed works as if you were dapping a fly on the surface or sometimes you can pull a bit of line out but keep that bail arm closed unless you want a tangle. Centrepin anglers have the Wallis Cast so no matter what reel you use be prepared to do whatever is needed to get that bait falling amongst your freebies, on windy days I sometimes think I've perfected the Wally Cast as no doubt that's what I look like, however the end justifies the means. A whip would be ideal if you are doing this for small fish perhaps with your kids but make no mistake, it's not just a method for tiddlers so expect larger fish to get in on the action.


As for the method of the matchstick madness, you can have it on the surface but I've found a trick that works even better is NOT to let it float, after all a no6 or even a no8 is enough to sink it but that's exactly what I found really worked, by accident, after failing to keep a small matchstick afloat I found having it slowly sink worked much better than trying to keep it on the surface. The bait falls through the water like a dream, the matchstick then gently cocks (be careful not to strike at this moment) then slowly sinks through the water at the speed of the current. The bait falls so naturally it's surreal, the matchstick slowly drifts down in the water and you strike at any unnatural movement you see. You can change depths like any other float and even have the bait resting on bottom in still water. I'll strike at any movement and still get caught out when it cocks and slowly sinks sometimes. However doing the old air strike again and again has no impact on the feeding fish as the float looks like a small fry fish dashing about, I've even had perch follow it on occasion. You can also try holding it back and letting it drop further down the swim, oh and by the way I forgot to mention the bites, they are often unmissable once you suss them and can move the matchstick a very long way.


Above is one of 17 chub I had in a clear swim last Autumn when the usual stickfloat approach wasn't working, I changed and had a great day in an area I had always struggled in, each bite was almost as if it was in slow motion taking the matchstick a good foot or two but only slightly faster than the current, it was eerie, they weren't feeling any resistance at all. It was only when one hooked itself that I realised these were actually bites, also every single chub got into the far bank overhang big time when hooked, as chub do and sometimes the matchstick had slid up a good six feet by the time the chub was netted, this shows how far the fish can get in and also shows how it's possible to get them out of snags when there is nothing on the line to snag up with, I didn't lose a single fish that day and they were all pristine.


This method is really fun if you are on a river where the fish aren't huge, sure it can outwit the wary but most of all it's a fun way of fishing, catching any decent fish on this method puts a crisp bend in the rod as everything is all so direct and they always feel double their size, mind you it is also a great way of catching fast biting dace and wily roach. Sometimes you can pick put certain fish like the largest dace in the shoal or like the other day I found myself trying to get the lone perch that was taking the odd maggot as I had caught all the other species, I got it in the end - all of 4oz but it sure had to work to compete with those big dace.


I've also experimented on ponds and canals albeit not as much as rivers, these can be harder as they are often coloured but it worked here too to my surprise, you often only need a few inches of visibility to see the matchstick cock and shoot off, often I'll try it at the end of a session and pick up bonus fish close in that have been taking the feed and no doubt been laughing at my hookbait all day, it's a devastating method for shy biters like crucians and much more sensitive than even a tiny pole float. I had some good perch last summer on the canal really close in after I had been fishing waggler there all day. Of course this could have been coincidence but In summer I really feel fish prefer feeding on the drop and get used to what's natural looking and what's not.

I realise I've done this all cackhanded as your supposed to promote things in a blog in order to get freebies, well if Swan Vesta are reading I still have around a couple hundred floats left so I should be ok for a while thanks. Perhaps an angling company could do a camo version with a right old mark up on the price, if so I'm in, I would have a Vesta'd interest. Meanwhile I'll continue pottering about experimenting with these 1p floats, I have a goal to get a barbel from The Severn on a matchstick but conditions have to be so right for that so that will be a challenge, plus I'll always have some in my pocket to have a bit of fun with when needed.


So there you have it, next time you see someone pottering about with a matchstick in the margins they could well be baggin' up big time, plus having a lot of fun in the process. After all this used to be the float of choice for our predecessors, it hasn't lost it's effectiveness and could still be one of the best bargains out there.