Making your own Pike Floats

[BoldBear]

I usually leave my Piking till around October or November when my other favourite species have started to wane a little, but in September I will be checking my Pike tackle and getting it ready for the following month.

One item of tackle that I have always preferred to make myself are Pike floats because the ones in the shops are often unnecessarily large and expensive.

It amazes me how many anglers today are willing to pay 2 or 3 quid for a single Pike float especially as you can get through at least half a dozen in a short while; and all they consist of is a dumpy float that is so quick and easy to make yourself; you certainly don’t need any skill to make one.

If you want to make some good Pike floats without having to use the huge and expensive ones sold in your local tackleshop which cost around £2.25 to £3.50 each, heres how I make my own from a cheap length of Balsa Doweling.

What is Needed:
· Some old sea hooks (preferably the ones with barbed shanks to keep worms/bait up the shank)
· 1 metre of 1” Balsa Doweling (from a modeling shop)
· Araldite
· Green and dayglo orange paint (those very small humbrol airfix paints are excellent)
· Varnish
· Small hacksaw
· Sheet of Sand Paper

Procedure:
1. Cut Balsa doweling to various sizes (a 1 metre length of doweling should give you around 10 to 12 pike floats of different sizes).
2. Sand off the edges to make them look nice.
3. Saw hookshanks off of old sea hooks just before the hook bend and after adding some araldite push into base of floats.
4. Paint and varnish.

This will give you around 10 to 12 pike floats for the price of some sea hooks and a 1 metre piece of balsa doweling; Plus the paint and varnish which will make you many dozens of floats over the next few seasons

[Baz T]

Hi Keith - what a good idea, and a great post.
This will give me something to do in the evenings as winter approaches. Some of the bought floats (particularly the plastic see-through floats - I think its fox that make them) dont last too long, and can break or crack if your not careful.

Plus, as you have stated, you can make them different sizes. I will also drill a hole in the top of a couple, so that I can slot a night light into them as I tend to stay for a while after dark occasionally.

Thanks for the idea

[BoldBear]

Originally Posted by Baz T

Hi Keith - what a good idea, and a great post.
This will give me something to do in the evenings as winter approaches. Some of the bought floats (particularly the plastic see-through floats - I think its fox that make them) dont last too long, and can break or crack if your not careful.

Plus, as you have stated, you can make them different sizes. I will also drill a hole in the top of a couple, so that I can slot a night light into them as I tend to stay for a while after dark occasionally.

Thanks for the idea

Great Idea Baz,

You can also glue an old Dart flight section into the top of the float to make a float that drifts along in the wind if you can get some brightly coloured flights.

[Maddison_Twatter]

good stuff, I will try this soon

[SIMPLE MAN]

Nice post BB,when i was a kid i used to use corks and found they to worked a treat