River Fishing Float

The commercial versions of these floats are made from soft plastic foam. They are typically used for drift fishing for salmon and steelhead on rivers in the northwest.

I have provided the two common types used. The straight through type that requires a toothpick or float stop to set the float height and the wrap around style where the fishing line makes one or more wraps around the float to hold it in position.

For the wrap around style you will need to wrap the line around the float 3 or 4 times to get the float to stay in position. Alternatively you could experiment with spraying these with flex seal or another rubberized coating (I haven't tried this).

All floats are 18mm outside diameter and each type is provided in 4 lengths (80mm, 100mm, 125mm and 150mm). I tested two lengths.The 125mm float requires a 60mm length of pencil lead, The 100mm float requires a 50mm length of pencil lead (see pictures). I painted the tops with nail polish but might be a good idea to spray