The Float Rod Is The Most Popular Tackle

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Fishing Academy

May is a kind of Rubicon between winter and summer fishing. The time for winter fishing (mainly with a jig) is over, and the time has come for widespread fishing with a float rod. But, if the jig as a fishing tackle has been known for no more than one and a half centuries, then the float rod has been used since time immemorial.

Our great-grandfathers also fished with such tackle. True, unlike the modern one, the fishing rod of those times looked rather primitive. A long stick, a thick cord of animal veins that replaced the fishing line, a pebble instead of a sinker, and a hook - a sharp tree twig or thin animal bone.

Gradually, the float rod was improved, and now it has turned from a rough one into a very elegant tackle with a light flexible rod with a modern reel, a very thin and strong synthetic line, a sensitive float and a sharp miniature hook. However, despite all the improvements, the principle of the float rod device and, of course, its purpose remain unchanged.

It is used with equal success for fishing in reservoirs with stagnant and running water - in lakes, ponds, reservoirs, in fast-flowing rivers, quiet rivers, quarries and even in swampy oxbows. Thanks to its versatility, the float rod has become the forerunner of all other recreational and sport fishing tools.

The parts of which it consists, in one form or another, serve as parts of any fishing tackle. With the appropriate equipment with a float rod, you can catch a wide variety of fish: gudgeon, bleak, ruff, perch, crucian carp, tench, silver bream, rudd, roach, bream, ide, eel, burbot and a great many other fish, including predatory ones.

The modern simplest float rod consists of the following parts: a rod with a rig, a line (vein) with a leash and a hook, a sinker and a float (Figure 1). The main element of fishing tackle is a rod, which serves for casting a fishing line with a hook and a nozzle, for hooking and playing fish. The rod should be reasonably long, flexible enough, resilient, strong and lightweight.

All these requirements are met by fiberglass and carbon fiber rods that can withstand heavy loads. When choosing such a rod, you should take into account that a carbon fiber rod is several times more expensive than a fiberglass rod. The length of a float rod depends on the fishing conditions and is mainly determined by two requirements: to throw the hook with a nozzle at such a distance where the fish is holding, and at the same time be able to observe the float in order to notice the bite in time.

Long-term practice has suggested the most appropriate rod length for fishing on specific waters. For example, on ponds and small rivers, when fishing for fish that feeds in coastal algae, a small rod up to 2.5 meters long is convenient. For long-distance casting, rods with a length of 3.5-4 meters are used. And although the manufacturers of rods, using more and more new materials and technologies, are trying to lengthen them, most anglers believe that under all conditions the maximum length should not exceed six meters (perhaps, except for fly fishing).

Longer rods are not only inconvenient (they are heavy and cumbersome), but also practically not applicable, since when casting to 14-15 meters, the angler is not able to follow the float. Whatever the length of the rod, it must be flexible and resilient. These two components protect the line from breakage during striking and sharp jerks of the fish.

In addition to these factors, the ability of the angler to correctly distribute the load on the tackle is essential. If the rod is located horizontally (that is, parallel to the surface of the water), then the rod itself practically does not work, and the fishing line completely takes over the entire load from the caught fish. Most often, it breaks off at this very moment. In a position close to vertical (perpendicular to the surface of the water), the rod experiences maximum stress, so it can break. The maximum inclination of the rod to the water surface is 45-60 degrees. In this case, the risk of breakage is significantly reduced, since the elasticity of the rod is fully utilized.

By their design, rods are divided into one-piece, composite (collapsible - from several knees connected by metal rods or tubes) and telescopic, when the knees are extended one from the other. The most reliable of them, as LP Sabaneev thought at one time, is a one-piece rod, which, as he argued: "It can bend into a steep arc, like no folding one, and not break."

Not so long ago, bamboo rods with a plug-in knee connection were very popular among anglers, that is, when one knee enters the other (Figure 2). However, bamboo rods are now a thing of the past. Now only fiberglass and carbon fiber rods with plug or telescopic knee joints are in use.

But a reliable connection of the knees is a guarantee of both the convenience of using the rod and its durability. The plug connection can be considered sufficiently reliable if the tube of the upper knee (counter tube) freely, but without play, enters the tube of the lower knee. You can check the quality of the connection as follows …

Take the assembled rod by the handle and shake it vertically and horizontally. If the tubes are loose, you will hear a slight crackling sound. Sometimes after fishing or after a long break, the tubes become jammed. Under no circumstances should the pipe be knocked down by blows of any metal object. It is necessary to do this: wrap an adhesive plaster or electrical tape on the knees of the rod, then two of us take them in reinforced places, try to turn the knees and then separate them.

Special attention should be paid to rods with telescopic knee joints. They are becoming increasingly common among anglers. But we will talk about them, as well as about other parts of the float rod, another time.