Ballrag Floats

If i want to fish small redgills and other softs i use a sbirulino. Casts a mile and will let you get away with long leaders that hardly tangle. This device probably has a different english name which i don't know of.

Type sbirulino in Google. Probably some clown has the same name but after a while you will find sbirulino images.

Is that a bombarda Jeroen ?

Nigel I prefer the good old Jif Lemon ,you can vary the casting weight with the amount of water you put in it. It is also a visible yellow colour.The only drawback is I have to eat a lot of pancakes before it is ready to use

Nigel I sometimes snip one of the swivels off .
If you intend fishing a long trace drill a small hole in the float to sit the hook in or drill and glue a small pin in place to act as a "bait clip" ,

Nigel,

Mainline to one swivel, trace off the other swivel. Straighten your trace before you cast. As Andy said, drill a small hole 1cm or so deep in the same half as the swivels, angled downwards. Pop you hook point in there to shorten your trace for casting. Or insert a very short bristle/piece of stiff mono if you prefer.

This is a sound and vibration play, so when you cast, it can pay to let the bulrag land with a heavy splash then just gently take in the slack and wait a few seconds (depth allowing). You should see a nice low frequency wobble in the bulrag when it is retrieved.

Killer method, in part because very few people do it and the fish are not expecting it. Also casts a long way on the right outfit.

Great technique is to use a big white grub (cut off the tail to make it look like a huge maggot) or some of the sea slater/bug imitations out there, when fished in the clear water behind rotten weed. But don't tell anyone.

Thanks Paul

Tell me what is the steel eyelet for at the opposite end to the swivels??

Paul you make very good points about the "wobble" on retrieve and the "splash" .

Fishing the ballrag inline which creates a nice wake has worked for us though I will try the rigging method you suggest

It's surprising how many hits occur within a second or two of the "splash" , I don't believe that's because of the numbers of fish about competing for food ( at least not where I fish :redface: ) .

Never fished this method during daylight (usually too occupied with plugs) , my go to lures include black delta skalliwag and Fladen "killie eel" in black . I have noticed that newer skalli's don't appear as supple as older type.

Gareth Roberts said:

Is that a bombarda Jeroen ? Nigel I prefer the good old Jif Lemon ,you can vary the casting weight with the amount of water you put in it. It is also a visible yellow colour.The only drawback is I have to eat a lot of pancakes before it is ready to use

Click to expand...

They are indeed also known as bombarda. Small ones from three grams up to casting monsters of thirty grams or so.

Nigel Fairclough said:

Thanks Paul

Tell me what is the steel eyelet for at the opposite end to the swivels??

Click to expand...

Never used it but I see Andy has so I will defer to him!

Nigel I just use a small quality link swivel to attach mainline to the float at the eyelet.

Has anyone tried using any of these controller type floats with a big fly on the point?

By 'big' I mean pike, bass, welsh tarpon sized fly.

I simply cannot be fanning around with a fly rod if I could fish a big fly with a spinning rod.

steve pitts said:

Has anyone tried using any of these controller type floats with a big fly on the point?

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Will you get turnover of a big fly on a spinning cast Steve? I doubt it.
Surely Bombarda/carp inline controllers are the way to go if fishing a rubber eel behind a float-less disturbance,longer casting and more tangle free than those ballrags?

Michael don't discount the good old jiffy rig with a redgill

http://www.thelureforum.com/threads/jif-lemon-rig.16356/
http://www.thelureforum.com/threads/another-on-the-red-gill.16895/

Here is another old thread about using the Ballrag & Bombarda :-

http://www.thelureforum.com/threads/the-mostly-arrive-at-night-mostly.17181/#post-256537

steve pitts said:

Has anyone tried using any of these controller type floats with a big fly on the point?

By 'big' I mean pike, bass, welsh tarpon sized fly.

I simply cannot be fanning around with a fly rod if I could fish a big fly with a spinning rod.

Click to expand...

It would work easily Steve. I have used everything from the small Delta eels up to large (172) red gills

Inline then. You could fish them free running with a sliding float stop and bead above you leader knot, or better you choose a suitable swivel, then you can take out the standard sleeve, and use a tulip bead or silicone tubing to accomodate your swivel size, and tie braid/fluoro to that rather than a leader knot. If you stick an anti tangle sleeve over the front swivel eye, it will separate fluoro from controller and reduce tangle risks. Some cheap controllers may even be a bit more robust than kordas or nash bolt machines, where the body detaches from the tube for transport or size changing-sometimes they detach in use, and allyou have left is the tubing!
I've got loads of spares (found on windward shores of carp puddles when winter perch fishing!) PM me an adress and I'll stick a selection in the post-it would be nice to know they were catching something spectacular rather than pasties!

Can't be doing with tangles so looking for anything / any set-up which is simple, straight forward, minimal paraphernalia, no swivels (hate them) and has enough casting weight to launch my poon toad 50 or so metres

Will pop into Veals tomorrow to look at these: http://www.vealsfishingtackle.com/predator/predator-tackle/drennan-subfloat-sizes-3-and-4.html

They wont cast any distance.They're feather light, and you cant load them with anything. look at the fox bolt bubbles. different sizes of inline super bubble floats. no swivels, can fill them with water. All these things will need stopping on the line somehow though.

Those drennan subfloats are sealed and extremely light.
Much better having a look at these
http://www.vealsfishingtackle.com/f...ium-large-and-x-large.html?search=Bolt bubble
They are inline and can be filled with water.
These wouldn't be a bad shout either if 30g is heavy enough..
http://www.vealsfishingtackle.com/nash-2013-bolt-machine-7g-15g-and-30g.html?search=Controller
Have some of the old model of these. Think they where called Nash bolt machine extreme. 1,2 and 4 oz.
Cast like absolute missiles.



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