A slip-bobber rig can be a great presentation while fishing for spring and summer walleyes. (Photo courtesy of PRADCO Outdoor Brands)
April 02, 2025
By Mike Pehanich
The sight of a fishing float ducking beneath the water strikes an atavistic thrill in anglers everywhere. It’s a pity that many of us shy away from this simple tool as our fishing tackle arsenal—and skill level—evolves. It’s sad, too, that few of us take the time to learn just how versatile and sophisticated a float can be.
In the 1990s, Mick Thill brought European float (aka “bobber”) concepts and designs to the U.S. This exposed Americans to a wide array of streamlined float varieties and, more importantly, helped illustrate the importance of balanced float rigs that relay the most delicate of bites.
Thill’s concepts, derived largely from European match-fishing techniques, never took hold here to the degree he had hoped. However, he did pave the way for refined uses of fishing floats in traditional live-bait fishing. More significantly, he opened minds to new ways of employing floats.
With forward-facing sonar (FFS) on a growing number of boat decks, float fishing is enjoying a newfound appreciation. A float lets anglers work or suspend a bait—live or artificial—above the level of up-feeding fish, which helps extend the bait’s time in the fish’s strike zone.
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There is a wide variety of fishing float setups that anglers can use for this and many other specific applications. However, four float rigs in particular are guaranteed to catch more fish and reframe any preconceived notions you may have about “bobber” fishing.
LIGHTEN UP “Light is right” is a principle panfish anglers would do well to adopt. When fish are feeding on tiny baitfish or invertebrates, small baits are in order, and the less resistance and distraction your terminal rig presents, the better your catch results will be.
Two seasons ago, I witnessed “Marathon Man” Jeff Kolodzinski catch 3,774 fish in a 24-hour period, breaking his previous record by more than 600 fish. He impaled live insect larvae on a small light-wire hook and suspended his offering from a Thill Gold Medal Mini Shy Bite float.
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The minuscule 2-inch Shy Bite is one of the most valued tools in my tackle arsenal when panfish are on my radar. However, my baits of choice in recent seasons have been carryovers from the ice-fishing season. Tiny ice jigs and ice plastics have proven deadly effective when fished below the Shy Bite and another Thill balsa float, the Mini Stealth, which is shaped like a baby bowling pin.
An underspin jig tipped with a plastic or a live bait beneath a slip float can be highly productive for walleyes and larger perch, which are drawn to the blade’s subtle flash. (Photo courtesy of Northland Fishing Tackle) With the right jigs or jig/weight combinations, the floats will respond to the subtlest bites. These include the conventional downward draw that submerges the float and the oft-missed “up bite,” which is signaled by the float falling flat on its side.
Both the Shy Bite and the Mini Stealth are secured to the line by threading them through a black silicone sleeve that slides over the lower stem. Light line is a must with these float rigs, and they’re best delivered on quality spinning tackle. I prefer a 100-series reel with light braid or super line of 2- to 8-pound test and a monofilament leader of 2- to 6-pound test.
This fixed-float rig is best suited to shallow water. Its running depth is determined by the length of your rod and, of course, the depth at which you wish to fish. You can cover water patiently with this rig by reeling slowly, pausing and adding tiny rod tip shakes and shivers to bring the faux insect to life.
The rig is ridiculously effective when sunfish and perch are gathered in shallow water from early spring right through the spawn and post-spawn periods, but it will catch fish all season long.
So many ice jigs and plastics work effectively with this rig that it is hard to pick favorites. For best results, choose plastics that “match the hatch”—those that resemble the sizes and shapes of invertebrates or baitfish your target fish feed on. On days when bites are super light or subtle, I add a spike or piece of wax worm to sweeten the pot, or I’ll substitute a PowerBait Power Honey Worm for the larval plastic.
A super-sensitive float, like the Mini Stealth, is great when panfish feed on tiny baits. Balance with proper weight to see subtle “up bites.” (Photo by Mike Pehanich) GO BIG Both spring and fall can offer great opportunities for Midwestern anglers targeting big fish, including large northern pike. Several Novembers past, I joined my photographer buddy Brad Richardson and his dad on a late-season pike hunt in central Wisconsin. On one day of the trip, all three of us caught our personal-best northerns. None measured less than 37 inches and one topped out at more than 23 pounds.
Our bait du jour? Suckers in the 4- to 6-inch range. Our sonar revealed big arcs off a break line bordering a large flat, and it showed that the fish were hovering several feet above bottom. It was the perfect scenario to break out our “big fish” float: the Thill Gold Medal Big Fish Slider .
This float rig is ideal for pursuing trophies in late fall or early spring. Position the slip float (available in 4-, 5-, 6- and 8-inch sizes) and a bead above a 1/4- to 3/4-ounce egg sinker, with a bobber stop set on the line above the bead. The rig makes it easy to fish large baits (our favorites are redtail and blacktail chubs, suckers, golden shiners and live perch, where legal) at almost any desired depth. A swivel separates the egg sinker from a 3- to 5-foot, abrasion-resistant fluorocarbon leader. Go with a 25-pound-test leader if pike or muskies are your prey. Otherwise, 12-pound test should work for other predators.
Fish the rig vertically from an anchored position or with a slow drift or crawling troll speed. Adjust your rig to running depth.
TAKE A SPIN Snaggy vegetation and filamentous algae can limit the effectiveness of almost any combination of jig and plastic or live bait—unless you factor in an effective float. Brian “Bro” Brosdahl, an angling guru from Grand Rapids, Minn., suspends an underspin jig—either a Northland Tackle Deep-Vee Spin Jig or Smeltinator Underspin Jig —beneath a Northland Tackle Lite-Bite Slip Bobber to avoid such tangles. Both underspins flash willow blades from the jig belly. Brosdahl tips the jigs with a plastic, minnow, leech or snipped nightcrawler. (The Deep-Vee Spin Jig’s wire bait keeper helps to keep live bait secured to the hook.)
“Just because you have a spinner on the jig doesn’t mean you have to troll,” Brosdahl says. “This rig is phenomenal for jumbo perch and walleyes. Worked slowly under a float, the spinner blade flickers rather than spins, but that flash is enough. It will outproduce every other jig under a bobber.”
His workhorse is the 1/8-ounce Deep-Vee, which he pairs with the 1-inch oval Lite-Bite Slip Bobber. When wind or current call for a heavier jig, he opts for the 1/4-ounce Deep-Vee Spin Jig or Smeltinator Underspin Jig under the larger 1 1/4-inch Lite-Bite. This underspin float rig has proven especially effective when paired with forward-facing sonar.
“Walleyes aren’t always on the bottom,” Brosdahl says. “Note their depth, adjust the float and cast beyond where you see them. The float keeps the bait just above them when they are feeding up.”
LOB A BUBBLE We primarily consider a float to be a bite detector, but it’s also an important part of the delivery system. It adds weight, which makes it possible to deliver a lure farther, cover more water and put our baits in places we might not otherwise be able to reach.
The A-Just-A-Bubble from Double X Tackle is a unique float, employed as much—if not more—for its delivery value as for bite detection. The transparent float is available in multiple colors, but the flagship model is made of clear plastic. And while the weights of the floats are modest, you can add to their weight. Simply pull on the clear plug atop the float and submerge it in water. Add as much—or as little—water as you need.
To be clear, the A-Just-A-Bubble is not new. Scott Ekx—co-owner of Double X Tackle (formerly called Rainbow Plastics) along with son Brian—acquired the A-Just-A-Bubble 26 years ago. In those days, Western anglers were using it to present wet or dry flies at long distances to mountain trout with spinning tackle rather than fly rods. That remains one of its many popular uses. However, decades later, anglers are continuing to find new ways to employ it.
“In Canada and Minnesota, they are tying bucktail to a treble hook and fishing it tight to the A-Just-A-Bubble for pike and walleyes,” Ekx says. “You can also fish a very small spinner or spoon, like our [Double X] Sniper Spoon, which was used first for kokanee salmon but has proven very effective on trout and other species.”
Bass anglers have taken note, as well. Cory Schmidt, marketing manager for Z-Man Fishing Products, hangs a 4-inch PB&J or green pumpkin Z-Man Finesse WormZ on a 1/0 Gamakatsu Drop Shot hook beneath an A-Just-A-Bubble.
“Drop it on the spot,” he says. “Give it tiny twitches. It’s great when you know where the bass are, but they don’t want to bite.”
SLIP-FLOAT TIP A simple way to catch more fish with slip-bobber rigs and forward-facing sonar. Slip-bobber rigs have always been solid presentations for spring and summer walleyes, and the advent of live sonar has only increased their effectiveness. However, Jon Thelen, host of the “Destination-Fish” show, tweaks his standard jig and slip-bobber rig for walleyes (a ball-head jig beneath a Thill Pro Series Slip Float ) when fishing with the new sonar technology.
“With forward-facing sonar, you need to be precise,” he says. “Most guys use multiple split shot with their slip-float rig, but the problem is that [using] multiple split shot causes your line to twist and turn in the air and limit the distance of your cast. I use only one, generally a No. 2 split shot. I’m more accurate and I can cast farther.”
Anglers pursuing walleyes this spring or summer with forward-facing sonar should heed this simple advice.
This article was featured in the March 2025 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe .
