FLOAT ABUSE

[cosmo]

I'm all for floats, have been using them for years with great success. It now seems though that floats are being used to tie up water as much as catch fish. When we all drift fished, boats could line up on the side of a hole, soon a good casting sequence would come and all could fish together. For a while it was the same with floats. What I'm running into more and more now is boats anchored smack in the middle of the run, sending floats a quarter mile downstream, locking others out. Can't cast above them- anchor line--below--their lines. On an uncrowded river its no problem,but some are doing it speciffically on crowded days to pressure others out. What's the right play here? 1) Ask nicely (and possibly get the finger) 2) Ruin thier day (and mine) with a bunch of grief. 3) Suck it up and turn a stretch of water that could hold thirty boats to one that can hold five. 4) Anchor right next to them and turn steelhead fishing into a hog line experience. I'm sure I'm missing some stuff which is why I'm throwing this one out there.

[FM2]

Good question Cosmo. I too have mixed feelings regarding this issue. I have taken up jig fishing this year like many others but recently while out in my DB I have come across people drifting their floats through an entire stretch of prime water. I anchored below one guy and I was probably 100' below him and he kept running his float right out in front of me. He even had the nerve to say I messed up his water. Give me a break, I anchored further down than I normally would but he thought he had the rights to the entire drift :mad:

But I think the issue boils down to respect for each other. I find now since there is so much pressure drifting on weekends is I ask the person if they wouldn't mind if I anchored below them. Usually most people don't mind but if you get some butt-ugly looks :shocked: move on. At least with a DB you can cover more water and it's not worth the hassle to deal with logger heads.

My $.02

[fishhead5]

I'd give him as much room as I would someone drift fishing.

Fishhead5

[cosmo]

I guess I'm still back at the question of when did floats take casting out of fishing?

When I think of comfortable boat distances, I'm thinking 20-40 feet is really comfortable on crowded days. Close enough that we can see what the other boat is using but far enough that either boat doesn't have to listen to the others conversations. But more importantly, I'm thinkingthat we're lined up just off the bank.

In a good rotation, downstream man casts first and the whole flow moves upstream. If done that way, few tangles, few hassles, everyone gets a shot at the water.

Floats work for me because I know exactly where each drift has been (and which spots I've missed), it's an awesome presentation, and I'm not hanging up all the time.

The bad part is they have a ton more range than drift fishing which as rivers are getting more crowded more and more people are using them to lock down water. Where 200' of prime river (***** on the Wilson for example) could hold 6-10 drift fishing boats, two float fishermen could lock it up.

[Sadie-Lynne]

I will agree that a float is a very affective way in which to fish. But I also am a little annoyed
at how much water that 1 or 2 people can lock up.
I find a lot of the difts that we use to line boats up in and would take our turns drifting through now may have one boat anchored and drifting floats all the way down the drift. If you attempt to fish problems seem to break out. I normally will continue on down river to find some differant water. I have nothing against floats but it seem that we all need to have some common courtesy for those around us. If you have no one around drift as much as you want. But if you have others fishing in a hole they should shorten up thier drifts. :depressed:

[Pilar]

I've never tried this type of fishing but the dilemma reminds me of trollers that long line. That may make perfect sense on the Ocean but in the Ghost hole or other crowded place it is a bad idea all day long.

The problem is so bad in some places that I keep at least one meat stick rigged with tuffline. When longliners get to be a problem I troll over their lines, reel in the mess and cut it off. Once or twice like that and they get the message. Tuffline cuts through anything.

Just a thought.

[Beek]

The key to fishing floats in a crowd is the method Cosmo alluded to...downstream cast first and the seqence works its way up. If a guys drifting 100' of float he's too stupid to realize that the odds of a good hookset 100 feet below you are slim to none. The fish will most likely be lost. Most of my fish are hooked 25-45 degrees downstream from my position.

If someones fishing that far below themselves the first thing to do is let them know that they are screwing up the sequence. If they refuse to play fair, intentionally tangle their line and bite them off.

Like Pilar said, you can cut some one elses mono if you are using tuffline as your mainline. I do it all the time to guys on the Fraser that are being idiots.

[big guy]

Im glad to see some people are still thinking about fishing edicate, I thought it died.long lining a bobber is just poor fishing, and not effective.bobbers can be fished in a crowd with a good rotation, to bad it only takes one @#$$* to screw it up.thanks to all who try to be civil

[urb]

I've have to ask. What do you guys consider a far amount of fishing area? You must be used to a lot more crowded areas then I'm used to. Ofcourse I might be taking this out of context but if some one anchors less that 200' below me for spring salmon I get a little cranky. But since I never fished the clacamas I could be considered a water pig.

[ry]

These are the type of guys that litterally run to their boat when you pull in the launch area or scramble to pull anchor when they see you round the bend. They just have to stay one step ahead--except at the take out when they take their sweet time and tie everthing up.
back to the topic though. I just think if I were in their boat, where would i expect another boat to fish (within reason).

[ 01-28-2002: Message edited by: ry ]</p>

[Alligator]

The question is how far below bobber fishermen would be adequate room to leave him unobstructed?

I just ran outside to simulate my longest drift (no bobber) when on the Clackamas. If there is room down river I spool line out 120 to 140 feet (45 steps) below my boat. I never allow my line to swing in toward the bank and if a boat is parked below me, I reel in when my bait is near where they are casting. If bobber fishing I am continually mending the slack out between my rod tip and the bobber keeping the float as natural as possible. I’m not effective beyond 100 feet, or 33 1/3 steps down river from my boat. Of course, I’m not that great of a float fisherman either. So I think parking 100’ below a bobber man seams fair, Please do correct me if I’m wrong, as I don’t want anyone throwing rocks at the alligator!!

[Sadie-Lynne]

I think that it all depends upon which river and what fishing hole that you are in. On some rivers and some specific holes you have to share. Yet there are others that there is no reason to crowd each other. People on the river need to use common sense and be courteous. If there is 10 people fishing a drift and your taking up 90% of the drift your probably not being very courteous.

[ 01-29-2002: Message edited by: look4elk ]</p>

[dawhunt]

Its bad also when the guy your fishing with is so self absorbed in himself that he'll drift his float 70 yds downstream and then reel in so he can get another cast in before you basiclly hoging the whole drift for himself,I fished with a guy like this a couple times never again !!.A bobber fisherman or two or one drift fishing can easily fish together by just being courteous and takeing the proper rotation when casting there's never a reason to hog a drift ! just selfish and noncourteous people do this.Even three people in a boat can fish a drift at the same time by following the right rotation,I'm sure you all know what I mean by rotation.
Bob