Whatever floats your boat

I used to carry several types of float - pencils for pits, dumpy through-the-middle ones for free roaming lives and big sliders for fishing deads on the rivers in winter, when you need a couple of ounces of lead to beat the flow.

Now I use just one type for most of my fishing, wherever I am. The ET Hi-Vis floats look all wrong but they're great for fishing rivers and drains at close to medium range and longer-distance stuff on pits and stillwaters.

They show up well, come in several sizes and you can fish them bottom-end-only with the rod tops up. On pits, I just use a couple of half or 3/8oz bullets on the line above the trace clip to anchor the rig and give me a bit of weight to tighten up to.

Fish a couple of feet over-depth, let it settle when you cast, then either tighten up until the float just cocks, or let the wind do the job as it blows a slight blow in the line.

Ditto drains and rivers. although you may need to use one of the bigger floats and more lead - I'll happily use up to two ounces in the form of a lead on a run ring stopped by the trace clip.

Crude..? Maybe. But it catches fish, so who cares. I modify them slightly, removing the swivel bead from the floats as they come out of the packet, substituting a strong snap swivel and cross-lock.

I usually have a stop below the float and push this a couple of feet up the line above the lead as this stops casting tangles. For £1.50 a throw, you can't beat these. The largest couple of sizes are most useful if you fish flowing or wind-swept waters.

The tiny ones are great for fishing small drains or close-in stuff on pits.

Click here to order them from Eddie Turner.