Float and fly

[Tennessee_fisherman]

Anyone on here fish the float and fly ? I plan on trying it this year. I mostly bank fish but we try to to fish some of the deeper banks and in the river. I think it would be good in some of big creeks now that water has been drawn down. Has anyone tried this technique ? Trying to learn something different in winter time beside jerkbait ,jig, small swim bait.

[TNBronzeback]

Ive tried it, but with limited results.
Its my impression that a longer rod is handy for this so you can run your fly deeper under the float and the long rod helps that when casting. When i tried it, my rod was 5'6" so i had to use a slip float. My theory is with the slip float, the fly sinks straight down versus the big slow arc of a stationary float. I guess its that arc motion that helps trigger the bites. Purely speculation on my part, but i think that was part of my issue. Never had a reason to try it again so that is where my float and fly presentation was born, then died shortly there after.
Alot of stuff online about it though, no doubt it puts fish in the boat or on the bank!

[XxthejuicexX]

I have tried it. I came up with the same idea as TN. I fished it on a shorter rod and could not get it to the depth I wanted. It's one of those techniques that if you are going to fish I think you have to commit to buying to right gear. There is a chance I try it tomorrow morning on Tims.

[notorious]

F&F works...plane and simple. It does require great patience and fine tuning. Go to DH and give it a try, expect to not catch fish until you understand the technique completely, just like vertical jigging with a grub...this is a technique that has proven to put jumbo fish in the boat in the harshest conditions. Long rods...9' or more with fluorocarbon and a fixed float puts the jig in the face of the SM and will produce fish. If you have ever fly fished you can F&F no problem....technique, technique, technique.

[Reel Tune]

Originally Posted by TNBronzeback

Ive tried it, but with limited results.
Its my impression that a longer rod is handy for this so you can run your fly deeper under the float and the long rod helps that when casting. When i tried it, my rod was 5'6" so i had to use a slip float. My theory is with the slip float, the fly sinks straight down versus the big slow arc of a stationary float. I guess its that arc motion that helps trigger the bites. Purely speculation on my part, but i think that was part of my issue. Never had a reason to try it again so that is where my float and fly presentation was born, then died shortly there after.
Alot of stuff online about it though, no doubt it puts fish in the boat or on the bank!

You are correct, the slip float does not give the correct action. Once the fly is out there if you try to move the bait closer to you all you are doing is moving the bait up and down in the water column until your fly hits the bobber. You need a very small clip on bobber and try to find the depth of the fish and pin the bobber at that depth. When the bobber is pinned and you move the bait the bait will move more horizontally instead of vertically. When your bait moves vertically it comes out of the strike zone, and that is not what you want.

[Alphahawk]

Float'N Fly is not as tough as some folks make it out to be. It is not only deadly in the winter but early spring also. The first Smallie my son ever caught he was using Float'N Fly method at Center Hill in March....from the bank....with a Trout Magnet as the lure. He used a 9 foot crappie rod that I had given him....and unlike many who will use braid as a main line and a 12-14 foot fluorocarbon leader we just use 2# test line....browntrout fishes the same method. We use pinned floats when fishing this method. I have had many days using this method of 50 plus Smallies in a single day...not uncommon to do this. What I don't like about the method is the nastier the weather the better the bite seems in the winter. I also do not like using the 9 foot rod. As a matter of fact I have an 8 foot rod being delivered next week for multiple duty work...Float'N Fly and vertical jigging crappie.....Gills. Many will tell you that you also can't fish this method out of a kayak...not so...it is no big deal out of a kayak. Water temps are not where they really should be at Center Hill for Float'N Fly right now...not sure about temps at Dale Hollow. Many recommend the water to be around 55 degrees or lower...my recommendation is to go when you can go.


Regards

[agelesssone]

I'm going to give the floatnfly a shot.
I've got 9', 10', 11', and 12' rods.
I'll tie up a bunch of 1/16 oz hair jigs tomorrow and give it a whirl next week when the weather gets nasty.
Just wish the water temps would drop!

[StriperFan]

I know the guys I fished with up at DH loved to use the Fish Stix bait scents on their hair jigs. They would pile it on and slick all the hair back so it looked real smooth. Also, I had luck using a slip float on a short rod. But I wasn't casting over and over. I would let it sink then drift it around. Once we found some fish, they took it good enough. I'm sure the regular fnf rig is better, but you can catch them with a short rod and slip bobber. It also helped that we had four boats going out at the same time. We could clue each other in on kind of cover, exact depth of fish caught and stuff like that.

[lupanfreitag]

I have done it every season for the last five years with mixed results but it is a helluva lot of fun. I do advise buying a float and fly rod, around 8.5 feet.
Bass pro has (2) types. White river is nice. I actually have three rods.
8.5, 9.0 and 10.5. If you are fishing 10-12 feet deep, you can't do this with a 6ft rod.

Also use a three way swivel to clip to the float. I would advise against slip bobbers.

I use them for other than winter time float and fly for smallies. This year I used all year.