Power balling

Wed May 26, 2004 11:31 am

I tried using bouncy balls as float last weekend but they didn't work. They are not very buoyant and a 15g shot was causing them to sink. However they were excellent for keeping a bait on the surface, e.g. a whole sandeel, while retrieving.

I drilled them through and inserted 2.5mm elctrical wire forming a loop on both ends with a pliers.

Still caught nothing :( .

Wed May 26, 2004 11:43 am

Bouncy balls - yes, only heard of them being used to float spin a sandeel or red gill in fast currents or where you want to keep a lure off the snags, for example spinning for Pollack (which attack from below)...

Wed May 26, 2004 11:57 am

You've just described what I ended up doing perfectly. I will have to investigate Jif lemon container you suggested a few months ago. By filling it with water, rather than wax, to different levels you could control the buoyancy.

Now when is the next pancake night :lol: .

Wed May 26, 2004 12:46 pm

Why not just use a big clear bubble?

Wed May 26, 2004 1:01 pm

Was thinking about big clear bubble myself. Can be partially filled or left empty.

Wed May 26, 2004 2:26 pm

Not having caught anything on the float yet, I wonder how you would see the bubble in the water. The line can be very slack when float fishing so I assume that you rely on the float for bite detection. How would you see the bubble in the water?

Also, having just looked at the angling spend on my Visa bill, I am developing a keen interest in the DIY aspect of tackle :wink: .

Wed May 26, 2004 2:30 pm

can be bought in high vis red, orange, yellow and green.

I suppose with the clear bubble you would be slowly winding in your sandeel therefore taking up the slack.

Wed May 26, 2004 2:44 pm

I was really only referring to the static float fishing rather than retrieval or float spinning. The power ball worked fine for retrieving a sandeel. I take your point about different colour bubbles though.

Wed May 26, 2004 6:37 pm

Powerballs are considered instead of bubble floats because of there superior casting weight , no need to fill it up with water.

Wed Jun 07, 2006 8:12 pm

Try filling a jif lemon with wax

Sat Jun 10, 2006 6:51 am

Read, If you want to float fish, why not just use a float? or am I missing something?

The idea of the powerball was to use a heavy object that without weight will float so you could tie a long snood with a sand eel or plug from it to get the distance.

Good luck with it tho.

Sat Jun 10, 2006 11:06 pm

Do a bit of float fishing myself. I use a sea float it's about 4" long and 1" in diam. a 1oz. lead shot works fine with it. Got these from Derek in the pub in Guileen (east cork). This type of float and lead can be fixed in such a way that you can adjust the deepts you fish at without having to cut line.

Mon Jun 12, 2006 10:13 am

IDPearl, my post was put up 2 years ago and I have used standard floats since. Life must be very dull in Poland seeing as you are trawling ancient posts :lol: :wink: :lol: .

Mon Jun 12, 2006 10:19 am

That's the problem, no fishing here!! Didn't even look at the date!! Hope the float fishing's going well!!

:oops: