IN MY OPINION FLOATER FISHING HAS GOT TO BE THE MOST EXCITING WAY OF FISHING FOR CARP, BUT, ON OCCASSIONS IT CAN ALSO BE A STRESSFUL SESSION.  IT’S ONE OF THEM THINGS THAT NOT MANY ANGLERS HAVE THE ENERGY OR ENTHUSIASM TO DO, THIS IS WHERE EFFORT REALLY DOES EQUAL REWARD.

It’s not only a summer tactic it can be effective throughout the seasons, if it’s in your armoury  you’re already a few steps ahead of many other anglers, personally I never leave home without a bucket of floaters now.

Preparing your floaters is the first thing to do either when you arrive at the lake or before leaving home. Fill a bucket half way with your chosen floaters and then add an oil of choice, personally  I like to use a good quality salmon oil, make sure to give them a good coating so they all have a wet shine to them, this will give off a large slick on the waters surface and aid attraction levels to the carp.

Just like any style of fishing location is paramount, whether that be finding them sitting on top of weed beds, cruising In and out of little bays or cruising on the surface out in open water, wherever you find them, whether you see one carp or a whole load of them, there’s always an opportunity to get them competing on the surface.

Once you’ve found some carp that look like they’re up for a feast it’s all about trying to get them taking floaters without spooking them, considering the distance you’ll be fishing this could either be using a catapult or quietly spombing is they’re a bit further out.

Starting with a few spombs/pouch fulls of floaters quietly in the area but not right on top of the fish as this will spook them and you they might disappear and not come back.  I always go by a rule of three, so I’ll start with three pouches or spombs of mixers just off where you can see the fish on the surface, once these have been taken – usually birds taking the first lot, I’ll keep adding 3 more pouches/spombs over the area where I can see them.

Little and often is key to success with floater fishing.  The next step is waiting for fish to get confident feeding on the floaters, like I said, I go by a rule of three with all of it and wait until I get at least 3 carp taking confidently before I make a cast.  I’ve often found a spomb works much better on bigger lakes that are more open, carp are inquisitive and will 9 times out of 10 investigate any commotion on the waters surface and when they realise that it is food and they start feeding they’ll not be bothered by the commotion and more often than not the fish will come up to the noise of the spomb landing on the water.

There are two ways to fish effectively for carp on the surface the first being a controller float and the second being over depth zigs.  The most important thing with fishing a controller float is that you have a strong floating mainline and hook link, this can either be Kinetic Braid mainline or HD Floater mono, both of which are extremely strong and don’t sink through the surface layers. For hook links you want to use the Gardner Zig Link in 10 or 12lb breaking strain depending on the fishing situation.

My favourite setup is having Kinetic Braid through to a cork from a wine bottle and a 3ft to 4ft hook link tied using Kinetic Braid as well, but this is only for short range fishing. If you need to go further I’ll use a flatliner controller to get out the extra distance,  with this you want to be fishing a smaller hook than you would on the bottom, I’ve always opted for a super reliable size 8 Covert Dark Incizor tied with a simple knotless knot hair and either a brown pop up or a fake mixer to ‘match the hatch’.

The other way in which I have had a lot of success is over depth zigs, these will come into their own where fish are very spooky of lines on the surface or where there’s too much drift in the water to keep a controller float in position. When fishing this way it’s best to fish a lead clip straight on your mainline as zigs tend to tangle easily around leaders, again you want to be using as lighter hook link as possible to keep it as invisible as you can, this would often be 10lb Zig Link again to a size 8 Covert Dark Incizor with a small fake mixer or brown pop up hookbait.

The length of my zigs will vary with the conditions, if its relatively flat with a slight ripple I’ll aim to fish them about 6 inches over depth but when the winds a bit stronger I’ll fishing them between 6 and 12 inches over depth to aid with more natural looking movement on the surface. A lot of people see this style as a lazy man’s surface fishing but it is far from it, you will constantly be spombing over the top of your rigs especially if there’s a ripple on the water, it can be real hard work to keep up with drifting floaters but it can be very rewarding even when lakes are fishing very tough.

I hope this helps you with your floater fishing and good luck to those who will go out and try when the weathers right, it’s not easy but it is very rewarding.

Sam Beswick.