how to fish these floats?

[Mark_N]

hi all,

I have some Harcork floats in my collection but I am curious as to what type of float they are and how to fish them.

I did think they were Avon's but the yellow ones look too short and the orange one's body is too long.

Can anyone help please?

thanks in advance

Mark

[Match Aerial]

The two floats, right and middle would be what I would use in faster flowing water, Maybe the smaller one of the two in a shallow fast swim.
The larger long slim one on the left is a little more difficult to determine, you could probably use it like a stick float, shotted down to the tip in smooth running water or you could also probably use the same float on a Stillwater dotted right down.

Its hard to get a scale size of the floats from your photo so I could be way off with my suggestions .
Hope that helps
MA

[Chris Bettis]

I agree with Match Aerial it is not easy without some sort of scale but I think he is right as far as we can tell. When those floats were made they were often just floats not made for any particular sort of fishing but made to attract anglers to buy which was so often the case.

[Albert47]

The orange float is called a Thames float.The other two are designed to carry a fair amount of shot on faster flowing rivers.

[Mark_N]

Thanks for the replies so far. Hopefully the attached will help the scale question.

I did wonder if the orange one was a Thames float, I remember my dad talking about Thames floats, but I've never seen one.
Being similar to an Avon, I assume that I should fish these in the same way, would that be correct? or would the Thames one be different?
The little one confuses me too, it seems quite short for a running water float.

[Match Aerial]

That's better Mark
The long thin float in my opinion is a float to use in deep slow moving water.
It reminds me of a topper in some ways.

[Wagtail]

I think the Thames style floats were designed for 'swimming the stream' as opposed to trotting downstream.

In other words the cast was made to upstream of your sitting position and the float allowed to 'swim the stream' by raising the rod as it approached you in order to keep in contact with it, and then once level with your position it is lowered again to allow the float downstream. I believe this style of fishing suited the long rods and tiny brass or wooden drum reels of the time. I could be wrong about all of the above, but if so I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will be along to correct me

[Match Aerial]

Interesting stuff Wagtail.

MA

[Crucian]

Interesting stuff Wagtail.

MA

Interesting indeed...

Could this be why we refer to our chosen spot as 'Swim' ?

[Paul D]

Interesting stuff Wagtail.

MA

Interesting indeed...

Could this be why we refer to our chosen spot as 'Swim' ?

Almost certainly Crucian,don't forget early pins were called swimming reels.