The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

These floats turned up today and I don't think you can get any more hand-made than these. I love um! The temptation to tidy up or modify them is hard to resist.


Notice the wire wrapped around the base of the left-hand bung.

I might get some goose quills to replace the old and broken ones.

Unusual to find one with the feathers still intact !

Cane wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2024 9:29 am Unusual to find one with the feathers still intact !

Yeah I noticed that when they came. I like them alot. Shame there wasn't any history to them. I will use them at some point in my fishing life though.

My latest addition to my collection is this little naive gem. I picked this up on a job lot at the vintage tackle fair at Romsey on the Sunday just gone.

This bobber is about an inch across and been crudely painted, the peg has been carved by hand.

There are more suprises in the tackle box that I purchased.

Some more 'folk art' lures from my collection.

These were made by an eccentric ex Indian Army officer named Marshall William Judd, who spent his later civilian life living reclusively in a caravan in Norfolk.

I bought the lures from his grandson who'd inherited them. He told me that his grandfather's caravan was full of homemade floats, hand tied flies, exotic feathers collected from his travels and other tackle. I would have loved to have seen it - or, better still, met him!

Among the lures were some T. P. Luscombe of Allahabad Mahseer spoons (no doubt from his Indian Army days) plus a few very nice post WW1 Allcocks spinners.

Hoevever, it was his own baits that I appreciate the most. The metal-headed ones are based on the Hardy 1924 model 'Swimmer' and the ones below them on the 1909 model 'Fly Minnow'.

They are crafted variously from German silver, copper and brass - the workmanship and quality is quite outstanding.

Tonytoned wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2024 2:53 pm My latest addition to my collection is this little naive gem. I picked this up on a job lot at the vintage tackle fair at Romsey on the Sunday just gone.

This bobber is about an inch across and been crudely painted, the peg has been carved by hand.

There are more suprises in the tackle box that I purchased.

I have a few of those. I think they are pilot floats that were used for pike fishing , and that they're meant to be placed above the main pike bung.

I stand to be corrected but I think a Pike pilot float was slid on the line behind the the bung/ gazeter, without a peg in it so it slid freely? They never came with a peg. Thats how I used one.. I could never see the point so I used one just a few times.
As I said.... I could be very wrong.

Mr B

Mr B wrote: ↑Thu Apr 18, 2024 1:08 pm I stand to be corrected but I think a Pike pilot float was slid on the line behind the the bung/ gazeter, without a peg in it so it slid freely? They never came with a peg. Thats how I used one.. I could never see the point so I used one just a few times.
As I said.... I could be very wrong.

Mr B

Mark you are correct, the Pike pilot float was slid on the line above the bung and like you I could never see understand the benefit its use.

Mr B wrote: ↑Thu Apr 18, 2024 1:08 pm I stand to be corrected but I think a Pike pilot float was slid on the line behind the the bung/ gazeter, without a peg in it so it slid freely? They never came with a peg. Thats how I used one.. I could never see the point so I used one just a few times.
As I said.... I could be very wrong.

Mr B

You're right Mr B.

For piking, pilot floats were free-running, their purpose being to assist 'mending' the line and prevent it sinking near the main float. They also indicated the direction in which the pike was 'running', upon a take (in the days when striking was a more leisurely affair than modern good practice).

I do believe pilot floats were sometimes pegged, but only when being pressed into alternative use for trotting in shallow swims for grayling.

Like this:

Some short, stubby (reed?) floats I found that some thrifty angler made for themselves. Naive but charming little things from much simpler days. The longest is just over 2½".

The red tips have been applied using reflective tape, rather than being painted on. Quite an ingenious and practical idea I thought.