The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

I have for years used an alternative made up like this:

The "bobbin" is a small ball of cork, with a small piece of wire through the centre with eyes formed at each end (where the wire exits the cork). To finish, the bobbin has silver foil glued all over it it for visibility;

To the top eye a small piece of heavy nylon mono is knotted on (About an inch of 10 lb BS is about right). Half way along this short piece, two 90 degree bends are formed, a few mm apart, by crushing the nylon firmly together in pliers. The result is a sort of flexible "hook" formed in the bit of nylon line;

To the bottom eye is attached about two feet of thin braid or thread, and at the end of this, a tent skewer is knotted on.

In use, just set up the rod in rests; then decide where the bobbin should hang, and push the tent skewer in the ground about there. Hang the bobbin by fitting the nylon hook over the reel line.

The advantages are, (1) when one strikes, as the "hook" bends open the bobbin falls cleanly away from the reel line (being restrained by its tether to the ground); and yet is easily found when needed again afterwards. And (2) if it's windy one can add weight just by pinching swan shot on the tether.

The disadvantages: the bobbin swings in the wind. And as it can be a bit fiddly to attach to the line, as the "hook" is hard to see, this setup is not so good in bad light. Also, one has to take care in the initial setup that the tethering braid is sufficiently free to run when the bobbin moves, and does not get caught up in bankside vegetation.

Despite these issues, I still like the method enough to keep using it. It feels like the traditional siver paper, but without the grubbing about trying to find the bit of silver paper again after a strike. Strangely, the nylon "hook" seems to last indefinitely without opening out, provided one is fairly brutal when forming the bends in the first place.

I went hi-tech and glued isotopes into the ends of my bottle tops... but then in those days I was a poser

Please please give us a warning when posting such photos of canes on buzzers....it really can give a nasty shock to us purists.....

Peter Wilde wrote:I have for years used an alternative made up like this:

The "bobbin" is a small ball of cork, with a small piece of wire through the centre with eyes formed at each end (where the wire exits the cork). To finish, the bobbin has silver foil glued all over it it for visibility;

To the top eye a small piece of heavy nylon mono is knotted on (About an inch of 10 lb BS is about right). Half way along this short piece, two 90 degree bends are formed, a few mm apart, by crushing the nylon firmly together in pliers. The result is a sort of flexible "hook" formed in the bit of nylon line;

To the bottom eye is attached about two feet of thin braid or thread, and at the end of this, a tent skewer is knotted on.

In use, just set up the rod in rests; then decide where the bobbin should hang, and push the tent skewer in the ground about there. Hang the bobbin by fitting the nylon hook over the reel line.

The advantages are, (1) when one strikes, as the "hook" bends open the bobbin falls cleanly away from the reel line (being restrained by its tether to the ground); and yet is easily found when needed again afterwards. And (2) if it's windy one can add weight just by pinching swan shot on the tether.

The disadvantages: the bobbin swings in the wind. And as it can be a bit fiddly to attach to the line, as the "hook" is hard to see, this setup is not so good in bad light. Also, one has to take care in the initial setup that the tethering braid is sufficiently free to run when the bobbin moves, and does not get caught up in bankside vegetation.

Despite these issues, I still like the method enough to keep using it. It feels like the traditional siver paper, but without the grubbing about trying to find the bit of silver paper again after a strike. Strangely, the nylon "hook" seems to last indefinitely without opening out, provided one is fairly brutal when forming the bends in the first place.

I used a number of champagne corks - I araldited plastic covered paper clips in the top and painted a fluorescent orange band around the middle. There were holes in the bottom to push in BB shot. They tended to fly about on the strike, but they were easy to spot and floated.

I made a couple of these and used copper wire to add a bit of weight. They work a treat, but it did take me time to get used to them.

RBTraditional wrote:Please please give us a warning when posting such photos of canes on buzzers....it really can give a nasty shock to us purists.....

Please accept my profuse apologies!

In my defence, the buzzers were a pair of very, very old Optonics and the sound is always turned down low.

I sometimes prefer to be purist and leave them out of the setup; especially if it's a promising sort of day with takes likely to be frequent. Other days however, they get used - and give the advantage of letting one relax and be able to look around and enjoy wildlife etc while waiting for something to happen, without having to keep one's full attention glued to the bobbins.

We used them all the time as kids in the early 80s. The best thing about them was the click as they hit the rod, a millisecond before your reel handle started flying around.

Fairy Liquid bottle tops were the most sought after. They were already red so you didn't need to paint them. In Peter Stone's excellent book on Gravel Pit Angling, he describes how to make a bobbin with a sphere of cork and a hairgrip. They worked really well too.

G. B.