Floater advice

[BluePeter]

How do you set up when floater fishing? Walking the banks of my syndicate I'm seeing the fish up in water. My main question is big or small hook?

[toasted]

you want a smallish hook, i used to use size 8 drennan boilie hooks as there were prety light
id always freeline when possible and use as light a line as you can as a controller tends to spook fish
for fish up to around 20 il use a heavy float rod and 6lbs straight through

[paulmlpss]

Im guessing your syndicate isn't very wide as its an old river? I personelly like to use bread on a size 4-6 hook. Buy one of them unsliced loafs of bread from the supermarket and they cast really well. If you give them a quick dip before the cast it adds a bit of extra weight and you can cast them really far with about 8lb line. Also if they arent taking it off the surface but you can see them try getting it so the bread sinks really slow as ive had them take it on the drop before in the past.
Good luck

[adamxx]

I use Drennan Super Specialist hooks in size 8 or 10 because there very light, would possibly use a size 6 if I was using a big bit of crust.

8lb Drennan double strength hooklength.......as long as you can possibly cast, 10ft would be good.

What ever you do don't use the knotless knot to make the hair 

[white widow hunter]

i would use a controller but not a normal one.i would take an old or broken match rod tip section or go to the model shop and buy a lenth say18 inchs of carbon or fibreglass from the model shop.slide a couple of drilled wine corks or a pike gazette six inchs up the tube followed by a rubber bead a drilled bullet lead and another bead .all must be tight fitting and the bullet and corks must be seperated by a couple of inchs .finally attach a sectiom of silicone top and bottom .Thread mainline through rod section and tie on a small swivel which you pull back into the top piece of silicone .now attach a six inch section of mono and a hook .the contraption will lean over in the water and if you get it right will present the floater on the surface and because i use a hairrig the hook will actually be just above the surface.This will have them when they are spooking of any normal controller or even freelined baits becayse the line is not on the surface .i use braid as a mainline which means i can lift it and replace it so surface drift is not a problem ..they do sell shop bought versions of this i think by gardineer ...they are crap not long enough and no seperation between weight which is brass and the black float so when cast its a lottery as to whether they sit up ...mine always sit up ....
as for floaters well some reckon small dog bisquits are needed so as to not spook the fish ....i buy the biggest floaters of all called febos ..sometimes i dye them sometimes i flavour them i used to drill them but you can with practice push a baiting needle straight through them whilst still dry
other things to try ....put whatever mixers you fancy into plastic bag .....pour in a little liquid flavour followed by some dye followed by some carnation milk ......or condensed milk....blow up the bag and shake the lving daylights out of it .....drain off excess liquid and freeze the bag full of mixers ...take out of frezzer and you will have mixers that are abit like toffee ...best bit is the leak of of the milk heads downwoods to start with then returns to the surface i kid you not ...
final thing ....get some white or clear strapping that you would find on pallets....cut into one and a half inch lenths...take white sliced bread and put four slices on top of each other cut of all the crusts and then quarter.Thread onto a hair big enough to take the depth of four slices of bread then thread on packing tape piece with pre drilled hole in middle .finally add hairstop.by dunking in water precast you can chuck forty yards easily .....brilliant i know ...