With over 50 years of fishing experience, from
local clubs to Open Matches, Nationals, and
World Championships. World champion "1987" and
runner-up Silver Medal "1986" Gold Medal Team
Wales "1989" Clive Branson passes on all known
fishing float methods and techniques through
this float-fishing Website
Clive has collated the most comprehensive
float fishing range possible: Now available to
all anglers whether experienced or a beginner.
Including all the latest information and
technical advances, with first hand knowledge
and experience's.
Throughout the Website he discuses the history
and the evolution of floats, where and when
they were discovered and developed, how to use
Pole Floats, how to use wagglers, how to use
stick floats, how to use all floats and
showing you diagrams and illustrations,
techniques and methods used by himself and
other World class Anglers, ensuring the
greater understanding and usage.
INTRODUCTION
By Clive Branson
Welcome to my Float fishing Website, It has
always been an ambition of mine to put
to-gether a full range of fishing float
products. With methods and techniques changing
drastically over the years, I feel it is now
time for a reference libary and Website on the
subject and the Internet is an ideal medium to
market my floats.
Anglers on the fishing bank these days use
float fishing techniques probably more than
any other method available to them. Float
fishing is a skill to learn,
very interesting and enjoyable, and catching
fish on a home made float has
more satisfaction than any thing I know, it
really is an art to catching fish, so
much so that the governing body of World
Angling Championships C.I.P.S.
Will only recognise and allow float caught
fish in the Freshwater World Championships
FLOAT FISHING
In recent years there has been an explosion of
new floats, this I believe is due to the pole
popularity, and the continental influence. New
design of wagglers, loaded missiles, feeder
floats, shaped stick floats and so on... Yet
if we look back at the old design and
materials of floats we find that most have
been used before, some lost in the sands of
time and in our quest to develop new ones I
have re introduce them back into the market
place through my company "Gold Medal floats co
uk". I have talked to old master's and have
covered many old magazines and books,
rediscovering the old forgotten floats and
their applications. I believe we have to look
back and see how floats were first invented
and how they were used, and for what purposes.
Then we can analyse the developments and put
all the new floats into perspective. We take
the float for granted but just stop for a
moment and analyse how the float has so many
specific jobs to do;
* (1) It helps cast the bait
* (2) It carry's the bait in the swim.
* (3) It helps to present the bait naturally
or un-naturally, slow it
down or speed it up
* (4) It registers a bite.
* (5) It helps to keep the control of the
tackle.
* (6) It catches fish.
* (7) It can also help to land the fish.
(guiding the fish out of snags)
* (8) It can under certain circumstances
attract the fish to the bait.
* (9) It can now carry loose feed and
groundbait into the swim.
* (10) It can help you fish in the dark with a
light on top.
* (11) It can cast tremendous distances.
* (12) It can hook the fish
Now All this may seem obvious to an
experienced angler but it is remarkable how
many anglers over look the basics that the
float is intended to present the bait to the
fish as naturally as possible without being to
sensitive registering false and phantom bites.
Materials have an important part to play in
developing a float, for a specific job, making
a float sensitive enough but enabling it to
cope with different situations, such as
weather and light conditions.
With space age materials now at our disposal,
materials like carbon, polystyrene, glass,
tungsten, plastics and other composites, we
now have the technology with precision
engineering to make the perfect floats. Yet
not so long ago our angling predecessors had
to content with a limited selection of
materials to build his floats, such as crow
quill, pith, porcupine, cork, balsa, cane, and
only in the mid 1950's was peacock discovered
and imported into the UK.
We are now in an exciting stage of development
within fishing products generally, the
development of super glues and self moulding
materials now catapulting angling into the
21st century.
CB Angling Publication, Evesham, 1997. (c)
All floats within the Gold Medal Float range
have been personally developed, built, tested,
recommended and used by myself Clive Branson
(Double Gold, Silver and Bronze medallist)
Please allow 5 to 10 working days for floats
to be made and posted. However if you require
something quicker please contact me to make
arrangments. clive@goldmedalfloats.co.uk