With the ice just coming off the lakes, the water will be at its coldest for the entire open water season. To catch fish, it’s all about sending out a presentation that matches their metabolism, which in the cold water of ice out, is very slow. One of the top presentations I employ during early spring is the slip bobber. It is the catch all fishing machine. Simply said, a slip bobber delivers a suspended bait in front of a fish and keeps it there for as long as it takes to get that fish to bite.
But fishing a slip bobber can mean much more than suspending a worm under a float. Let’s take a closer look.For one, location plays a hand. Like I mentioned in the feature article this month, find the warmer water and find the fish. I’ll search out the warmer water and fish the areas around it with a slip bobber.
I was at Swan Lake doing just that a couple seasons ago. The big rainbows this lake is known for were playing a good game of hide and seek and catching them was spotty. I found one here and one there, but early in the afternoon I found this one small, almost imperceptible bay. It had a dark bottom and was perhaps a few feet deep and no larger than about fifty feet. Likely it was a little warmer than the rest of the lake. Occasionally, there was a swirl to indicate fish. I took my slip bobber, tied on a small bead head pheasant tail nymph and tossed it in. My buddy Ross did the same thing and for the rest of the day we were into big hard fighting rainbows steady. The combination of fishing warm water using a slow and stealthy presentation was a winner.
The slip bobber is right at home walleye fishing. In fact, when I’m walleye fishing, I feel this is the ultimate stealthy presentation as there is little to no weight to alert the fish to danger. A jig has weight and on the bite a fish can feel that weight immediately. This can sometimes cause a fish to short strike or reject the jig. Under a slip bobber, however, only the hook and bait is exposed to the walleye. With this set up the walleye will suck in the hook and bait and feel absolutely no weight until it moves. When it does, the slip bobber will indicate the take and the fish is caught.
One other trick I have for slip bobber fishing on calm days is what I like to call the super slow troll. I’ll cast the bobber and bait out and super slowly, reel it in. If you’re doing it right, the bobber doesn’t even make a wake. Occasionally the bobber will look like it’s sinking. When this happens, lift the rod a third of the way. If it moves, it’s a fish and strike. If it doesn’t move, it could be a weed and pull a little harder to pull it through and continue the troll. This has been one of my best spring presentations.
When it comes to the set up. I like to use a single hook to hold the bait and I’ll pinch on some split shot for weight a couple feet up the line. That way the weight of the split shot does not influence the bite in any way. When it comes to tackle, Thill is as dependable as they come for slip bobbers and for hooks, gamakatsu by Normark is my favorite.
Slip bobbers presentations are extremely effective all season long, but in spring, they’re one of the best.
