yellow door 1

As some might know, I had a fishing float made up of some dowel with a foam indicator as my main float rig.  It did it's job very well although sometimes a tangle would occur which was always easy to undo.  However, after re-spooling my reel with lighter mono, I kept getting more and more tangles - some to the point of cutting the line and re-rigging.
I decided to try something else and didn't really want to buy the stand shop float.  So a bit of look around on Google I saw a guy make some cork floats that looked quite good.   Problem was I didn't have any wine corks except 'champagne' corks courtesy of the missus.
Being the cheap skate person I am lol, I FB'd my neighborhood for some and received a few - and free  
Problem was that the rest of the materials for the way I wanted to make the floats was a bit expensive   But if I want to make more then the cheaper each one will become, plus the satisfaction of making my own.
Here's what I did ....
First - drilled holes through the cork and with some wood glue put a 6mm piece of dowel through it and let dry overnight.

 
Second - put a couple bits of wood together with a hole to place the dowel to keep in place whilst sanding.
I used 60 grit at first and down to 120 grit to get a smooth finish.  This one is a champagne cork.

 
A few different shapes and was also careful on a few not take away the wine 'emblem' on the cork so to give a bit of a different look.

 
Then I cut some safety pins keeping the end ring part that will help attach a bit of weight for buoyancy and leader.   I originally used some standard sewing cotton (black) but felt it may not hold overtime, so used some braid on the rest.   Put some wood glue over it all to strengthen and let dry overnight.

 
The fifth step was to give some primer to the ends ready for some enamel paint.  I used Gesso craft priming paint and let that dry for 3 hours.

Then the other end and again let dry for 3 hours.

 
Then some black gloss enamel paint on the bottom of the float.  Two coats given and will give a little extra to the braid/ring.

 
The eighth step was giving two coating with a vibrant yellow enamel.

 
Not too bad bad so far and could left without further painting, but decided to add a little decoration before giving three coats of Spar Marine vanish, by dipping the floats straight into the tin.  Let them dry well and light sand before next coating.  Pat the bottom tips to soak up the excess drips.

 
Turned out reasonably ok for my first effort although a little 'rough around the edges' lol
Took a bit of time and few dollars but 🤷‍♂️

Hot glue did the trick - thanks for all the tips fellas

Thanks Doobie - if what I try fails - I definitely wont be stuck for options😉

I'll give the sticks a bit of a rough up aswell

I've used this. $5 from BigW and waterproof.
https://www.bigw.com.au/product/stuk-epoxy-glue-24ml/p/28881/
 
It holds the foam, wood and metal, to do this.

 

If Sikaflex doesn't work nothing will.  

Thanks Rod - I've got both of those options at work - I'll give them a crack on monday - might rough up the plastic with 40 grit first

Shoe goo

G'day
I've glued acoustic foam to concrete with liquid nails which lasted 20 years until the foam broke down.  The plastic straws on the other hand, hmmm, nothin much sticks to shiny smooth plastic.  Liquid nails might be worth a go.  I have made a few floats using polystyrene foam and wall plug spaghetti, glued with hot melt.  That worked ok
Cheers
Rod

Sikaflex


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I will give it a go and post a pic here when I do it. I bent up some heavy 316 stainless rod to make my own gaff, using heat and a piece of water pipe as a sleeve-lever. I have some SS chain and thinner rod I can cut to make the "crook" to weld under the gaff hook. Thanks for sharing the idea! All the net closures and license buybacks from NSW up to the Cape have certainly been a boon to rec .fishers in many ways -- but they have released the inshore bull shark/pig-eye shark pups from a major source of mortality. They were a significant gillnet bycatch and sold as "flake" (fillets) in the local market. Now folk are being sharked like crazy by "bull sharks" offshore. Tagged bulls (acoustic tags) have gone from Botany Bay to Townsville, and from Cairns/Townsville back down to NSW. I even saw a shark get "sharked". Anglers in sthn WA eat little "bronzies", but Qlders scorn shark. If we ate some little bulls caught in the creeks we might dent the population a bit. Here are some bits I "got back"

Hi Guys, it's a bit quiet out there so I thought I would post the second instalment of my DIY tackle.... as you've heard me say before I get a lot of success with using Bread Punch on the hook, all my bread punches cost me nothing so here's how you can make some for your own tackle box.   Firstly obtain some empty bullet casings of different sizes and cut the open ends off with a fine blade hacksaw, get some wooden dowel or any suitable solid tube and make the ends fit the bullet casings snugly. I glue mine in with Araldite but make sure the glue doesn't comeup past  the flat face of the dowel (it will taint the bread as it is a 2 part chemical) also VERY IMPORTANT have the flat face-off the wood  a 5-7mm  shy of the end of the brass tube ( see bottom punch.) This is because when you push this (and it is only a mini biscuit cutter after all) into the bread it will automatically compress the bread and that will stay on the hook for longer.  You can put two different diameter casings on each end which gives you options for punch size... the size variants are endless (I have used a leather punch on occasions too!)... Lastly as an optional finish, varnish the handle and you're ready to go.
Last week Mr. Crabtree and myself wanted to get some carp for crab bait and we are also going to try and catch some small sharks with them too, so we thought if we could catch 10 - 15 carp around the 1/2-3/4kg size and freeze them, next time we go to "Yorks" we can play around. So we fished exclusively with bread punch on 12 hooks and got 15 fish quite quickly. I always buy the cheapest, freshest white, thick sliced bread, I get two or three slices and flatten it between fingers and thumb ( you can use a rolling pin) and discard the crusts... 10 seconds in the microwave also makes the flattened bread a bit rubbery ... just what you want. Then like a biscuit cutter, 'punch' the flattened bread and put the hook into the middle of the bread whilst still in the punch and lever it out. If you have never fished punch before ( it does work best with a float) you will be surprised how well compressed bread will stay on a hook, once you have a bite though, you will have to check to make sure you still have bait on.
I reckon one day, I caught about 40 fish on two slices of bread, can't get any cheaper than that.... any questions please don't hesitate to ask!
 

Yeah I sometimes question my sanity, with the lengths I will go to to work something trivial out - especially when its already been worked out before - by 100's of other people - and its not even that important in the first place😉

But I'd be lying if I said I had not lost sleep wondering how to breed maggots better under the parameters I have set😉

 

Yeah when it comes to trying to making money from a device - it needs to have the cheapest components possible, while still offering 100% effectiveness and strength in a saltwater  environment.

Plastic and lead are the answer - but asking the right questions is the key to getting it right😉

There are definitely a few different designs out there!

oops - heres the vid

(I've also cable tied the steel bar to the side so it tips better
 
 

Yeah I've seen a metal pot with a hinged bottom activated by a vertical steel rod - the rope you lower the pot with is attached to that verticle steel rod - you lower the hole thing gently - then give a sharp tug - the raising of rod, trips a latch that releases the hinged bottom. Ill try to find the vid - I think it was an English shark fisherman who used it - it looked pretty ancient

Looking good Floatman - thanks for sharing
 
 

Yeah Unfortunately I'm a few years too late and a poor second cousin to the real deal😉.

Fast forward to 2:15 for the "Secret weapon"
 
 

You should enter yourself to the "Shark Tank" ... could make millions  

And heres the sinkers

https://youtu.be/JT8jgYIrfGE

oops - heres the vid

(I've also cable tied the steel bar to the side so it tips better
 
 

That video is why i use lures.