Float fishing

Float fishing is one of the most popular ways to fish. There are many ways to present a float in that it will do its job for you and help you catch more fish.
There are also many different ways in that the float will show indication of a bite from a fish, a few are ones like rising/lift bite or sliding bite. The floats you will use for fishing certain waters and fish come in various sizes,shapes,colours and weights.
One such float setup is the common way, lock your float to the main line with a couple of lead shots allways making sure the biggest shot is to the base of the float going smaller as you go down the line which will end up at the hook length end. The hook length is there to protect your tackle and prevent loss of floats aswell as allowing you to choose different size line so as not to spook your swim.
Another float setup is the Matchmans Float Rigs producing 'Lift' bites, this will look like your float is rising out of the water but this is actually a 'Bite' from the fish.
Again another float setup is the Crucian Float Rig, use an Antenna Float with plug stops at either side and distance these out depending on the depth your fishing, this can be used for catching the ellusive Crucian Carp which these days is sadly sparse in numbers and most that have been caught have turned out to be Hybrid's.

Float Trotting is a way to fish on rivers and streams, this is done by making a Trotting Rig with the float attached to the line using float rubbers and then the shotting pattern is set at intervals down the line in groups of two or three, this way the float and line are'nt easily dragged away by the river current.
This method is also good for tempting shy Perch out from there hiding places in the reeds/lilly's.
Slow sinking float rigs are a good bet if your fishing for the likes of Roach,Rudd,Bream and Perch as it allows the bait to sink slowly thus fish at any level in the water as most fish dont allways feed on the bottom of the water.

Float fishing for Pike is a different story as you can have it one of four ways like the following, Paternostered dead or live bait which is sliding float going down to a swivel then onto 20lb cable wire down to the 'Snap' tackle with the treble hooks, the reason for the cable wire is that Pike have very sharp and big teeth and they would just slice clean through normal monofilament line.
Another Piking method is Running Paternoster which has no float this time and it is anchored down by a weight.
Trolled Artificial or Deadbait fishing consists of a Sliding Float going down to a barrel lead to a swivel and onto the 'Snap' tackle.
Sunken Float Ledgering is also another float fishing method were the float is actually just sunken under the surface and when the bait is taken the float will rise from the water to indicate a bite run from a Pike.
A Windbeater Rig is a more stable variation of the Lift Rig, the Windbeater consists of a sliding float going half way down the line to a group of three or four shots and then halfway again down to a single larger shot and then a hooklength of about a few inches, again when the fish takes the bait the float will rise from the water to indicate a 'Bite'.

Fishing for Zander float style is again very much the same as Pike fishing except the floats tend to be Ball Floats with shock beads in between the swivel links going down to the 'Snap' tackle.
Float fishing in the Sea can also be done in much the same way as Freshwater but the only difference is ,bigger floats and tackle and is very good when the water is calm and the fish are not giving good bite indication on ledgering Paternoster Rigs.

Types of Floats are ones like PeacockQuill and BalsaWood,Plastic and seethrough floats are common place these days to try and hide the fact that theres a float in the water from the fish. Some floats come with there own weights to them so all you need is the locking shots at the base of the Float.
Smaller floats like the ones used in Pole fishing are very fragile and small, this is so that the you can present a very fine rig to the fish so as not to spook the swim,the shotting is also very small so as to hide as much as possible.
Floats with no line hole at the bottom are usually the ones that are used for Trotting on Rivers and Streams.
Bubble floats are also good for Run Indicators on Canal's and Streams.
So no matter how you fish you will need a Float for every occasion and a method to with it, happy fishing.