Most of us got our start as anglers by watching a bobber and waiting for a bluegill, crappie, or perch to pull it under. When that happened, the fight was on, and we were hooked as surely as the fish. As we got a little older and more experienced, some of us “outgrew” floats and set them aside in favor of more sophisticated bait rigs or artificial lures.

In Tennessee, a group of dedicated smallmouth bass anglers never outgrew floats. Instead, they refined one of fishing’s most basic rigs and turned it into a bass-catching system that’s unbeatable when waters chill below 50°F. They call it the “float and fly,” and it catches all species of bass, as well as some other gamefish.

Boiled down to its essence, the float-and-fly technique is simply a way to suspend a jig—the “fly”—beneath a float, to catch lethargic bass unwilling to chase faster-moving baits. Beyond the basics, however, are various new refinements that will put more bass in your boat this coldwater season.

Two anglers who have sweated the details of float-and-fly fishing and have come up with ways to improve anyone’s catch are Stephen Headrick and Bob Coan. Headrick is locally known as the “Smallmouth Guru” and owns Punisher Jigs, a manufacturer of float-and-fly jigs and accessories. Coan is one of the technique’s foremost innovators and a consummate fishing technician. These two friends and fellow Dale Hollow Lake (KY-TN) guides could offer a Master’s course on the float and fly.

Why It Works

There comes a time on many waters when bass feed on free-roaming baitfish that struggle to stay alive in the cold water. Typically, that occurs when water temperatures drop to 50°F or less and can last until temperatures rise again in the Prespawn Period. During this period, few conventional techniques can achieve the depth and speed control needed to draw strikes.

“Casting a small jig or bladebait may tempt a few fish, but these lures fall too quickly to stay in the strike zone for very long,” says Headrick. “Crankbaits—even suspending models—look unnatural as they move through the often ultraclear water. They don’t trigger reaction strikes from bass in cold water the way they might when it’s warm.”

“You need a lure that can be kept at the right depth for an extended period of time and which has the subdued action that best mimics baitfish in cold water,” Coan adds. “The right lure is a small hair or duck-feather jig, and the float and fly is the method that makes it work.”

The Jig Is Up

The business end of Headrick’s and Coan’s float-and-fly rig is a small craft hair or duck feather jig weighing between 1/8 and 1/32 ounce. The modacrylic and acrylic fibers in Headrick’s craft hair give an angler a seemingly unlimited number of color choices to match water and baitfish conditions.

“I usually try to match whatever baitfish are available,” Headrick says, “but there are two colors that I tie into almost all of my jigs—pink and chartreuse. Try chartreuse when the water’s a little dingy or the weather’s cloudy and pink in clear water on sunny days.”

The hair that Headrick and Coan use in their jigs has great action once it hits the water. With every twitch, the craft hair dances and sways. Most of the time, however, that’s simply too much action.

“As you fish, keep reminding yourself that baitfish in cold water are lethargic and move very slowly,” Coan warns. “In fact, when they swim, they barely move at all. We often further subdue the action of craft hair by putting Punisher Fish Dope on it.”

Fish Dope is a petroleum-jelly-based paste that Headrick offers in three scents—garlic, shad, and crawfish. When the stuff is smeared across the craft hair, you can mold the jig into a baitfish profile. It mutes the action of the jig and masks human scent. Unlike conventional spray-on scents, Fish Dope sticks with a bait, lasting for hours in cold water. Headrick and Coan prefer the garlic and shad scents for their float-and-fly fishing.

Not only does Fish Dope mute the jig’s action and provide a cover scent, but Headrick makes sure it has visual appeal, too. “We put glitter in the Fish Dope,” he says. “It gradually falls off the jig, looking like scales falling from an injured baitfish.”

Of course, there are times when Headrick and Coan don’t use Fish Dope to subdue the craft hair, but these times are fairly rare. “When the water’s stained and I can’t see any deeper than about 3 feet, I only apply the Dope to the head and collar of the jig,” Headrick notes. “That way, the craft hair can breathe and move more freely, which should make it more visible to the fish.”

Just Ducky

Although these experts are strong believers in craft hair, there are times when hair is not the answer. That’s when they use what they call “the duck.”

“The duck is made with a couple of feathers from the underside of a drake mallard’s wing,” explains Headrick, “and nothing looks more like a small baitfish than one of these jigs.”

He may be right. The duck’s spare dressing looks remarkably like a small shad or other baitfish, because the feather’s markings show the same kind of barring that small fish often display. When bass are finicky or in extremely clear water, the duck’s hard to beat. A little Fish Dope on the head, jig collar, and feathers of the duck complete the package.

Bob’s Bobbers

With so much attention being paid to the “fly,” casual anglers might make the mistake of ignoring the importance of the float, but not Bob Coan. He’s created a system of floats—Bob’s Bobbers—that adds a different dimension to the technique.

Coan’s floats aren’t just bits of Styrofoam that suspend his jigs; they’re sophisticated strike indicators. Coan couldn’t find a commercially available bobber that did what he needed it to do, so—not surprisingly—he began making his own. They’re now manufactured by Punisher Jigs.

“After working with the technique, I realized that the float must be made of Styrofoam. Plastic floats take on water too easily, and they won’t hold up to a day’s fishing.”

“Most floats are fine if you just need to hold a jig above bottom, but they don’t do anything else. Weighted floats increase casting distance, but they weren’t ideal for the float and fly.”

Coan knew he wanted a float that was weighted for added casting distance. He also wanted something that enhanced the system—a true strike indicator in addition to its role in suspending a lure. The result is “Bob’s Bobber.”

“Through trial and error, I found that the best float for the job was a weighted 1-inch model,” Coan says. “Weighted floats are designed to float top-side-up no matter what. Instead, I wanted a bobber that would lie on its side until the weight of the jig stood it up.”

That meant cutting open the float and repositioning the weight. After much experimentation, Coan found the perfect positioning and had a float that was slightly top-heavy—just enough so that it rests on its side until the jig falls to the end of the line beneath it. If the float doesn’t stand up, either the water’s not deep enough for the leader between the float and the jig, or a bass has eaten it!

Getting Deeper

Coan’s 1-inch weighted float gets 90 percent of the duty when he and Headrick fish the float and fly. With rods measuring between 8 and 10 feet in length, they can manage leaders up to 13 or 14 feet with a fixed float. But what do you do when bass suspend deeper than that? How do you fish the float and fly 16 or even 20 feet deep?

Until last year, you didn’t. That’s when Coan began experimenting with a slipbobber. Conventional slipbobbers wouldn’t work—when an angler began jiggling his rod tip to twitch the float and fly along, the jig would be lifted toward the surface and out of the strike zone. More modifications were needed.

“I realized I’d need a heavier jig to pull the line through the float, so I switched to a 1/8-ounce model,” Coan says. “Then I removed the plastic insert you find in most slipbobbers and inverted it. This way, the bobber stop won’t just rest against the insert; it catches in the collar of the insert. The final modification I made was to use dental floss instead of the usual threadlike bobber-stop material. Dental floss is finer, works its way through rod guides better, and catches the float better.”

The end product is a bobber that catches the bobber stop when the jig sinks so you can precisely set the depth. Once it settles, you can twitch your rod tip in the way that best works the bait to draw strikes. The bobber stop lodges in the collar of the float and won’t let go until you reel the float to the rod tip for the next cast or while fighting a fish. Since the float rests against the jig during the cast, extremely long rods are unnecessary. And long casts are easy with the aerodynamic rig.

Rigging Methods

If there’s one area in which Headrick and Coan disagree, it has to do with the best way to rig the float and fly. Headrick is a traditionalist. He opts for clear 4-pound-test monofilament, ties his jig on with a palomar knot, and affixes the bobber at the desired level by wrapping his line tightly around the bottom bobber clip three times. Though he acknowledges that this method of attaching the bobber can weaken his already thin line, he likes the fact that the bobber is easy to adjust with this rig, and he gets tremendous casting distance using light line—an important consideration when fishing extremely clear waters.

Coan has found a way that’s more forgiving to his guide clients, who often have never used light tackle for big smallmouths. Instead of monofilament, he opts for smoke-color 6-pound-test Berkley Fireline. He ties this to a #4 three-way swivel. To one of the swivel arms he ties 6-pound-test fluorocarbon line (he prefers Berkley Vanish or P-Line) in the length he wishes to suspend his jig. To the other arm of the three-way swivel, Coan attaches the bottom clip of his bobber.

When he’s done, Coan has a rig that’s stronger than the traditional monofilament float-and-fly rig so it can stand up to the rigors of a long day on the water without much retying. It’s ideal for novices but works well for experienced anglers, too. If this rig concedes anything to the traditional rig that Headrick prefers, it’s in casting distance.

Final Tips

Most float-and-fly fishing is done with light-action 8- to 10-foot spinning rods. Since sensitivity isn’t paramount (you simply watch the float), opt for something light with a parabolic action that will absorb strong runs from powerful fish.

“For float-and-fly fishing, almost any quality spinning reel will work, but it’s got to have a high gear-ratio and a smooth drag,” Headrick says. “A high gear-ratio allows you to keep up with darting fish. And with such light line, you need a smooth drag to subdue big smallmouths that are amazingly powerful, even in cold water.”

There’s still something magical about watching a float on the surface of your favorite fishing waters as it dances, then disappears. The thrill of a strike is as intense as when you were a kid, and the fish fight just as hard. Though these methods originated in mid-South reservoirs, they will catch bass in rivers and lakes across the continent.

* Ken Duke, Marietta, Georgia, is a longtime outdoor writer. Contact Stephen Headrick at 931/243-6133 or visit punisherjigs.com. Bob Coan is at 866/233-2471.