Thanks for the info Ketchn. I will just have to give them a try.

Jagg and CK,

Strictly speaking if the float is secured to the line at one end only it is a waggler. If it is secured to the line at both ends it is a bobber.

Some anglers believe a properly weighted waggler is more sensitive because one can observe the angle of the long quill instead of the level of a bobber in the water. I find that to be true only in still water.

Smithaven thanks for the info.

Good Stuff!

CK, did you get the 8" ones? If so, I fish those without any added weight whatsoever. They're sensitive enough that they dip underneath the surface on a pretty light bite, without any weight. The float will lie on its side until a fish takes the bait, at which point it will stand up if it's a very light bite, or more commonly, start moving laterally and then slide underneath the water.

One major advantage to these floats over ones I've used by Thill is these cast far better without added weight. A shy-bite Thill, for instance, won't cast any appreciable distance without weight, but the Gapen panfish, when fished with the proper tackle, will sail twenty or thirty yards easily.

TN I got the 6" ones. I did not know they laid on their side. This will be interesting.

This is what I use:

http://www.gapen.com/Gapen_Panfish_Float_p/float-panfish.htm

The smallest size is the 8". But the 8" has very little mass in terms of the wood such that it's more sensitive than any float I have used. One BB split shot will stand it up if you wanted it to stand before a bite happens. Did you buy the bream floats? I haven't used those; they appear to have more mass (i.e. would be less sensitive) than the panfish floats. The Gapen people have always been very helpful with good customer service so I would wager they'd swap them for you.

man them are pretty

Some good information here. Thanks for sharing.

I am not going to the trouble of swapping them. I will test these and go from there. But thanks for the input.

Here they are.

I would think those should still work pretty well. It's hard to tell just from a photo but they still seem to have less mass than the average cheapo float sold at Bass Pro these days.

Smithaven dropping the knowledge! You are correct sir! When a center or middle buoyant float (think balsa or foam cylinder with a quill thru the middle length wise) is weighted right, just under neutral buoyancy, it will sit slightly of dead verticle. Most light tackle float fisherman find this ideal because they can identify light bites because the float gets more dead verticle if not starting to sink. They can ID lift bites because their float will lean more off axis if not laying down flat. And of coarse, more aggressive bites are seen more clearly since the long, slim profile is pulled under more easily and running bites easily spotted by the float being pulled horizontal at a 45 degree clip. I have been experimenting with different bobbers since I've come back state side and I will let you guys know what I've found in a later post.

It sounds like you are fishing them "tip up" or flag style where they lay flat on the water till you get a bite. When you do get a bite, they get more verticle (the more aggressive the bite, the more verticle they get). The problems I've had with fishing flag style in the past is if the fish are shy biting, I have had problems getting them to commit to the weight of straightening that float up. If I set the hook while the are just barely flipping it of the surface, I missed the fish more often than not. Also, there is no way to tell if you are getting lift bites. This has just been my experience.

Those are definitely legitimate problems with bigger floats, Jagg, and probably to some degree, any float. The float I use has very little balsa mass:

http://www.gapen.com/Gapen_Panfish_Float_p/float-panfish.htm

I haven't found another float other than the Shy Bite with as little mass, and the Shy Bite casts very poorly, whereas I can really sling the above float with no added weight. With a float this sensitive, there are far fewer issues of the fish mouthing the bait and letting it go, because generally if they do anything at all to it, it's enough to move the float significantly. And, bigger bluegill tend to inhale the bait whole more often than smaller ones, so nibbling is not as much of an issue.

The reason I prefer fishing with no added weight is because I get drastically more bites that way than with even one BB split shot. Small bluegill aren't as bothered by the faster drop of a weighted presentation; big bluegill, in my experience, are often spooked by it. I didn't discover this phenomenon myself - it was taught to me by a very skilled bluegill angler in my hometown many years ago when I was still in high school. I have read articles and comments from other big-bluegill nuts who have found the same thing to be true about a weightless fall.

The only reason I ever use any weight these days when fishing live bait for bluegill is because using a small jighead (most often 1/64 oz., to minimize the speed of the fall) lowers the incidence of swallowed hooks, and I don't like seeing a hook down the gullet of an 11" bluegill that will soon be released. When I really need to catch a big bluegill anytime between the months of May and September in a pond, and nothing else is working, you can bet all weight is coming off the line.

On days when they're really finicky I take off even the float and fish with nothing but a couple red wigglers hooked once through the nose on an aberdeen hook, or, on my best pond, a whole nightcrawler hooked the same way (Nightcrawler Secrets style). This presentation will catch fish when absolutely nothing else will.