By Rodney Hsu

Most of you who drift fish are very familiar with the floats that are available locally. The most commonly used floats in rivers are foam floats that require large weights to balance. These floats are perfect for fast flowing streams and large fish such as salmon and steelhead. For smaller fish however, these floats become ineffective. Delicate bites are often missed because the fish can not pull the float down, reducing fishing results. Over the past few decades, Europeans have fine-tuned a range of floats that specifically target coarse fish such as carp, chub, dace, roach, bream and many other species that strike the bait delicately. One of these floats is known as Drennan Turbo float, which has been proven to be very effective when used for some of the smaller fish species in British Columbia.

The Drennan Turbo is a light, skinny float that has a round mid body for buoyancy. It's lower body is made of a thin long wire. When float in the water without any attachments, it balances itself perfectly due to the weight of the wire. It's brightly coloured tip allows easy recognition when watched under different condition.

Such a float is perfect when fishing for trout, carp, peamouth chub, pikeminnow and even surfperch if the water you fish in is calm. It is ideal for shallow calm water that has a slight current. As a fish bites, even the most delicate movement can be felt in the float. When a fish completely engulfs the bait, it would not even realize that it has been hooked because this float weighs virtually nothing, reducing the drag as the fish swims away.

The float is attached to the line by two rubber tubes that are threaded onto the wire of the float. The Turbo comes in many sizes, but only the largest two or three sizes are suitable for waters in BC. To balance the float, simply pinch a couple of small split shots onto the line. To maximize its sensitivity, add enough weight so only the coloured tip is emerged from the water surface.

The Turbo has disadvantages. Like all delicate floats, they are easy to break so gentle care is required. Its wire can be bend quite easily if the fish that you are fighting is large. Because the float balances itself already, it is difficult to tell whether your presentation is sitting on the bottom or not as the float would not turn sideways.

Next time when you decide to fish for some smaller coarse fish, go Turbo. It can definitely make a huge difference in your catch. Call your local tackle stores for stock.