The images on this page tell a sad story. A story of fish uncaught and fishing time wasted. Because the key word in slip bobber is "slip", something that these bobbers no longer do. Keep watching this page; if your slip bobber isn't here, it soon will be.

The following floats were contributed by Jeff, HL Outdoors field tester and angler extraordinaire.

A major slip bobber maker (maybe the major slip bobber maker) introduced a new design a couple of years ago for it's economy line of floats. This design involves eliminating the stop bead; instead, they have a hollow guide tube that tapers to a solid at the top end. The solid part is cut and a hole is bored through the plastic. The two photos below show the results.


Jeff was on the bluegills and bought these before the full range of ESB sizes was introduced. He used the bobber above with 4 lb. test mono for less than 20 minutes (and 4 fish) before it bit the dust. That's right, less than 20 minutes!



So, he put on bobber #2. This one lasted 25 minutes. At which point he was out of bluegill size slip bobbers, after less than 1 hour of fishing!

The same major slip float maker also makes many pricier styles. These have really nice paint and laquer finishes, very pretty. You'll pay $3.00 to $4.00 each for these babies. Then again, maybe you won't, after you see the images below.

 

To be fair, Jeff caused some of the damage in an effort to keep this float working.


Maybe he shouldn't have bothered, considering that this is what the other end looks like.


 

Here's another one, same style, same brand. I guess that for me, pretty is as pretty does.

This float was contibuted by Dan, another HL Outdoors field tester. It's another one of those pretty, pricy ones. On the left is the stop end, on the right is the terminal end.

John from Wisconsin sent these two generic floats that "I used this spring fishing for bluegills and crappies." These aren't in too bad of shape, yet, although the one on the left is nearly untrustworthy.

Stan from Houghton Lake donated these 3. At far left is another one of those "premium" floats. At far right is one of those cone shaped stop caps, which goes to show that they cut too. Thanks, Stan.

This one is just your garden variety
slip bobber, with the usual.
Contributed by Jeff


DM - Michigan


CD - Wisconsin


KJ - Wisconsin


KS - Wisconsin


MG - Wisconsin


MS - Wisconsin

Obviously, there is a real need for the ESB in Wisconsin.


SS - Wisconsin

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