Float Fishing for Beginners

By Alex Clayton · Updated 23 October 2026

Float fishing means hanging a bait under a float set to the depth of the water, so the float shows you every bite. Three things decide most of your results: the right float for the water, correct shotting, and the depth plumbed properly.

A float is also more sensitive than a quivertip or bobbin. A fish can move a legered bait a few centimetres without the tip showing anything, while a well-shotted float dips or lifts at the same touch. On Lake Windermere it is one of the methods I use for perch and bream.

This guide to how to float fish runs in the order you do it on the bank, from licence to landing net. It also covers the parts most beginner guides skip: the lead shot law, the close season, fish care and what to do when the float will not behave.

Step 1: Check Your Licence, the Close Season and the Lead Rules

Most beginner kit lists tell you to buy SSG, BB and number 4 split shot. In England and Wales, lead weights between 0.06g and 28.35g are not allowed, which rules out all three sizes in lead. Lead is legal only as shot of size 8 and smaller, or as weights over 1oz (GOV.UK tackle rules). Buy non-toxic shot such as tin or tungsten; our lead weights law guide has the detail.

You need a rod licence to fish for freshwater fish in England and Wales, including on private lakes and club waters. Under-13s need no licence, and 13 to 16 year olds need a junior licence, which is free (GOV.UK). Prices change each April, so check the GOV.UK licence page before you buy, or read our fishing licence guide.

English rivers are closed to coarse fishing from 15 March to 15 June. Most stillwaters, ponds, lakes, reservoirs and canals stay open, but private waters can set their own close season and local byelaws apply (GOV.UK). Wales uses the same river dates and generally leaves stillwaters and canals open, with exceptions for certain protected sites, so check Natural Resources Wales before you go.

Scotland and Northern Ireland set their own rules, covered in our licence guide for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; see fishing seasons for dates. Every fishery also has its own rules on hooks, nets and bait, so read the board or ask the bailiff before you set up.

Step 2: Get the Basic Float Fishing Set Up (Rod, Reel, Line and Hooks)

Walk into a tackle shop as a beginner and it is easy to leave with a bag of gadgets you never touch. A basic float fishing set up is much smaller: one float rod, a small reel, mono line, a few hooks and a handful of floats cover most stillwater and canal fishing.

Item	Spec	Why
Rod	11ft to 13ft float or match rod	Controls the line and picks it up on the strike
Reel	Small fixed-spool, around 3000 size	Balances the rod and holds plenty of light line
Main line	3lb to 6lb mono for roach, rudd, perch and skimmers; 6lb to 8lb on a power float rod for tench and carp	Mono is forgiving and easy to sink
Hooklength	2lb to 4lb, 18in to 3ft long	Lighter than the main line, so a snag costs only the hook
Hooks	Size 14 to 18	Right range for maggot and caster
Shot	Non-toxic split shot in a dispenser	Legal for both bulk and tell-tale shot
Floats	A few straight and insert wagglers	The all-round stillwater choice (see Step 3)
Float stops or adaptor	One packet	Locks the float and allows quick swaps
Plummet	One clip-on plummet	Finds the depth (see Step 6)
Disgorger	One, kept within reach	Removes hooks quickly and safely
Landing net	Knotless mesh	Knotted and metal mesh are not allowed (see Step 8)

Angling Direct suggests an 11ft waggler rod, a 3000 reel and 6lb mono as a simple starting kit, while fisheries.co.uk points to a 12ft to 13ft match rod. You do not need an expensive rod to learn.

Match your line to the biggest fish the venue is likely to hold, not the smallest. A 3lb line is fine on a canal full of roach, but it will not stop a carp on a commercial.

Best for: stillwaters, canals and slow rivers with rod and line. Skip if: you are tempted by a pole straight away. Learn on rod and line first, then try pole fishing once you can read a float.

Step 3: Choose the Right Float for Your Water

A float that sits perfectly on a canal can drag under or keep sinking on a river. Float choice depends on the water, not on what looks good in the shop, and four questions decide it: still or flowing, deep or shallow, close or far, calm or windy.

Water	Float	How it is attached	Why
Stillwater, canal or lake	Straight waggler	Bottom end only	The all-rounder, easy to set up and cast
Calm stillwater, shy biters	Insert waggler	Bottom end only	Fine tip shows the smallest bites
Distance or pellet fishing	Loaded waggler	Bottom end only	Built-in weight casts further with less shot on the line
River with steady flow	Stick float	Top and bottom with float rubbers	Holds the line so you can control the bait as it travels downstream
Close range, very delicate	Pole float	Top and bottom	The most sensitive option, but not for distance
Water deeper than your rod	Sliding float	Runs on the line to a stop knot	Lets you fish deeper than the rod length

For size, angling coach Dom Garnett’s rule of thumb is about 0.1g of float capacity for each foot of depth, so a 0.5g float suits a 5ft swim. Go a little heavier for wind or distance. Slim floats suit delicate roach fishing, and fuller patterns cope better with deeper or rougher water.

Each float has a weakness. Wind and surface tow pull insert wagglers under, and stick floats need flow to work at all. Deep or windy water also calls for bigger floats, which are harder to read.

For your first float fishing session, use a straight or insert waggler on a stillwater or canal. That is the rig the rest of this guide builds. When you are ready to go further, read our guides to waggler fishing, the pellet waggler for commercials, the slider float for deep water, and the stick float for trotting a river.

Quick comparison: a waggler is fixed at the bottom only and suits still water, while a stick float is fixed top and bottom and suits moving water.

Step 4: Tie Up a Simple Waggler Float Fishing Rig

A working float fishing rig takes five steps and needs no knot harder than a loop. Build it in this order:

Thread the waggler onto the main line. Pass the line through the eye at its base, or through a float adaptor.
Lock the float in place. Pinch a locking shot either side of it, or use a pair of float stops. Leave the float free to fold on the strike.
Put most of the weight at the float. This bulk of locking shot does the casting and stops the rig tangling.
Add a small shot near the hook. This dropper or tell-tale shot sinks the hooklength and shows bites. Step 5 covers exactly where it goes.
Tie a loop and attach the hooklength. Join a ready-tied hooklength to a loop in the main line, loop to loop. Keep it lighter than the main line, so a snag breaks at the hook rather than costing you the float.

Fixing a waggler by the bottom end only lets you sink the line between the rod tip and the float. With the line under the surface, wind and surface drift cannot drag the float out of position. You will use this when you cast in Step 7.

Stick floats work differently. Float rubbers fix them top and bottom, so the line runs straight from the rod tip to the float and gives you control in flowing water. Our stick float guide shows that setup.

Fit a float adaptor from day one. It holds the float in a small silicone sleeve, so you can change to a bigger or smaller float in seconds without breaking down the whole rig.

Leave the depth for now: Step 6 sets it with a plummet.

The verdict: master this one waggler rig before you try anything else. Every other float rig is a variation on it.

Step 5: Shot the Float Correctly (Bulk, Spread and Tell-Tale)

A float sitting high in the water hides a lot of bites. Fish feel the resistance and drop the bait before the float has moved enough to notice. Shotting is what turns a float from a marker into a bite indicator.

Follow these rules for a waggler:

Put at least two thirds of the shot right by the float. Too much weight down the line causes tangles on the cast.
Dot the tip down to 2mm to 3mm. Add shot until only a sliver of the tip shows above the surface.
Fit a tell-tale shot of size 8 to 12 within about 6 inches (15cm) of the hook. It shows lift bites and stops the bait wafting about.
Set a bulk about 18 inches (45cm) from the hook when you want the bait down to the bottom fast.

Remember the law from Step 1: lead shot of size 8 and smaller is legal, but anything bigger must be non-toxic.

Choose the pattern by what the fish are doing:

Pattern	When to use	What it does
Shot strung out evenly	Start of a session, fish feeding up in the water	Bait falls slowly and naturally
Bulk down the line	Small fish taking the bait on the drop	Gets the bait past them to better fish on the bottom
Weight at the float, only a tell-tale near the hook	Bait on the bottom, shy biters	Shows lift bites clearly

Start with evenly spaced shot and watch. If small fish keep hitting the bait as it sinks, slide the shot together into a bulk. On Windermere I’ve found this matters most in the deeper bream swims, where the bait has to get down past smaller fish first.

For more patterns, including shotting for stick floats and slider floats, see our float shotting patterns guide.

Step 6: How to Plumb the Depth

Angling Direct lists getting the depth wrong as one of the most common beginner mistakes, and calls getting it right a game changer. Learning how to plumb the depth takes a few minutes and one plummet, a small weight that clips onto the hook.

Shot the rig with just enough weight to cock the float.
Clip the plummet onto the hook.
Cast gently underarm to the exact spot you will fish. The depth can change a lot in a rod length.
If the float disappears, it is set too shallow. Slide the float up the line, away from the hook.
If the float lies flat or sits high, it is set too deep. Slide it down the line, towards the hook.
Adjust in small steps. Move it 6 to 12 inches while the float is fully under or only half cocked, then 3 to 4 inches as you get close, until just the tip shows.
Mark the depth on the rod handle. A dab of Tipp-Ex or a strip of tape at the float position lets you reset quickly after a tangle.

Once you know the depth, choose how to set the bait:

Just touching the bottom: the default for most coarse fish.
A few inches overdepth: pins the bait still on a stillwater when wind or tow is moving the float.
Off the bottom or up in the water: when fish are feeding higher, often in warm weather.

On rivers, some anglers go further and fish a flat float well overdepth, so the bait lies on the bed. Treat that as a specialist method rather than a rule.

Plumb more than one spot to find shelves and slopes. On canals the far shelf often holds fish, and on lakes the bottom of a slope is a good place to start. On Windermere I plumb the deeper swims at several points before feeding, because the bottom rarely runs flat.

Best for: any bait fished on or near the bottom. Skip if: you are deliberately fishing up in the water, as with the pellet waggler.

Step 7: Cast, Feed and Read the Float

The float dips, you strike, and nothing is there. That usually means slack line, a badly timed strike or a small fish, not an empty swim. Fix the cast, the feed and your bite reading, and more of those dips turn into fish.

Casting

Cast a little past the spot you plumbed. Then put the rod tip under the surface and wind a few turns to sink the line and pull the float back onto the mark. With the line sunk, wind and surface drift can no longer drag the float off line. Feather the line with a finger as the float lands, so the hooklength straightens out past the float instead of tangling.

Feeding

Little and often beats one big pile. On commercials, Angling Direct suggests 20 to 30 4mm pellets every 2 to 3 minutes, with a banded pellet on the hook under a loaded waggler. For roach, rudd and skimmers, or in winter, use maggots instead. Feed the same spot every time with a catapult so the fish settle where your float is.

Reading the float

Bite	What the float does	What to do
Dip or sail-away	Goes under or moves off steadily	Strike
Lift	Rises or lies flat because a fish has picked up the bait and the tell-tale shot	Strike
Trembles or a slow sideways drift	Twitches without going under	Wait. Often small fish or a line bite

Striking at every tremble is one of the classic beginner mistakes. On commercials, carp brushing against the line cause line bites: the float bobs or slides without a proper bite. Wait for a clean dip or lift.

When you do strike, use a firm sweep of the rod sideways or upwards, not a violent jerk. Hard strikes snap fine hooklengths. When fish are biting fast, hold the rod so you can react straight away.

On Windermere I’ve found perch and bream give quite different bites on the float, and learning to tell them apart only comes with time on the bank. A dip bite pulls the float under and a lift bite pushes it up: strike at both.

Step 8: Land, Unhook and Return Fish Safely

You hook your first roach, swing it in, and find the hook right at the back of its mouth. If the disgorger is buried in your bag, the fish pays for it.

Draw bigger fish over a landing net rather than swinging them in. Wet your hands before you touch a fish. Keep the disgorger within reach, slide it down the line to the hook, and push gently to free it. Lower the fish back into the water quickly rather than dropping it.

The national rules in England (GOV.UK tackle rules):

Landing nets and keepnets must not have knotted or metal mesh.
Keepnets must have mesh holes under 25mm, be longer than 2m, and have rings under 40cm apart and over 120cm in circumference.
Gaffs and tailers are not allowed.
Foul-hooked fish must be returned alive.
Never leave a rod and line unattended in the water.

On rivers you may take up to 15 small fish of up to 20cm each per day, and any fish you cannot keep must go back unharmed (GOV.UK catch limits). Many coarse anglers return everything anyway. Fisheries often set their own keepnet rules, so check with the fishery, and see our fish size and take limits guide for more.

Keep the disgorger in your top pocket, not your bag.

Step 9: Fix the Common Float Fishing Problems

Most float fishing problems are fixed by one small change. Change one thing at a time, in this order: depth first, then shotting, then feed, then float size.

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Tangles on the cast	Too much shot down the line	Move the weight to the float and follow the two thirds rule (Step 5)
Float drags under or across	Surface drift or tow	Sink the line (Step 7) and shallow up slightly
Missed bites	Strike timing, tell-tale too far from the hook, or hook too big	Move the tell-tale closer and drop a hook size
Float will not settle or keeps sinking	Wrong shotting, or float too light for the wind	Re-shot from scratch, or go a little heavier
No bites at all	Wrong depth, or no fish in the swim	Re-plumb (Step 6), try a few inches deeper or shallower, feed again, then try the margins or the far shelf
Only tiny fish	Small fish intercepting the bait on the drop	Bulk the shot down the line and try a bigger bait

Most of those fixes point back to Steps 5, 6 and 7. Shotting, depth and line control solve the bulk of problems before you need a different float or a new swim.

If the float has not moved for a while, re-plumb before you change anything else.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best float for beginners?

A straight or insert waggler on a stillwater or canal. It is attached at the bottom only, easy to cast and simple to shot, and the insert version shows shy bites on calm days. See Step 3.

What depth should I set my float at?

Set the float so the bait just touches the bottom. Find that depth with a plummet clipped to the hook, adjusting until only the float tip shows. Go a few inches overdepth in wind or tow. See Step 6.

Do I need a licence to float fish?

Yes. In England and Wales you need a rod licence from age 13 to fish for freshwater fish, including on private waters. Juniors aged 13 to 16 get theirs free, and under-13s need none. Prices change each April, so check GOV.UK before buying.

Is lead split shot legal for float fishing?

Only small lead shot is legal in England and Wales: 0.06g or less, which means size 8 and smaller. Anything between that and 28.35g must be non-toxic, such as tin or tungsten. That rules out lead SSG, BB and number 4 shot.

What size float do I need?

Allow about 0.1g of float capacity for each foot of depth, so a 0.5g float suits a 5ft swim. Go a little heavier for wind or distance. See Step 3.