BrianB Posted January 31, 2009 Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 Anyone know how to make a makeshift Bob's Bobber (cork) for float and fly fishing? $5.00 for 2 bobbers is insane pricing. Thks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diemai Posted January 31, 2009 Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 (edited) @ BrianB Don't know type , size and purpose of that mentioned "Bob's Bobber" , but I am sure , if it is not too tiny , you could turn it down with sandpaper in a drillpress . Made dozens and dozens of balsa floats that way , but cork or buoyant hard foam material might work out either , it really depends on the desired size . Smallest I have made this way were balsa pilot beads of approx. 1/2" diameter , carved out of square balsa dowels , but this gets quite finacky:yes: ! Basicly the proccess is done by fixing one end of the balsa dowel into the chuck of the drillpress and push the bottom end over a nail , clamped vertically in a fixed machine vise , acting as a center tip . With the drill running at high speed you can now cut the shape of your floats and bobbers with coarse and fine sandpaper . After drill a centered hole for the line to pass through . Another method to fix your material is to drill a small hole lengthwise through it , put some kind of metal rod(threaded one to fix with nuts either side of workpiece or plain one , slightly bigger than hole to fix just by tension) . That metal rod would be fixed into the chuck of the drillpress , the bottom end of it would be secured by a sufficiently sized bore in a piece of hardwood , clamped either into a rigid machine vise or directly fixed to the drillpress' table . Now you can shape the bobber/float again with sandpaper . After getting done with the shaping , you might glue a piece of plastic tubing into the center hole to reinforce it and to minor it's diameter for the potruding line . You can view some of my floats made this way here in the gallery under "Terminal Tackle" . OK , this was just in brief , for further info you may post again , a picture of that bobber and info on it's size would be fine , so that I could figure out better , whether knock-offs would be possible in that manner at all , that I've tried to describe . good luck , diemai Edited January 31, 2009 by diemai text adition Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianB Posted January 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 Demai, Thanks for your info. I think your a little ahead of me though. The bob's bobber is a weighted cork. But the weight is internally. What you have is when you are throwing a float n fly rig you have a cork and a 10ft leader with a 1/16oz hair jig attached to it. When you throw this rig out the cork lays on it's side until the fly reaches the end of the 10ft leader into the water column. When the fly reaches the end of it's 10ft leader the cork then turns upright. So when a smallmouth comes up on the leader and has your jig in it's mouth but it goes up in the water column whereas it's not sinking your cork indicating you have a bite. When the smallmoth comes up on the jig the cork falls over on it's side and then you cross it's eyes. There's a balance point here that the internal weight plays a roll in. Here is a picture of a bob's bobber. I took it apart and I see how it's built but I can't figure out how to get the weight internally and in the center. Bob's Bobbers | Float & Fly | Punisher Lures-Fishing Lures, Spinnerbaits, Hair Jigs, Bass Lures Secondary the weight helps you throw this rig as well. From looking inside a bobs bobber it looks like they took the weight that WAS external and moved it internally. The question is how do you get the weight internally without destroying the bobber. I can get similiar flots the size of the bobs bobber at walmart for 1.99 for 2 vs 2 for $5 for bobs bobber. The walmart floats come in external weight and no weight. Does this help? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rblake Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 (edited) I make my own it's pretty easy when you get the hang of it. I'm not sure I can explain it very well but I'll give it a shot. The first thing that I do is to straighten the wire that runs through the middle of the bobber. The you take the wire out and the little plastic pieces that run through the middle of the bobber as well as the weight so all that you have left is the styrofoam bobber. I then take a utility knife and cut the bobber in half, once it is cut in half I take a drill w/ a bit about the same size as the weight that you have taken off and drill a hole in the middle of the bobber so the weight will fit into the middle of the bobber. Once the weight is in the middle of the bobber I epoxy the 2 halfs of the bobber back together. Then you just have to reassemble the hardware that you originally took off. I sometimes have to trim some of the plastic pieces that run through the middle of the bobber to get it to fit back together well. You'll see what I'm talking about when you get to that point. You also have to trim the wire that runs through the middle of the bobber, you need to cut off about 1/4 inch of the wire, basically the depth of the weight. Thats about all there is to it, hopefully this will give some idea of how to do it. If I have totally confused you let me know and I'll send you some, I have about a hundred or so of them laying around. Edited February 1, 2009 by rblake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diemai Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 @ BrianB I am sorry about having misunderstood about that "Bob's Bobber" , such thing is almost unknown over here in Europe , I suppose:huh: . We only use similar devices , that are to be filled with water , but don't have internal weights . But these are most likely meant as casting weights , for smaller and/or shy fish you can rig a so-called "pilot float" between that bubble float and the hook , which would indicate a strike before the fish has to move the entire weight of the water-filled bubble float . These floats come in different shapes and sizes , elongated , round and oval , transparent and bright-clored , and you can rig them in a few different ways , sliding on the mainline or fixed , thru center or on their ends . Onto some you can even mount chemical lights for nightfishing . Well , sorry again about the little confusion , but thanks for the info , anyway ! greetz:yay: , diemai Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianB Posted February 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 rblake, Your a big help!! OK I did exactly what you said and it somewhat works. The newly made float that I altered floats on it's side on it's own. But when I add the #4 3 way swivel it tilts upright? It is my understanding of the technique that it is supposed to stay on it's side while supporting the 3 way swivel but tilt upright when I put a 1/16th oz jig on it. Do I need to move the weight possibly toward the top vs inputting it directly in the middle to give the cork less leverage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rblake Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Thats correct I insert the weight in the top half of the bobber, sorry I didn't explain that very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pup Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 (edited) To my way of understanding, the idea behind center-weighting a cork/balsa/styrofoam float is to detect what is known as a lift bite. So, purchase a Comal, unweighted (or weighted if you need casting distance) styrofoam float. Be it spherical or dually-conical and attach it to your line directly above your FNF jig. Add the smallest weight of split shot (SS) to the mainline immediately atop the bobber in order to cock the bobber at a 45 degree angle in still water. You can further adjust this angle by adding additional weight to either the top or bottom of the float. Test this angle in still water. Adjust the weight of the SS until it's ready to fish. The bobber, laying on its side in the absence of wave/wind action, will indicate a lift bite. As you might discern, I don't use the 3-way rig. However, I am a river fisherman when it comes to FNF. Extremely long casts with weighted floats aren't necessary to me. Nor is the 3-way swivel. Edited February 2, 2009 by Pup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatman Posted December 24, 2009 Report Share Posted December 24, 2009 Is there any way you can do a photo step by step on how to do this??? I read other places that you can take unweighted ones and using a dremel put a washer on the side of it to do the same thing but I haven't got one to balance off yet. Fatman Anyone know how to make a makeshift Bob's Bobber (cork) for float and fly fishing? $5.00 for 2 bobbers is insane pricing. Thks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Mike Posted December 25, 2009 Report Share Posted December 25, 2009 Is there any way you can do a photo step by step on how to do this??? I read other places that you can take unweighted ones and using a dremel put a washer on the side of it to do the same thing but I haven't got one to balance off yet. Fatman Fatman, I don't use round bobbers as I find the cigar shape ones better than the round ones.. I did a few videos one being on how to modify a cigar shape cork as a float n fly cork. Another video on the same site talking about the lift bite process. www.youtube.com/georgiatackle Hope this helps Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbor Posted December 25, 2009 Report Share Posted December 25, 2009 look at the thill mini stealth MS-0, they are not cheap but that is what i use for float n fly in streams. Cabelas carrys them in 5pks and so do places that sell ice fishing stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
