float and fly

[bassman_ky]

I know there are some fnf pros on this forum. Can anybody tell me what size three way swivel to buy. I didnt know if you use the wrong size if it would mess with the way the bobber sets in the water. I dont have any experience with fnf fishing. With the cold weather coming in I want to be ready. I have tried it one time last year(with no luck) but this winter I want to get serious about fnf fishing. I love the brown fish and catching a 4-5 pounder on 6lb test would do me in.

[elnutsmalljaws]

#4 3 way swivel, I like the Spro brand for they are black.

[kygorski]

tried the 3 way swivel, and sort of like it. But how do yopu change the depth easily?

[Hlleonard]

This is a problem that I also have.......I have tried a couple different methods that I like but don't know if they will pan out in the long run.......have caught very few bass on the rig to date .....I have used the fnf sucessfully on several occasions to catch croppie though ..there in a pear shaped bobber that has a little twist lock thingy on it that is easy to adjust the depth with..so far I haven't noticed it causing any damage to the line...the little twitching action you use does seems to cause the thing to slip a little on the line.... another thing I have played with is tying the fly on a leader 18" or so with a split ring on the other end then tying a snap to the main line... how ever deep I wish to fish I tie another snap to the main line with a trilene knot I think its called and clip the fnf bobber to that snap then if you want to change depths I cut the line just below the bobber snap and move the split ring up to that snap then tie the snap I just clipped off to whatever depth I want to change to...your only making 1 tie to change depths......don't know if this will work for bass but both these work well for croppie...

[Hlleonard]

oops...oops
"tie another snap to the main line with a trilene knot I think its called"

actually its called a palamar knot

[elnutsmalljaws]

tried the 3 way swivel, and sort of like it. But how do yopu change the depth easily?

Re-tie with new leader if you want it longer, bite off part of the leader if you want it shorter.

There are several purposed to using the 3 way rig in regards to all fishing but especially if you are targeting BIG smallmouth like I do. First you are able to use Braid mainline which will allow you to use 8lb test but have 2lb diameter to help the ease of casting. Smallies are easy to spook this time of year and you want to stay off as far as possible when casting to them. The 2lb diameter Braid lets you cast a lot farther than normal 8lb diameter line. The braid also does not have any stretch which is vital when you have this long cast out there, whippy rod, 10'-16' leader and you are setting the hook. You can't have any slack in your line of the hookset because you are trying to bury the hook in the roof of the mouth, which is the hardest part. The braid line will float on the surface and therefore does not offer any additional resistance to the line when you are setting the hook versus using Flouro or Mono which will both sink. Imagine, a long cast and you let the bober sit for a bit the main line will sink and then you try to set the hook you have additional resistance of pulling the line thru the water plus line stretch and other stuff you just don't get with using braid. The 3 way rig also allows you to clip the bobber to 1 of the 3 ways on the swivel and not directly to the line. Take regular mono or flouro and wrap it 3 times to the bottom of a pear shaped or FNF bobber and then cast it 10 times, now unwrap it, look and feel the line it has now lost some of it's integrity and my bet is a strenght breakage test will break here every time. The only disadvantage to the 3 way setup is if you want to lengthen your leader you have to retie the whole leader. Small price to pay for the security of knowing if the big girl hits on the next cast that you are armed with all you can do to get her in the net, give her a kiss, have a few photo opportunities and then let her swim from your hand. You could probaly use 8lb line on all of it and wrap your line around the bobber in stained water and get away with it for Crappie fishing but by using this at Dale and the first 5 pounder that jumps and breaks you off at the bobber and you will be wishing you had the 3 way setup. I speak from EXPERIENCE on this for it only takes one trophy fish to break off at the bobber before you are kicking yourself. I started fishing the fly the way I was showed, which was 6lb Flourocarbon line all the way thru and wrapping the bobber until one day when I broke off 4 fish the same day, seen them all and they were all 4 pounds plus, 1 of them was over 5 EASY and that was that. Switched that night to the 3 way system and you could not PAY me money to fish Dale Hollow with any other system. Proof is in the pudding for I rarely lose a fish on the hookset, pretty much when the hookset is made on time, the fish hits my net 99 times out of a 100, never broke off above the 3 ways swivel and rarely break off fish period on the system. There is an article on this site, main page articles, archives, 2008, around October or so that I did on the FNF, the same information I list above is in this article if you need to read more. Good Luck, 3 way setup ALL THE WAY

[know1]

Re-tie with new leader if you want it longer, bite off part of the leader if you want it shorter.

There are several purposed to using the 3 way rig in regards to all fishing but especially if you are targeting BIG smallmouth like I do. First you are able to use Braid mainline which will allow you to use 8lb test but have 2lb diameter to help the ease of casting. Smallies are easy to spook this time of year and you want to stay off as far as possible when casting to them. The 2lb diameter Braid lets you cast a lot farther than normal 8lb diameter line. The braid also does not have any stretch which is vital when you have this long cast out there, whippy rod, 10'-16' leader and you are setting the hook. You can't have any slack in your line of the hookset because you are trying to bury the hook in the roof of the mouth, which is the hardest part. The braid line will float on the surface and therefore does not offer any additional resistance to the line when you are setting the hook versus using Flouro or Mono which will both sink. Imagine, a long cast and you let the bober sit for a bit the main line will sink and then you try to set the hook you have additional resistance of pulling the line thru the water plus line stretch and other stuff you just don't get with using braid. The 3 way rig also allows you to clip the bobber to 1 of the 3 ways on the swivel and not directly to the line. Take regular mono or flouro and wrap it 3 times to the bottom of a pear shaped or FNF bobber and then cast it 10 times, now unwrap it, look and feel the line it has now lost some of it's integrity and my bet is a strenght breakage test will break here every time. The only disadvantage to the 3 way setup is if you want to lengthen your leader you have to retie the whole leader. Small price to pay for the security of knowing if the big girl hits on the next cast that you are armed with all you can do to get her in the net, give her a kiss, have a few photo opportunities and then let her swim from your hand. You could probaly use 8lb line on all of it and wrap your line around the bobber in stained water and get away with it for Crappie fishing but by using this at Dale and the first 5 pounder that jumps and breaks you off at the bobber and you will be wishing you had the 3 way setup. I speak from EXPERIENCE on this for it only takes one trophy fish to break off at the bobber before you are kicking yourself. I started fishing the fly the way I was showed, which was 6lb Flourocarbon line all the way thru and wrapping the bobber until one day when I broke off 4 fish the same day, seen them all and they were all 4 pounds plus, 1 of them was over 5 EASY and that was that. Switched that night to the 3 way system and you could not PAY me money to fish Dale Hollow with any other system. Proof is in the pudding for I rarely lose a fish on the hookset, pretty much when the hookset is made on time, the fish hits my net 99 times out of a 100, never broke off above the 3 ways swivel and rarely break off fish period on the system. There is an article on this site, main page articles, archives, 2008, around October or so that I did on the FNF, the same information I list above is in this article if you need to read more. Good Luck, 3 way setup ALL THE WAY

I agree with this and it is the way I fish it......however, I seem to break off more fish now using the braid and 3-way than I did when I just use fluorocarbon straight through. Most of my breaks come at the hookset, though.

Another reason to use braid that's not mentioned is that the fluorocarbon sinks and and after awhile the bobber's action is affected.

[elnutsmalljaws]

I agree with this and it is the way I fish it......however, I seem to break off more fish now using the braid and 3-way than I did when I just use fluorocarbon straight through. Most of my breaks come at the hookset, though.

Another reason to use braid that's not mentioned is that the fluorocarbon sinks and and after awhile the bobber's action is affected.

What kind of braid are you using? I use Fireline 8lb test and have never broken on the hookset, EVER, and anyone that fishes with me knows my hooksets are just as if I had 80lb braid on my flipping stick and I am trying to pull a 6 pounder from the buck brush at Ky Lake in the spring.

[Hlleonard]

In any kind of fishing that I have done,even bluegill fishing ,the bobbers that clip directly to the line seem to damage the line after just a few casts....I have used a couple that the line slips through and gets pegged similar to pegging your bullet sinker with a tooth pick that don't seem to damage the line as much anyway... I'm guessing that after us novices try everything we can think of to make the system simpler, if we continue fishing the thing we will eventually come back to the 3 way swivel and leader that the fellas that have been using for a few years still use....but you know we gotta try.

[know1]

What kind of braid are you using? I use Fireline 8lb test and have never broken on the hookset, EVER, and anyone that fishes with me knows my hooksets are just as if I had 80lb braid on my flipping stick and I am trying to pull a 6 pounder from the buck brush at Ky Lake in the spring.

That's what I use.

[kygorski]

I didn't fish dale last winter. I tried a different way to change depth with the 3 way.I use 8 lb braid, and a 10ft flouro leader, hook tyhe bobber to the 3 way,If I want to go deeper, i takeabout 2.5 ft of mono, tie it into a loop, out one end of the lppothrough the 3 way, and attach the float to the loop that gives 11 ft, need more depth, tie another loop.The loops come off easilyto be changed. Last year on cumberland wasn't very good for me, but then I usually started about 0800 if it was cloudy, or 200pm if it was clear. Will give dale a lot more attention this winter.

[fisherman0625]

Maybe I can help a lil. There are two ways to go about this to maybe make it a lil easier for you guys. Sometimes you gotta give a lil to recieve alot and i guess thats what this 3-way deal is about. Sure its a lil frustrating at times but it is WORTH IT! Trust me i would not fish it any other way, but here is what i do and it helps.
1) Save the cardboard rolls off the toilet paper rolls. Before your trip make up diffrent length leaders, wrap you line around them ( you can tie your fly on if ya want, i dont because i dont know what they want. I just tape them to the roll ) and write what length they are with a sharpie on the roll so you will know. Then when you want to change just simply take it off the roll , tie it on and wrap the old one back on the roll and write down this length. It will save some time on the water!
2) bps rods are pretty cheap... There on sale right now i believe. Buy you one or even two more setups and set-up a deep leader ( 15 or 16 ft) , a all time fav length for me 12ft and then a 10 ft or a lil shallower for those cloudy days. That way all you have to do is put one up and get another one out if you not getting no bites at that depth.
Always remember your trying to imitate a dying shad so as you idle out to the main lake pay attention to your depth finder. If you graph bait pay attention at how deep they are. That will give you a idea of where to start.. ALWAYS stay above the bait! Hope this helps fellas.....
Tightlines
Greg Stacy