How to Setup a Marker Float

Hey! What's up? You are here today with Nick the Informative Fisherman and today we are going to be discussing how to make your own marker rod, out of some old bobbers some snaps ribbons, some braided line slider, pyramid weight and an old rod that you can happen to just have laying around the garage. But the really flexible tip is of the key parts. Now let me give you a close up on what exactly we are going to use this for. Okay, now looking at this rig you are probably wondering what this is for, I have my braided line running through the slider which is connected to the 3 ounce pyramid weight, which is a connected to a swivel, which I have connected to a little bright fluorescent bobber. Now, what this is for, is tracking the bottom. You want to feel the bottom out, so you are fishing from the bank and you want to make a cast out there and you need to know where a shelf is or a drop off or you are looking for a gravel area versus a muddy bottom. And you drag this pyramid weight along the bottom and by feeling, as you pull it along, you will able to see a rod tip gradually pulled smoothly, if you are on a gravel or it will bog down if you are in the mud or per se, you drop off on edge you will see that sudden bounce. Now, say you feel that and you wan to know exactly where that spot is, okay. You don't know exactly where your line is. So, what you will do is you will stop retreating and you will open up your line release or your bail depending on what rod you are fishing with, your set up. And you will start to feed out one foot at a time, so say you feed out one foot, two foot, three foot and then see, you see what, your bobber penetrate the surface and you see it right there, so you know you are directly on top of that spot. So now with another rod you are able to cast to that exact area that you were looking for or say you just want to know how deep it is and there was a shelf there, so you move it up. You reel it up another two foot and then you bring it up and then you realize well hey! I only have that, give it a foot to see right there, so now I know I am dealing with the drop off. So now, I found that drop off and my line snug, so I want to see exactly where I want to cast. I don't want to move it around because I know I am on that spot that I want to make a cast to. So, how do I start feeding my line out. Now like I said, you want to open up your bail, or you can loosen your drag, and as you could see a foot up from the base of my reel here, I have some electrical tape where I just made a little notch signifying that that's on one foot. So, what I would do at this point is I would grab line and feed it out on one foot, two foot, I still don't see bobber penetrating the surface; three foot, still don't see it, four foot the bobber, I can now see it on the surface, so I know I am fishing four foot of water. So now I can leave my bobber out there and I can go grab my other setup and make a cast out there exactly to that bobber or I just want to know the general area and I want to find in some more spot, so I would cast and bring it back up. But now you are getting these clues of how the bottom is designed, where that would drop off my bead, does it taper around and with the marker rod, it's a great tool for knowing what the bottom looks like searching for that particular area, say you are looking for the grass on a big muddy area and you don't know where it is, but you have seen it in on low tide or you have seen it when the water was clear and you want to find it. A marker rod is fantastic for that. Okay. So, let's make our way down to the water and give this guy a try. Alright. Now for a close up on this rig, now how I have the line running through the slider, the long end of the slider, as you could see there is a short end, to where it snaps on the long end, the long end needs to face your bobber and what this will do is it will prevent it from getting tangled around the line as easy. From there I have the snap swivel attached, and the reason for the snap swivel is, there is less line for this to get snag to, and as you can see the corner of the pyramid weight would get snagged around the line versus the big thick snap swivel, it's not going to do that nearly as often. So plus it will just let your bobber slip through way more often, almost 100% at a time. And I also have 65 pound braid on here. Now the reason for this is now when I will cast it up in the rocks, I want to feel where each rock is before I start pounding the spot, or I come back to it. Sure you could disturb the area, but you come back the next day, the fish never knew what happened and your rig is still ready to go for a new spot. So I use the 65 pound braid to prevent me from getting snagged up and breaking my rig off, but this is a cheap simple set up and that's why I use this versus your more expensive carp marker rigs. Okay. So, first things first. What we are going to talk about is measuring the depth and what I am going to do is I am going to make sure my drag is tight, so I can cast this 3 ounce pyramid weight that I have on here. I am going to give it a cast right out here like so, I am going to let the line feed out. Now I know I am on the bottom. So, then from this point, I want to loosen my drag, so I can feed out drag with my hands, so I am going to loosen it up really loose and I am going to grab right above the base, pull up one foot, two foot, three foot, four, five, six, seven, eight foot right there and as you can see our bobber up here, and I will give you a little tug, so you can spot that bobber out there, that shows that it's eight foot. So now I know that that spot right there is eight foot. So, I am going to tighten up my drag, I am going to reel my bobber back down to my weight. Now, I say okay so I want to fish, eight foot of water, so I knew that was eight foot but I want a gravel bottom, say I know this little back here is about eight foot deep in one of the deep spots, but I want a gravel bottom, I want to try to catch some strippers off a hard bottom. So, I am going to over cast my spot. Feed out a little bit of line, already I can feel that it's shallower over there. But now I am going to start my retrieval and what I am going to do is I am not going to pull the line with my reel but my rod tip and it's sliding that weight fairly easy without bending my rod tips so far. So now, I feel as if I am hooked up on something, and it pulled loose. So now I know I was on some grass right there, because it caught on there and then pop loose and spring it back. So, I am going to reel the loose line and I am going to give it a slight pull again, and it's pumping really slow, like I am holding through some fix silt. So, I know that spot is fairly muddy. So, I am going to reel in again, give it a pull, there we go. Now, it's there, it is sliding nice and easy across there, not too difficult and now I am reaching the silt again. So, I knew I had a gravel patch at that spot where it was sliding a little bit easier, there I have got some gravel right here. So, where exactly is my gravel now? I want to loosen my drag because I know I am right on top of some gravel. And I am going to feed out one foot, two foot, three foot, four foot, five foot, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, ten foot deep and the bobber is right up there. I am not sure if you could spot that, but right out there, it's ten foot and I have a hard gravel bottom, that's what I was looking for. So now, I know I can make my cast relatively close to where my marker is and I know I will be on a gravel bottom ten foot deep. So, if that's the type of structure or the texture or the bottom that I was keen in on, that I intended on, fishing on my way over here. So now I know I spotted it. I am on a gravel bit right there, that's ten foot deep. I am going to work my bobber down, right. Same amount of weight, there it is. Now, I can feel that I kind of force this thing up hill. So now, I am going to show you the exact same result, right up close, in front of me here, loosing my drag back up, in my line, one foot, two foot, three foot, four foot, about four, about four-and-a-half max, right there, and as you can see the bobber, we are on a four-and-a-half feet and that is how you use a marker setup. So, getting started with these guys, it's generally not too difficult, it's just one of those key things that you want to add into your fishing game. It's really important if you make it out to some bank or some shore line where you don't have a depth finder or a fishfinder and you can't see what that bottom looks like or even on your fishfinder you could some times silt in a hard flat bottom, a little slightly confused with the net, so you can even cast this marker out from a boat, even using your depth finder, fishfinder or what have you. And this will really tell you a lot about the bottoms, specially if you are on your home waters and you have never been familiar with it, you can go out there one time, work it over thoroughly with one of these guys and you will have a much better idea coming out the next time say, where those points are, where those high spots are. Where are the flats, the muddy spot. So, you know each fish species out there conjugates to a different area than the next. And by using these guys, you are going to learn a whole lot more about your area. You are going to make it a whole lot easier on yourself, plus you should be able to impress somebody with your new found skill. I am Nick the Informative Fisherman and we will see you next time.