Floater fishing is one of the most exciting ways of catching carp but it's also a true art, it can be frustrating and can take many hours of practice to perfect..... when it all goes right it can result in the most satisfying fishing you'll ever have!

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Here's a few of the best and most effective rigs, there are many variations of these rigs, try them all!
Find your favorite & adapt them to your liking!

This is a very basic controller setup of which everyone seems to have their own favorite version, an excellent which can vary in the hook used, the way the bait is mounted, the hooklength material, the bait used and so on.......an excellent for close in to medium range floater fishing. In general my hooklength is a round three feet and longer, my hook is nearly always a Drennan Super Specialist size 8 or 6 but this can vary and you can choose any hook that you have confidence in, various hooklink materials can be used and Drennan Double Strength lines make some excellent lines that are just right for the job....line grease can help to keep your line afloat if need be, some lines won't need this and some will..

Here's another good use for a controller float, a good rig for fishing at distance or to keep your bait anchored to a certain area where you think the carp might be cruising on or near the surface, this rig can also be used as a zig-rig setup and will enable you to fish in any depth of water yet still have your rig/bait static..... use it with a running lead setup and slowly allow your bait and controller to rise to to the required depth, the buoyancy of the controller will help the bait rise through any weed or debris that might clog up the leads swivel......... a very useful rig! There are one or two other more complicated rigs that you can use such as the beachcaster rig and the suspender rig that are rarely used now days but here we want to help those new to floater fishing so there's plenty of info to keep you going and will help you put a few on the mat!

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Controller floats such as those shown above are easily obtainable from any good tackle shop in various sizes which you can choose according to the distance you need to cast, in general use the smallest you can get away with so take a range of sizes with you..... you can of course make em yourself and improvise with natural materials!

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Here we take a look at hook mounting.

A simple hair-rig is also fine for mounting many floater baits, dog mixers, cut down boilies and so on..
Some people prefer to soak their dog mixers in flavours or oils or just like to add some water to make them softer for hooking, try a few things out and then stick with whatever works best for you..!!

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Floating Baits

There are a good number of different baits you can use for floater fishing, dog biscuits, cat biscuits, floating bread crust, pop-up boilies cut to your desired shape, floater cake, floating pellets and the many fake floaters which are now on the market.... there is a huge choice and they're all worth trying and most will work on their day, give em a try!

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The Approach

In general the best approach to floater fishing is to be patient & quiet, stay out of the carps view, stay as motionless as possible when you can't hide away properly. Fish with another method while you bait up and if possible fish another area or don't fish at all,  slowly increase the feed and try to wait until the carp are really on the baits, be aware of where your freebies are floating to as you could just end up baiting the swims of other anglers rather than yourself cast, when you think the time is right either cast beyond the feeding area and draw your rig slowly back to where the now feeding carp are or cast to one side and let the breeze float your rig and hookbait along to the feeding area.......If the fish look catchable from the off then it can also pay off to get a hookbait out right away to see if you can bag one before they move off.

Polarized sunglasses will be invaluable when floater fishing along with baseball type cap to help prevent any light seeping though the sides of your glasses, being able to watch the carp take your hookbait into it's mouth produces heart pounding moments you won't forget.....Be Lucky..!!