Garfish fishing

[SteveoTheTiger]

I see them come up to the boat quite a lot.

I have a hand line permanently rigged for Gars in case they do show up, but so far i havent had any success in getting them to bite. They just come up and check out the bait but never take it.

I am using a light float with a split shot, a tiny hook and usually a little bit of squid or pipi (less than the size of a pea).

[AzCoy7]

Instead of a pencil float, I bought this. Is this suitable? It's a weighted caster float.

[gregmaka]

As Wolly said it is an art form. l i very much agree] But many say Garfish are easy to catch,sure but not the big ones.

[AzCoy7]

So is that float appropriate or not?

[4liters]

no

[Wolly Bugger]

Instead of a pencil float, I bought this. Is this suitable? It's a weighted caster float.

Far too big.

Did you watch Beno's video?

[Lightningx]

Instead of a pencil float, I bought this. Is this suitable? It's a weighted caster float.

I’ve used many different types of floats for gars mate. You want it to be light and sensitive to detect the bites. You can’t go wrong with a pencil float

[Wolly Bugger]

Any of the small floats in this picture should be ok

[Wolly Bugger]

the small plastic red and white floats on the left, just clip onto the line.

The small foam floats with the spike through the centre work well as well.

this is what a pencil float setup looks like, but you can use small bubble floats instead,

The float serves 2 purposes, firstly it suspends the bait in the water column hence you can use it too vary the depth and the only limiting factor is how long your rod is.

The other purpose is that it is a bite detector, garfish can be very finicky biters and take the bait off the hook before you know it.

[AzCoy7]

But one of my mates said that it doesn't matter, and if we put those small plastic ball floats (I have one of those) it won't cast far. If we put sinkers, it'll sink. The float I attached (image) should be enough, yeah?