River Fishing Float

thingiverse

The commercial versions of these floats are crafted from soft plastic foam. They are commonly used for drift fishing salmon and steelhead on rivers in the northwest. I have detailed two common types utilized. The straight through type necessitates a toothpick or float stop to set the float height, while the wrap around style has the fishing line making one or more wraps around the float to hold it in place. For the wrap around style, you will need to wrap the line around the float 3 or 4 times to achieve the desired float position. Alternatively, you could experiment with spraying them with flex seal or another rubberized coating (I haven't tried this). All floats have an 18mm outside diameter and are available in four lengths: 80mm, 100mm, 125mm, and 150mm. I tested two lengths. The 125mm float requires a 60mm length of pencil lead, while the 100mm float requires a 50mm length of pencil lead (refer to pictures). It's suggested that painting the tops with nail polish may be beneficial; it might also be a good idea to spray the whole float to seal up any pin holes from the printing process. I printed these using the gray PLA that came with my printer, but PETG is a tougher material and probably a better choice for this item.