Making the crowquill insert waggler
Basically they have the sensitivity of the traditional reversed crowquill made so popular by the late Billy Lane whilst having the shooting capacity of the more modern peacock waggler. In practice, it is really a float for still water fishing at greater range in shallow water, or fishing close in deepish water. It is rarely fished at a greater range than 15 metres and was originally used for fishing the far side of canals. The great disadvantage of this float is that it is difficult to see in rough water conditions.I have never seen these floats commercially available in any tackle shop. Consequently all mine are home made. I have therefore included a step by step guide to making these floats. See below.These floats are fished bottom end only. I use a push on float adapter for easy change of float. I rarely use them above 5BB and fish with bulk shot locking the float in position. Depending on conditions very little shot is fished down the line. As a rough guide, the rougher the conditions and the deeper the water, the heavier the shotting should be down the line.I mainly use these floats, when conditions allow, for still water bream and tench. Many years ago I had my first seven pound plus tench using one of these floats during an early morning session on a flat calm local lake. The bite was so gentle that I doubt that it would have registered on a conventional peacock waggler.In the following years, I used these floats to catch some very big tench, fishing close-in on local gravel pits. The largest was a 91b 10oz caught in 1984 from Ferris Meadow. It took me another ten years to convert the ten pound mark on a float but that was not on one of these crowquill inserts as conditions were too rough.I still use these floats and would seriously recommend readers to consider making a selection of these floats during these cold winter evenings. They could certainly give you an edge when fishing in the following summer for tench and bream.
Making the crowquill insert waggler
Materials: Peacock quill, crow quill, wooden cocktail stick, epoxy glue, sharp knife, fine glass paper, cellulose sealer, black paint, white emulsion paint, fluorescent orange paint and green paint.Step 1Select a suitable length of peacock quill. Glue a length of woodencocktail stick into bottom of the peacock. Then glue a short lengthof the stem of a crow quill into the top of the peacock. Leave theepoxy glue to harden.Step 2 Using fine glass paper remove any hurl from the peacock quill. Smooth all joints and round off the tip and wooden stem. Coat the float with sanding sealer and allow to dry. Repeat the process when the sealer is dry.Step 3Paint the body black and allow to dry.Step 4Paint the tip with matt white emulsion paint and allow to dry beforeapplying a coat of orange fluorescent paint. Allow to dry.Step 5.
I mottle the body with green paint using a sponge to give float a camouflage appearance