The Slip Float Rig and Why It Pays to Keep Your Bait Elevated

Keeping your bait elevated in the water column can pay dividends.

When Capt. Chris Holleman’s seeking to entice fish holding at the lower end of the water column, he knows the importance of keeping his hopes — and his bait — elevated. Here, his greatest assets are optimism and slip floats.

To quickly frame this, a popping cork rig with the float and beads mounted on a wire stem formed with main line and leader tie points can accomplish some of what we’ll look at here; as could a simple peg style cork. In a pinch, use what you got, but availing yourself maximum versatility and convenience heightens performance.

Specifically, a slip float beats the popping cork rig in its instant depth adjustment. Popping corks add noise and surface disturbance, which attract interest and create focal points in low light/clarity, but adjusting depth means either retying the hook/lure to shorten, or retying a longer leader for deeper presentations.

I’ve used lots of old-school clip-on popping corks, but when you have them set more than a couple of feet above your bait, casting suffers, as the rig fights against itself. By comparison, a slip float slides down to the terminal end on the cast and once the rig settles, the bait pulls the line through the cork, which “slips” up to the stop knot.

The Setup

Holleman keeps a collection of Thill and Little Joe Pole Floats on hand and when he knows the day will see him slip floating, he’ll have multiple rods rigged with various weights. Floats with built-in weights offer convenience, but Holleman favors unweighted models, as he can rig specific options.

“I want just enough weight to make it stand up,” Holleman said. “I’ll use more weight for more current, but ideally, I want to go as light as I can and still keep my bait in the strike zone.”

Holleman threads his braided main line through a plastic rigging bead, then through his slip float, another bead, the egg sinker and a third bead before tying to a barrel swivel. The beads buffer his stop knot, while protecting the cork’s bottom and the swivel knot from weigh impacts.

“I’ll get beads at Michael’s (craft store), but I want the smallest hole I can get so my stop knot doesn’t go through,” Holleman said. 

To the swivel’s opposite end, he’ll tie an 18- to 20-inch monofilament or fluorocarbon leader. Most floats come with premade stop knots, but Holleman’s a DIY type, so he fashions his own with 17-pound mono. Leaving 1/2-inch tag ends further prevents the knot from slipping through the bead.

Where It Works

Holleman said he uses a slip float rig, essentially, as a bottom fishing presentation. The difference between this and, say, a fish finder or Carolina rig is the ability to keep a bait off the snaggy stuff and cover water from a perpendicular position.

“Ideally, I’ll set the stop knot, so the bait is 12 inches off the bottom,” Holleman said. “I like to float a bait along a ledge where fish have access to a shallow area next to deeper water.”

Holleman typically expects fish concentrations around some sort of hump. He can tell when his bait’s dragging bottom, because the float lays over. Lowering the stop knot for a shallower position fixed this.

Slip float anglers might also fish shallow, where the rig drifts along grass lines, marsh creek mouths or large oyster bars. Docks, seawalls, bridge fenders — all fair game.

When It’s Best

While he’s caught fish by slip floating in warm, stable weather, Holleman favors this technique when bright bluebird skies push fish deeper.

“You want moving water, but I don’t like really swift water,” Holleman said. “When the tide turns — it can be incoming or outgoing — that slower movement is best, but a smoking tide rips through the target area too fast.”

Calling this a year-round technique, Holleman uses his slip cork rigs to target trout, striped bass, and redfish. Common bycatch includes bluefish, sheepshead and overzealous flounder.

Presentation Tips

Stressing rig discipline, Holleman said: “Constantly keep track of the stop knot, because they’ll loosen up on you. I hold one tag end in my teeth and one end in my fingers and tug to tighten.”

Preferring medium-heavy baitcasting gear, Holleman lobs his rig with an underhand cast and thumbs the line even after the float settles. Holding the rod in his left hand, he’ll feed out line with his right so he’s always ready for bite response.

“Keep your thumb on the spool as you feed out the line, because sometimes you get a bite and you have to set the hook with the spool,” Holleman said. “It’s a big boo-boo to take your thumb off the spool because you’ll get a backlash.

“Aim the rod at the cork, so you’re ready to set the hook. A lot of times, your cork is a pretty good way out there, so you have to give it a good pull.”

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