I am not a proud man but....

[zippyFX]

Maybe it's just me but people I know still give me funny looks when I'm fishing and I whip out a selection of floats and hem and haw about what size and shape to use. I once suggested someone use a floats in a given presentation and they gafawed and said they have not used them since they were eight.

This weekend I went fishing with a buddy and he whipped out his cranks and started at it. After about an hour I was out fishing him about 5 to 1 (mostly sunfish but a good amount of Crappie were had). I kept offering some of the bobbers and tubes that I had in spades but he kept declining. About the last 45 minuted he acquiesced and started to get more bites. But alas his line was too large and his rod too heavy so though he did have more success it was marginal.

I have areas I am trying to develop, like getting the patients to work a worm for suckers and redhorses or sit and wait long enough for the carp tug at the line, but I do acknowledge there are different presentations for different targets required to increase the percentages of bite. I've seen it work.

It would seem that this hobby is heavily influenced by competitive bass and walleye fishing. Granted this is the gear that is probably selling the most and generating revenue for the companies. Everything has it's place but it seems the people I meet don't have the patience for finesse or passive fishing (be it floats or fishing slowly with live bait). They need to be casting and ripping all the time. From what I have been reading we are a generation behind in float fishing when compared to the heavily pressured European waters. I cringe when some of the people that have fished along side me the past couple of weeks for Crappie have pulled out the big red and white floats. I tried one with my son on the weekend and I concluded even he needed a better one.

So, all that being said, what has your experience been? Is it similar to mine? Are there any types of presentation that getting a bum deal?