Suspender floating often turns a tough outing into a relative success. It means a few panfish when you would have caught none, and maybe few more fish when you would have caught some. Rarely, though, does it mean lots more fish when you’re already catching lots of fish. When the fish are cracking, you should be cracking them with a different technique.
Suspender floating requires a float coupled with a bait and line shotted (weighted with lead shot) so the rig is barely heavier than neutrally buoyant. Drop the bait and shot down the hole. As it settles, set the float daintily on the surface. Water tension on the surface of the float keeps it from sinking. Move the float, however, and water covers the surface of the float so that it slowly begins to sink, along with the bait suspended below it. Shotted properly it may take a minute for your float to sink from the surface to the bottom of your hole, at least in Minnesota where the ice can be 3 feet thick, right now.
That’s the idea. Your bait’s sinking slowly, almost suspended in the water column. Any movement of your rod tip adds an enticement to the bait that can’t be duplicated any other time. Say you’re using an ultralight graphite rod, 1- or 2-pound-test line, and a #12 teardrop packed with two maggots. Coupled with a matching reel you have a deadly system for any panfish species, although most fishermen would specifically choose this system for bluegills.
Barely tip (a tip is less than a twitch) your rod tip and the bait explodes momentarily upward before slowing suddenly, stopping, then ever-so-gradually sinking again—like a world-class change-up in professional baseball. You expect fastball, see the fastball motion, but suddenly find a piece of styrofoam floating toward you at half speed.
There’s no other way you can make this movement in fishing. Fish haven’t seen it before, so even when fish have been fished over for several months, some of them usually respond.
That’s only one of many deadly moves for picky panfish. Barely circle your rod tip a time or two and stop. Let the bait sink an inch and repeat the circles. Or twitch, twitch, twitch your tip. It’s the closest you can come to imitating a jumbo grass shrimp or some other jolly crustacean that panfish love to eat.
Tackle Tips
The key to this system is achieving near-neutral buoyancy. You need floats and a rod-and-reel system or minnow lines and hooks and lures. Split shot determine success when it’s time to tune a rig toward neutral buoyancy. The BB shot from Water Gremlin are one option, but it helps to have more micro-sized shot on hand.
The Thill Shot from Lindy Legendary Fishing Tackle (lindyfishingtackle.com) is perhaps the most easily available option for smaller shot. Meanwhile, Wacker Baits (wackerbaits.com) offers Kwik Change Pop Up Weights. Specialty shops like Thorne Brothers (thornebros.com) and Erie Outfitters (440/949-8934) also offer shot and steelhead floats. The English company Drennan offers many shot options, too. Search the web for Drennan to find a tackle shop that sells the shot in North America. They also offer an extensive line of sensitive floats, as does Thill.
If you’re inside a shack and can use a slipfloat rig coupled with a rod-and-reel system, begin weight-tuning by adding shot 18 inches above your lure. Add enough shot to achieve almost-neutral buoyancy. Fine-tune by adding micro shot 6 inches above your lure. Have the lightest shot nearest the bait—to prevent tangling when you jig, and so fish don’t feel the weight when they take the bait.
