Slider float fishing.
There are two type of slider floats - 1 is the "Bottom end only" and the other is the top and bottom" float which used in running water.
Both work on the principle of being able to slide freely along the line until stopped by a special knot. There are some commercially made up float stops available which works very well, but I do admit to being a bit old fashioned and stick to the knot I know it works well enough.
In order for the knot to work, the eye in the float must be used instead of the more usual adaptor. A good tip with a waggler-style slider is to attach an small swivel to the bottom eye and use that to take the line. But in every case the eye or the swivel must be small, otherwise the stop knot will pass through the float will then continue its passage along the line unchecked. The eye must be a complete round, too. A simple u bend of wire whipped to the stem soon results in jamming, and even line breakage. The swivel, of course, provide a really good eye and also give the float that bit more freedom to hang freely during casting and while the slide is taking place.
So, having sorted out the mechanics of the float, we now turn to the conditions in which it can work for you and act as a bonus. In deep water a slider makes casting easier by placing the weight of the float and the bulk shot all close together, rather than having float and shot anything up to 13ft or so apart. Fishing under overhanging trees or below high banks, both of which can make casting a fixed float difficult - if not impossible - is much easier with a slider because again, the float sits near the bulk shot; it can even be cast underarm like an Avon or stick float.
Where a lot of load is needed to reach a distant deep swim the slider enables an effective strike to be made, because the line actually passes through the float - otherwise it would have been to move the float's whole mass which would absorb much of the strike's effectiveness. When there is a bad downstream wind and a bow forms in the line a strike will be more direct working round this bow, through the float and down to the hook, again without having to move the float, too.
Light sliders do not work well and I suggest the best pattern for a sliding waggler is one with a good body. The bulk and the buoyancy of the body ensures the float and is less inclined to be pulled off the required postion as line sinks through the slider ring.
Another good tip is not to just let the float sit on the bulk shot but instead place an stop shot a foot or so above it - as this stop kinot need only just so large as not to go through the float eye. Idea is it separates the float and the bulk and in doing so prevents the possibility of tangling in flight.
The actual slider knot is easy enough to tie
fjames.proboards6.com/index.cgi?board=Asitssaysyourwinningcominations&action=display&n=1&thread=668 Picture/diagram E
but even a perfectly tied one will not work well if clipped wrongly. Use a fairly fine and supple line for making the knot - 2lb is about the maximum for use with the match rod and leave both ends about 3cm long. Cut them shorther and they becomes too stiff to pass easily through the tip ring of your rod. Fancy shottingis out too. Go for the bulk witrh one or two single tell tales below.
When you first start slider fishing you may worry about how and if the shot has pulled through to fish correctly. But don't panic - if everything has been done as I 've outlined it will work. To satify yourself, watch the float as it lands on the water and you may able to see the line makinga little wake as it sppeds down through the ring. The float will not cock properly for a few
seconds , the time taken for the weight to sink fully and begin to take control. Delicately shotted, you may even be able to spot the next stage as the float dip a fraction more as the tell
tales reach their positions, too.
Should you tangle on the cast the effect will be noticed very quickly - possibly ina more dramatic fashion than when fishing a fixed rig. What usually happen is the float cocks immediately because the shot has wrapped itself round the stem.
My Advice is: fish a slider when you think it will serve a purpose. You will catch some fish and confidence will grow.
The "top and bottom" slider is really a balsa with an extra ring set at the top; it is the eye that needs to have an extra diameter since it is where the stop knot will rest. These eyes are set out
at 90-degree angle to the float body, and it is vital that they runs through quickley and unhindered.
Fish it on a running water just like a conventional balsa, but don't hold it back. the bulk will, however, permit a bait to be dragged along the bottom without any problem.
Only other shot will tell a tell tale no.4 some 25cm above the hook and a stop shot - no.6 above the bulk.
Finally, a metion in passing of the various other inventions that they are passed off as sliders.
Most have some form of the offset eye that lock the float when the line is tightend. I have never found a need for this sort of complication, and cannot think of any situation where they would work better than the stop knot method
for the info Andrew i will try it out soon. Hope it catchs a few fish. 
