Bro’s Bobber Fishing Essentials (Full Breakdown)

Brian Brosdahl talks about spring bobber fishing essentials, including his entire slip bobber setup, including how and when he likes to employ floats for perch, walleyes, and everything in-between.

This particular bite can be great in the early spring sometimes within days of ice out, you want to balance the buoyancy of the Lite-Bite bobber so that it’s easily visible but also so the fish don’t struggle to easily pull it under without feeling much resistance. Bro says unless you’re seeing fish on your electronics you don’t need to let the bait soak for long, keep casting until you hit active fish.

Another big key is the line you use, a good thin braid that can flow through the bobber without getting hung up and then a fluorocarbon leader which is usually lighter than the main line but helps with the sink rate for vertical presentations.

What makes bobbers unique is that you can jig through an area actively but also pause it and suspend the bait in front of a fish that may not be as active. You can also pinpoint a spot much easier with a bobber like a hole in the weeds. You can use almost any hook or jig at the end of this rig but a shorter shank fire-ball jig is hard to beat because you can rig a variety a live baits and still get the most action out of it plus get some color and vibrance out of the jig head that can be an attractant as well for fish.

The biggest mistake you can make with bobbers is using too short of a leader where fish can see all of the hardware and get wary. So use a longer leader line from 18″-36″ and keep that rig out of sight of those finicky fish.