Sarley: What if the Beach Boys were more into fishing?

I knew I was destined to be a fisherman in 1965 when the Beach Boys released their monster hit song, “Barbara Ann.” I mistakenly sang the words that I thought I heard, “Bobber Ann.” Oh well, it made sense to me.

Bobbers are generally thought of as those circular red-and-white objects that you attach to your fishing line to help you detect when a fish is biting. They still sell those old bobbers by the million, but please don’t buy them. They have been replaced by the balsa float.

A float works by being run through your line and set at a particular depth. You balance the float so that it is neutrally buoyant in the water. What I mean is that it sinks just barely enough to suspend on the surface of the water and does not sink under the surface.

You rig the float with a very small sinker or at times, the weight of your bait is just enough to make it work. You want it balanced so that the slightest touch on the bait by a predator fish will make it either sink or pop up to the surface. The old red-and-white bobbers fought against the ability to feel a bite. Floats let you know if a fish is hitting it from underneath, whereas a bobber will not. Many of your bites come from underneath, so that is important.

Floats can be moved up and down your line in order to allow you to set it at whatever depth you need to be at. Unlike the old bobbers, you don’t have to take the float off your line in order to move it, and you’ll never nick your line when you change the depth of your float.

When you hear the term “bobber fishing,” I am sure you think that this is only a tactic for shallow water fishing. With floats you can position them to allow your bait to swim at any depth you choose. Old floats could only be used down to a depth as long as your rod was. Deep-water float fishing is a deadly tactic that you really need to try.

My friend Greg Bohn was the absolute master at catching big walleyes in deep water using slip bobbers. Unfortunately, Bohn and his wife passed in an auto accident a couple of years ago. If you scout E-bay and other sale sites, you’d be lucky to find a copy of one of Bohn’s number of books on slip bobber fishing. They are true treasures of fishing information.

Floats work better at detecting bites from small fish, but many folks think the red-and-white bobbers get the attention of children much better. That is not true. Teach your kids to use floats.

The use of small floats was started in America by a fellow named Mick Thill. He was a tiny Englishman who made his reputation in Europe by entering and winning match fishing contests. These are events where the anglers are assigned to spots and fish for as many fish as they can. Most of one’s catch is usually made up of fish the size of minnows.

Match fishing never caught on in this country, but the methods Thill brought over worked for other kinds of fishing. Thill sold his name to a company that still produces floats named after him.

Thill was feisty and belligerent and swore that match fishing would one day be a popular sport. If he had been more flexible in his ideas, he would probably have been much more famous, rich and popular than he was. Unfortunately, almost no one remembers Thill or his legacy. That is too bad.

• Daily Herald Outdoors columnist Steve Sarley can be reached at sarfishing@yahoo.com.