I would buy some of the "dink" floats to start off with. Dink floats are the foam ones with the florescent painted tops. The trick is to get enough weigh below the float so only about about an inch or two on a six inch float is above the water. That way the float is almost neutral so when anything touches it you will see a reaction. I use the six inch dink floats for chum with enough hollow core lead below it to weight it properly then a bead to a swivel on my main line. Then I attach different jigs/bait combos on about 16 to 24 inch clear leaders below that. If you are casting, high "vis" line and long rods are helpful in order to see that you don’t have a big belly in the line when you “pull the trigger.” Dave Vedder has a pretty good book about this matter. After you get good then buy the fancy balsa wood floats if you want. Good luck.

Beezer