Okay, so I finally got my hands on some of these new (new to me, anyway) Thill Premium Steelhead Floats. My question is this: what's the correct way to rig them? I see two possibilities:

Option 1: Remove rubber sleeve from the stem of the float. Slip mainline all the way through the rubber sleeve, then slide the rubber sleeve onto the stem of the float, ensuring that the mainline catches in the little line slot on the stem. This provides the most secure connection, but forces you to clip your line if you want to remove the float.

Option 2: Keep the rubber sleeve on the stem of the float. Slide or roll the rubber sleeve up or down so that the line slot is exposed. Slip line into slot, then pull rubber sleeve over slot and line. In this way, the float can be removed without cutting your line--but it doesn't offer as secure of a connection.

Am I making any sense here? Anyone have any experience with these floats?

Thanks.

Any opinions?

I bought 26 different thill steelhead floats. I slide the rubber sleeve off, wrap line a couple of times in notch, and then slide rubber sleeve up over the line until the edge of the rubber is even with the stem. I haven't had a problem with it sliding down because if it slides, I just make another wrap or two.

Do not wrap you're line around the notch
This advice comes from the same guy who used a spring bobber once....Once
(never wrap you're line around anything unless you don't want that fish.....forgive Redneck I guess you can wrap it when you fish for crappie

seriously just run it thru the notch and slip the sleve over it,you need to periodicly check it it tends to slip.

here's another idea,put a short piece of tubing on the top stem and run you're line thru it also,this does 2 things,it keeps you're line on top of the float,which makes mending easier and tends to keep the float from slipping on the line ,good luck....Os

I'm with Os. Slide the sleeve off the stem, cut it into about 1/3, 2/3 pieces. Slide both pieces on your mainline, put the 1/3 chunk on the top, and the 2/3 chunk on the bottom of the float. Seems to fix it pretty well onto the mainline, although it will slide when you make a hookset, so you'll have to readjust.

Which model of the Thill Floats are you all using?

I'll be using jigs <1/4 oz, mostly 1/8.

They are the new steelhead float. We also are now carrying the premium weighted float(same coloration as the steelhead float but can be rigged slip or fixed.), and the turbo master.

Thanks for the advice, guys. I like the idea of using some rubber tubing on the top stem in addition to the tubing on the bottom stem; I'll give it a try this weekend. Jigman, how do you and the Rainbow Jigs experts like to rig these puppies?

I am with Osprey and Dan on that one. I would never wrap the line.

I have not tried the steelheader float, but have rigged the center sliders in a similar fashion with good results. I purchased some of the larger sized rubber tubing at the hardware store and cut two 1/2 inch pieces. Slide them on the line and then put one over the top and one over the bottom of float. seems to hold fine but does slide as Dan stated when you set the hook.

I'm with Goat Spray (Uh, I mean Osprey). I avoid the notch at all costs and I cut the rubber sleeve in half and put one on the top and one on the bottom.

Those floats are meant to be rigged by rolling up the tubing on the lower stem and laying your line in the slot then rolling the tubing back over your line. I have used them the way described in the other posts where you cut the tubing and use it on both the upper and lower stem and have your line run through both, which also works well.

Ummm. Yeah, so a spring bobber sucks for steelhead, but it was rigged to manufacturer's specifications. :p

He asked what was the "correct" way to rig the thill floats; not what was the "right" way to rig them.

I haven't had to jig and bobber fish in a while since we've been char and salmon fishing.

Follow what Osprey said, that's how you'll want to do it, and you can't stray too far in variation to his "right" way of rigging it. Works great. Who knows, one day thill will actually manufacture a bobber that doesn't need modifying.

Thanks for the tips, guys. Just tried out the setup using tubing on both the top and bottom stems and hooked into a nice fish!