Way back in 2013 at a Perry St match, the Tart brought on some pole floats made by Mike Smith for me to have a look at. I didn’t know Smithy back then and was quite flattered that anybody would actually care what I thought! Here’s what I said about them at the time,
The first floats Smithy gave me to have a look at
‘I mentioned earlier that Brendon had brought me on some floats that former Milo angler, Mike Smith, makes. Obviously I haven’t had chance to use them yet but early impressions are that they are really well made and finished nicely. The patterns I’ve been sent (see photo) all have nylon stems and plastic or cane bristles although Brendon tells me that Mike will pretty much cater for any requirements (carbon or wire stems, different bristle materials etc). The diamond bodied floats look spot on for fishing on the deck for carp while the slimmer bodied floats look a great silver fish pattern and the floats with a rugby ball style body are a good all round pattern. The only slight criticism I would make is that the stems and bristles on the slimmer floats look a little too long for the style of fishing I do at Summerhayes but I guess I can also cut them back a bit.’
Since then I’ve got to know Captain Smith very well and as well as being a thoroughly nice bloke (even if he does go on about the swim by the Oak Tree all the time!), he brings with him exceedingly good cakes! On Sunday, after winning the match, he let me have a selection of his latest creations to try.
I was expecting something similar to the first batch but when I opened the cardboard tube and tipped the contents out, I have to say I was blown away, not only did they look great, really professional with a great finish, he’d let me have quite a selection.
I’m looking forward to trying these out
There were slim bodied floats with nylon stems, wire stems, spring eyes and conventional side eyes, a diamond bodied pattern that looks spot on for the 5 metre meat line, two little wire stemmed dibbers that look perfect for my favoured shallow fishing plus two strong bristled floats with nylon stems and spring eyes that would be equally at home fishing shallow, in the margins or against islands.
These look perfect for a bit of shallow fishing!
I’m really impressed with these floats and over the next few weeks, I’ll aim to give them a good workout and keep you updated on how I get on. If anybody would like more info on prices or patterns, just get in touch with me via the contact form and I’ll pass on your details to Mike.
*Mike Smith let me have these floats free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions contained in this post are my own.
