BigBendFishing.Net

Had a friend talk to me at church last night and he mentioned that everything was biting down at Keaton this week. He described fishing with a guide and using the clear casting bubble or floats that you fill with water. I'm familiar with the technique, they are typically used to add weight so that you can cast very light flies/streamers etc. with a spinning rod. I can't figure out why you would be doing that especially since he mentioned using pinfish as bait... I thought maybe some secret stealth mode attack but typically we are adding cajun thunders or some such device to make more noise not less. They were fishing for trout and redfish. Is it that these water filled bubble floats are that much heavier than a CT, jig and gulp/pinfish???

What am I missing here?

Strange, I've only ever used them when freshwater trout fishing.

I have heard of them used with the McDonalds straw rig for spanish macks. Adds weight and is less visible to the the fish so that they don't hit the float, just the straw.
Maybe just the less visible aspect of the float is what they are going for.

Those are used heavily for Spanish mackerel along the panhandle, I have several in my tackle bag for that reason. Never used them for trout or reds, but they probably would work, but you need a slightly beefier rod due their heavy weight. I was in Keaton last weekend and the Spanish were really busting up bait fairly often, and I tried using one of these bubbles with a Clark spoon about three feet behind it. Its called a "bubble rig" or "straw rig" when used for Spanish. Its a straw rig when you slide on a 2 -3 inch straw then tie on a treble hook for a lure. The idea is cast it to the fish and reel it as fast as you can. The macks will usually fight over it. Last weekend though it was basically useless due to the large amount of floating grass that would catch on the spoon. The bubbles are hard to find anywhere but the panhandle. The are about twice as big as a chicken egg. I don't fill mine with water anymore, I fill them ahead of time with clear silicone. That way if the bubble breaks it want leak and keeps working.



Link:http://fishingdestinguide.com/BUBBLERIGS.html

Now it makes sense, bet they were chasing spanish after they had limited out on trout/redfish.

It seems that this bubble rig is the cat's meow down in Destin for the tourist shore fisherman... it does catch ladyfish but that all I can attest to.