Steve Maher is a top open match angler who holds the River Severn float fishing record, and when you buy something from his range at www.thefloatshop.com you can be 100% certain that you are buying a product he uses himself.
Steve lives on the banks of the Severn and prides himself that his floats are made specifically for UK fishing scenarios and to the best specification.
He’s been making river floats for some seven years and branched his range out into the commercial pole float world three years ago after taking advice from his angling contacts who specialise in stocked waters.
He uses only top grade balsa, lignum and wire in his range of over 20 float patterns and he has had a hand in each of them.
Steve also sells a range of accessories through www.thefloatshop.com including Fishery Foundation approved and hair-rig friendly landing nets and keepnets, 3.2mm and micro bait bands, Aqua pole elastic and ZLT split shot.
Says Steve: “None of my floats are copies. They all have a unique specification made for situations that UK anglers come across regularly and they are dead accurate. If you buy a 12No4 stick float, it will take 12 No4 shot.
“If I had to pick one float out of my range that would be a favourite of mine it would be the heavy lignum stick floats. I turn to that float a lot, although the decline in silver fish sport and with chub and barbel coming more to the fore on waterways like the Severn and the Wye, I’m using the balsas and tapered wagglers a lot too.”
Total-Fishing.com has picked out six floats from the range that have caught our eye:
RIVER FLOATS
S Maher Tapper
Tapered wagglers fill the gap between using a thick straight peacock waggler and a thick speci waggler, and they are really useful when a downstream wind makes it difficult to present your bait properly. Because they are bottom end only the line can be sunk away from the wind. Their extra buoyancy at the tip compared to a waggler allows you to be more aggressive with your float control and present a bait further overdepth with confidence. And their increased length compared with a balsa and the fact that they are attached bottom end only allows the float to travel in a straight line with your feed, rather than being pulled offline.
Steve Says: Use these wagglers to tackle difficult wind conditions and deep, pacy swims where a waggler presentation is required.
Tip Colour: Yellow or orange
Sizes: 2.5SSG and 3SSG
Cost: £1.80
Buy Now: http://www.thefloatshop.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=80
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S Maher Big Sticks
Beautifully made stick floats with high quality heavy lignum bases making them semi self cocking and ideal for top and bottom float work when you have to fish beyond rod tip range. Large dome tops in flame orange or fluoro yellow make them easy to see on long trots even in broken water conditions.
Steve Says: Precision dome tops make these floats ideal for slow to medium paced rivers with roach and dace the target. Floats are from 17cm to 20cm in length making them suited to medium and deepish running water swims.
Tip Colour: Orange or yellow
Sizes: 2No4, 4No4, 6No4, 8No4, 10No4
Cost: £1.80
Buy Now: http://www.thefloatshop.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=64
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S Maher Balsas
Balsa floats that are bulky, beefy and buoyant enough to genuinely cope with fishing big baits in pacy swims for big powerful fish like chub and barbel are not easy to come by; but we have not seen any better than these. Available in four sizes from 4SSG to 8SSG. Made from quality balsa they do what they say on the tin in terms of the weight they carry and a notable feature over other balsas is the long thick tip which is visible at range and also if it trips under a little. Steve uses these for long trotting baits like meat, bread and pellet on the Wye and also on the Severn at stretches like Arley when bunches of maggots or casters are needed to take bags of barbel and chub in faster water.
Steve Says: Can be fished with bulked SSG shot but better with a large olivette with a couple of No4 drop shots. Always use a small swivel to connect hooklengths to your mainline as this will prevent line twist.
Tip Colour: Orange or yellow
Sizes: 4SSG, 5SSG, 6SSG, 8SSG
Cost: £1.80
Buy Now: http://www.thefloatshop.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=77
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COMMERCIAL FISHERY FLOATS
S Maher Pencil Carp Glass
Pencil floats have been used on the continent for roach for years, and have found their place in the UK anglers’ armoury as they are also ideal for shy biting F1s on commercial stillwaters. These Steve Maher models are quite long at 19cm and are ideal for open water work. They feature a highly visible but sensitive hollow glass bristle with a coil eye and a stem that goes right through the body making them very robust. Also available in a wire stem version with a thinner hollow bristle, which is ideal for hemp fishing for roach.
Tip Colour: Orange or yellow
Sizes: 0.2gr and 0.4grCost: £1.50
Buy Now: http://www.thefloatshop.com/index.phproute=product/product&path=35&product_id=49
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S Maher Heavy Wire Pea
A must have float for summer work on commercial fisheries, these floats are self cocking and only around 2.5cm long allowing you to fish baits like pellet only inches deep if required. They have a robust stem and are available in two sizes.
Tip Colour: Orange or yellow
Sizes: 0.2gr and 0.4grCost: £1.50
Buy Now: http://www.thefloatshop.com/index.phproute=product/product&path=35&product_id=85
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S Maher Pellet Waggler
Although branded as a pellet waggler float, this is actually the pattern Steve Maher used to set a new River Severn match float record in a KDAA open. Steve used the 4SSG size to present casters in a fast swim speci wag syle, leading to him weighing in 36 barbel for a whopping 139-8-0. They are made from super strong high density foam, very important when fishing shallow and the float can get caught in the net when you are unhooking a feisty carp. The pellet wagglers are designed not to dive deep when hitting the water and come in four sizes. The smallest is only 8cm in length yet carries a 2SSG capacity – ideal if you need to fish pellet waggler across onto a shelf or if you need to fish pellet very shallow beyond pole range. Steve Says: As well as being great on commercials, these floats are equally at home on the fast paced shallow rivers, the extra buoyancy making it possible to lay more line on bottom, slowing your bait down enough to encourage bites from barbel and chub.
Tip Colour: Orange or yellow
Sizes: 2SSG, 2.5SSG, 3SSG, 4SSGCost: £1.80
Buy Now: http://www.thefloatshop.com/index.phproute=product/product&path=46&product_id=62
SEE THE FULL RANGE AT www.thefloatshop.com
