Review: Light Duty Slip Bobber

Slip bobbers or floats are parts of the essentials that you can save lots of money on by ordering from AliExpress. These are light duty floats rated at 3g, ideal for trout fishing or catching bait fish.

Dry and Water Review

Dry Review

Pricing

These are priced at about one third of the price on Amazon, and you can be sure you’re getting the same thing. ~40 cents per unit for an item that’s gonna be good for more than 1 day is an acceptable price. And I think in this weight class, price is more important, as we aren’t worried about missing the fish of our lifetime.

10/10

Packaging

These come in a simple plastic bag. I actually think that in this case this is a good solution, as it allows you to store them rolled up or flat, depending on how you want to store your tackle. But it doesn’t give the best protection from damage. 8/10

Shipping

It took 25 days which makes it a 5/10

Quality

The general quality seems pretty alright, I like the body and the colors are strong and vibrant. But the rings aren’t the best, more about that in the ease-of-use-section.

8/10

Water Review

Catching Effectiveness

I’m gonna have to give them the best catch rating, not because bobber fishing is the best technique you can do, but because these fulfill the need you buy them for.

I caught plenty of trout and bait fish with these, and they behave exactly as you want them to. They are light, so the fish doesn’t feel the resistance when pulling on the corn, worm, maggot or whatever you choose to present as bait. 10/10

Ease of use

Here we have to report a few weaknesses.

The ring for the line to run through has a gap that can be too wide for the light duty applications you’re gonna use these in. allowing the line to slip out. This is easily fixed with a set of pliers or potentially even your teeth, and this can actually be an advantage if you need to swap one out. Yet, on most occasions it presents itself as a inconvenience. What I really appreciate about the rings is that it’s a single loop. I specifically decided to buy these floats for that feature, as I had bad experience with spring-shaped. multi-loop rings damaging my line and eventually unscrewing.

The weight ratings seem a little bit off. As mentioned earlier I bought the 3g version. With a lead labeled 2g on it, another unlabeled lead sinker that must’ve been less than 0.5g and a single corn it was already barely above water. So after my tests I’d rate it at 2g-2.5g. You should definitely start with 2g as adding weight is easier and more economical than removing it. Since I bought these for light applications this is actually helpful, but of course it would be nicer if it was labeled correctly.

The visibility is good during the day and bad when it gets darker, as you’d expect from these slim models. I think the tip design provides above average visibility. Throwing works as intended. 7/10

Durability

The paint comes off pretty quickly in some spots.

On the other hand, not a single one broke after being rolled up in my bag for months, and they also didn’t seem to take any damage from being used in action. Other bobbers in this class had problems where the neck would not hold on to the body anymore, but I didn’t have that problem at all. 8/10

Where to buy