How to Make Homemade Bobbers for Catfish

When your travels take you to catfish waters, don't let the lack or cost of equipment stop you from wetting a line. A rod and reel, basic tackle and some homemade catfish bobbers are all you need to go fishing. Improvise a little and you can go night fishing, too. Best of all, your homemade bobbers come from materials that might otherwise end up in a landfill.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Empty plastic soda bottles with screw-on plastic caps. Packing foam pellets or Styrofoam cups Pocketknife 2/0 snap swivels Fishing line Can of spray paint in your choice of color. Glo-sticks
Empty plastic soda bottles with screw-on plastic caps.
Packing foam pellets or Styrofoam cups
Pocketknife
2/0 snap swivels
Fishing line
Can of spray paint in your choice of color.
Glo-sticks

Step 1

Fill the empty plastic soda bottles with foam packing pellets or torn pieces of Styrofoam cups.

Step 2

Punch a hole in the plastic cap with your pocketknife.

Step 3

Thread a fishing line through the hole in the top of a plastic cap and tie a snap swivel to the end.

Step 4

Twist the cap tightly on the bottle and tie a second snap swivel to the fishing line about 3 inches from the cap.

Step 5

Spray paint the bottle in a color you can see when the bottle is floating on the water. White and red are the classic color combinations for bobbers, but any color you can see from a distance will work just as well.

Step 6

Rig your hook for catfish and attach sinker near the hook. Catfish are bottom feeders.

Step 7

Clip the snap swivel on your homemade bobber to the fishing line. When you cast, the weighted hook with your bait will drop to the bottom of the lake or river while the line slides through the bobber on the surface.

Step 8

Clip a Glo-Stick to the snap swivel near your bobber for night fishing.

Article Written By James Clark

James Clark began his career in 1985. He has written about electronics, appliance repair and outdoor topics for a variety of publications and websites. He has more than four years of experience in appliance and electrical repairs. Clark holds a bachelor's degree in political science.

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