The Best Pole Floats for Pellet Fishing in 2026

One float that covers most commercial pellet and carp work is what I reach for first, and the Drennan AS is it. It was designed and developed alongside five-time World Champion Alan Scotthorne, and that pedigree runs right through it.

Drennan produce it in-house, with their own engineers spending many months fine-tuning it on advanced computer-controlled machinery. What comes out is a beautifully consistent float, and consistency matters more than anything else when a rig has to behave the same cast after cast.

That reliability is why it earns its keep on commercials. It sits a bait perfectly for feeding carp and F1s, and it gives a clean, positive registration the moment a fish takes.

Scotthorne has fished them extensively and rates them, which is about the strongest word a commercial float can carry. It isn't specialised for any one job, and it carries a touch more weight than tiny fish need, but as an all-rounder I'd struggle to better it.

Carp will lift up in the water for pellets on warm days, and once they do a general float struggles. The Drennan Pellet Flyer is built for exactly that shallow situation.

It's designed for shallow pellet fishing on small to medium commercials. Being short and transparent, it's far less conspicuous than a solid painted float, which is a real edge when the fish are shallow, wary and easily spooked.

The blended, streamlined shape of the transparent body and base weight makes it cast arrow-straight, which is precisely what shallow pole work needs. A single removable disc weight also lets me choose how much of the fluorescent tip stays showing.

Each size comes with a clear plastic dive disc, plus spares, to cut float dive to a minimum as it lands. It's a dedicated shallow tool rather than an all-rounder, but for that one job it's excellent.

Few floats in Guru's Natural Range get fished as much as the Skimmer, and this hollow carbon version is the one I'd pick for F1s and skimmers.

The body shape is proven and versatile, and it's worked well for years. Anglers kept asking for it with a different bristle, so Guru added a hollow plastic bristle across both the carbon and wire-stem models.

That hollow bristle is the whole point of this one. It's more visible and more buoyant than a fine dotted-down tip, which suits fishing a slightly bigger bait, and it shows shy, lift-style bites clearly.

Paired with that versatile body it's a genuine all-rounder for silverfish and F1 work, and the carbon stem keeps things responsive and sensitive. The hollow tip isn't as fine as a dotted-down bristle, so for the shyest bites I'd look elsewhere, but for its job it's brilliant.

Speed is the whole game when small fish are the target, and the Guru Bleak is built around it. It's a purpose-made tool for putting bleak and other tiny fish in the net fast.

The overall length is short and the stem is wire, so it cocks almost instantly. That gives me bite detection the moment the bait settles, which is what fast fishing lives or dies on.

The slim rugby-ball body is the clever bit. It stays stable on the surface while offering next to no resistance, so even the smallest fish pulls it under without feeling anything.

Fished shallow, up in the water, it lets me catch fish after fish at pace. It's far too light for carp or F1s and it's very specialised, but for building a weight of small fish it's spot on.

When silverfish are finicky, presentation decides the day, and the Guru Roach Slim is all about presentation with the least possible resistance to the fish.

Its elongated, slim body is shaped so I can lower a bait perfectly into the swim. That's a deadly way to present to roach and skimmers when they're picky and the going is hard.

It also suits working a bait, lifting and dropping to induce a take, which is a classic silverfish trick. Because the body is so slim, a taking fish feels very little, so it holds on and the bite develops instead of being dropped.

For roach, skimmers and general silverfish where finesse out-scores everything, it's a lovely sensitive float. It's fine tackle though, so it's no good for carp and it can get pushed about in a strong wind.

Two Ligger floats share the same rounded body, and the stem is what separates them. This carbon-stem version is the one I'd fish when the pace is fast and the bites come on the drop.

Guru match the carbon stem to fast situations where cutting tangles matters, the sort of fishing where the rig gets shipped in and out quickly, or where the plan is to catch as the bait falls through the water.

That much rounder body still gives real stability. It can be eased through a peg or held over feeding fish, so it copes happily with moving water and towing commercials, but it's the catch-on-the-drop, quick-shipping character that marks the carbon version out.

The carbon stem keeps it light and responsive, so those falling bites register cleanly. It's less static-stable than the wire model and the round body isn't the finest for shy fish, but for fishing at pace and looking for fish on the drop, it's the right Ligger.

Pinning a bait dead still in a tow calls for weight down low, and that's where the wire-stem Ligger comes in. It carries the same stable, rounded body as its carbon twin, but the wire stem gives it a different job.

Guru match the wire stem to situations where stability rules. It lets me hold a bait super stable and static even in rough, windy conditions, because the extra weight down low stops the rig being shoved around and keeps the hookbait nailed to the spot.

Like the carbon version, the round body gives ultimate stability and lets me hold back against the current to slow a bait right down. The wire stem simply adds more control when the tow is strong.

For rivers, drains and commercials with a genuine pull on them, this is the Ligger that keeps a bait exactly where the fish are feeding. It's specialised for moving water, and the wire stem isn't as sensitive as carbon, so on still, easy days I'd reach for something finer.