Slip bobber rods??

I find myself using a slip bobber more and more. Seems to be a good way to keep a bait off the bottom and moving it to cover area. I would like some input on a better rod and reel choice? Does someone make a rod / reel combo for this??? Something a bit longer?? 7' or so?? Light medium action? My issue seems that my light rods have to small eyelets for the knot to move thru. Thanks

Thanks Shinner.  Thanks everyone. I YouTube some slipbobber stuff last night and learned a lot. Good stufff

I just did a check on Cabelas I could not find the rod I have,that's to bad its a great rod  XLM 8ft telescopic.Shiner have you tried the FG knot for tying a leader on braid.Tied correctly very small knot.

I prob. should have mentioned that i haven't had a boat for quite a while. I fish from shore so i don't run into situations where i set the bobber stop for 15-30 feet of water and it winds onto the spool. As far as the plastic stops you can get them most anywhere for next to nothing. Sometimes they come in a little clear plastic tube with some beads too. I use 6lb trilene on my reel, again because i need as much casting distance as possible. I might consider using some Suffix 832 10 lb (4lb diameter) since i have that on another rod i use with plastics and cranks and it has really increased my casting distance. I would use a floro leader with that for bobber fishing.

How are those plastic stops when they are buried on a reel?  Do they stick or catch?  I think I tried them years ago and that happened to me but I could be wrong, it was quite a while ago.  That was my concern with them, for deeper water areas.

This is my current method:

I have switched most of my bobber rods over to 15lb braid with a 6lb mono or fluoro leader.  Use a good leader and it works fine in clear water, I noticed no difference.

-  The reason for the 15lb braid is to gain line thickness.  If the main line is much thinner than the knot material, the knot sticks out more and catches when its on the spool. 

- I like to let my bobbers cover ground which means they might be further out from the boat at times.  With braid I get solid hook sets regardless of distance, no stretch like mono. 

- The knots themselves last a long long time, I've had the same ones for years.  With mono they tend to fray the line over time, especially if you change depths from 8-30ft or more.  They slide nice and easy the first 10', then they get tight for example, even if you wet the knot.  You end up with weaker line in spots or the frayed areas just break.  I don't have that issue with braid.

- I can have the bobber and sinker attached to the braid, using a small swivel to attach the braid to the mono leader.  If I snap my line, the mono will break first.  All I lose is a hook.  Beats the times when your line snaps and you lose the sinker, causing your bobber to come off the line and float away.  Or if it were to snap above the knot due to a weak spot created by the knot, allowing the fish to swim off with your bobber.

- Use bobbers with metal inserts in them.  This way the line does not fray the bobber and create grooves.  The grooves cause the line to catch and the line does not slip correctly.  Few different kinds, I had some Thills get chewed up by mice in my shed one winter so I kept the inserts from those.  I add them to the bottom of my bobbers to have metal on both ends now.  Just have to put the bobber on first, then slide the bottom piece on and push it into the bobber.  Doing it with the metal piece in the bobber first won't work because the line catches the edge of the insert.

Drummer. It if called a slip bobber rod?

Wilson . What's with these plastic slip bobber stops. Where, when, how.

     Thanks 

 I have used them in the past but I find that when I fish The Wolf River I can stay just the bottom but use the current to cover area. I have been in the boat where three of us are covering the same area. I let everyone cast, then I cast and it drifts across the zone. 

    More info. More ideas. Keep it coming. Thanks

I have a cabelas  walleye slip bobber rod.8ft med power best bobber rod I have ever had.

I use a med-light fast action 7 ft. 1 piece rod. Enough backbone and very good casting distance. You didn't ask but my brother sold me on those plastic bobber stops with the 3 holes you feed the line through. They glide through the rod guides and don't slip when casting. 

I agree with going a little heavier to rip them out of cover.  I fish a lot of cribs now and if you are slow they end up diving into the crib.  Crappies are the one fish I'd be okay with an UL only because they have paper mouths and its easy to set the hook too hard with them.

I probably should not say UL in general, my main issues were from 2 different ugly sticks.  They don't break but that's the only plus I have to say about them.

Lately, I mainly use slip bobbers down south for catching crappies around bushes and brush piles.  I think anything over 7ft is a good choice, whether its UL-M action doesn't make much of a difference.  I like a longer rod so I can just pitch the bobber enough distance without flinging a minnow off or making too big of a splash.  This past spring I found that I was using my 7ft St Croix medium action most often because it gave me a little extra backbone to pull the crappies in before they darted back into the thick cover.  I've also been running 6lb Suffix 832 which is really nice for casting lighter bobbers.

I fish with slip bobbers a lot.  It was our go-to method for Green Bay perch in its heyday, now I do it in northern WI for panfish and walleyes.  Probably more variables than people give it credit for because it comes off as simple.  I've changed a lot of things over the years to correct things that annoyed me with them.  Everyone I talk to does it different.

I like a medium action mostly for getting good hook sets.  I've used light action rods or ugly sticks but I personally hate them.  I lost a lot of fish trying to drive the hook home, especially larger fish.  I even experimented some days by using a ligher rod on bedded blue gills and was missing the bigger ones, hook would pop out.  Didn't matter how hard I pulled.  Switched to a medium action and didn't miss any.  When I was a kid we were catching big perch and I missed a couple in a row and I remember my dad was about to throw the rod in the water haha (they were like 13-14" perch). 

If you use a bead above your bobber, make sure the end eye of the rod is small enough that the bead does not go through it.  That gets really annoying when you go to cast and the bead is stuck inbetween the eyes.  To avoid that I use larger beads like you'll find for making worm harnesses.  You just have to watch how large the hole is in the bead, you want it small for the knot to stop obviously.  Some of the harness bead holes are too big.  The ones that come with the stops are kind of tiny, I throw them away.

You don't need a high end rod either, there are some offbrand ones that do fine for a slip bobber.

You fishing Crappies and Sunnies, or Walleyes?  I do have a couple of 7' Rods rigged up all the timei n the boat for Walleyes.  I don't fish this way often, couple of times a year.  I am using 7' ML Okuma Rods with a small spinning reel.  For Crappies, I have an 8' two piece rod rigged up for fishing crappies.