Cralusso are now proving to be one of the most innovative float companies in the world, of that there seems no doubt. They are best known for revolutionising flat floats with their fantastic Torpedo range. Designed by ace Hungarian angler Karoly Kralik, the Torpedo floats first came to everyone’s attention in the 2003 World Championships and have since become standard issue for all Europe’s top anglers.

With today's more commercialised carp approach, techniques have more on fishing closer to hand... MARGINS. But there's a bit of a problem. Fish love the margins, but tackle, and in particular floats, don't... they gets destroyed. There are a few floats on the market which are supposedly solid enough to cope with this abuse, but I doubt whether many can live with the new Cralusso's pole range. What we basically have here is an indestructible body, with flexibility… let me explain.

Bodies
The first thing to notice on these floats is the absence of any eye. The line is run straight through the body, which certainly helps with the overall strength of the floats. All the bodies of Cralusso pole floats are made from polyurethane which will not let in any water, even if sliced open, chipped or STEPPED ON! Although we'd heard a story relating to this particulat situation, we decided that hacking off several pieces of float would be more than adequate to illustrate the floats durability. You may however find that your line is the 'weakest link' when charging fish make for the rushes and your float and line become dangling ornaments on bankside foliage!

The three body shapes are classic. The Golf is the more rounded body; the Spirit is an all round rugby ball shape and the Capri has a slightly thinner and longer body. All bodies can be fished body up or body down, depending on the tow and flow. The only real innovation, if you like, in body design is the dimples on the Golf floats. These dimples were first put on the Cralusso wagglers to cut down air resistance, but on the Golf they are designed to cut down water resistance and unconfirmed reports apparently testify their effectiveness.

The advertising information does claim that they can also be fished body down, as waggler floats, but its necessary to use one of the special Cralusso float attachments (right), as the stems are not your normal waggler thickness. I have it on good authority that the Golf model in particular is extremely positive when casting and achieves distances not expected in relationship to its unusual appearance. Due, it seems, to those dimples again!

Initially, the size of the floats tended to be on the large side, as they were not only designed with the mainland European market in mind, but also because of restrictions in the processing problems of injecting small amounts of resin into a tiny shape. Since the initial models, the process has been refined to allow for smaller body sizes, which now make great appeal to UK angler, especially when it come to commercial fisheries and those margins!
The Capri offers the smallest size range with .2gr and .3gr additions (right), which make them perfect for that close-in work.
Size ranges are as follows:

• Golf: 1gr, 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10gr.
• Spirit: 0.5gr, 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4. 5. 6gr.
• Capri: 0.2gr, 0.3, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, 4. 5. 6gr.

The larger sizes in will be perfect for fishing to hand at longer range, especially in Ireland where their indestructible body design would prove an invaluable asset during bagging sessions.
However, for river fishing, I am not completely convinced that line running straight through a body is the best place for line control. I would have rather have seen the line coming out of the body, offset at an angle, similar to the Comic Stream Passante floats, for example. If you hold back too hard with the line running straight through the body you will create extra pressure on the float causing it to lean in towards you more than if the line went through the body lower down. Lets be honest, if you wanted a float for river fishing then you'd probably opt for a more specialised design, however, the more adventurous amongst us are quite capable of adding an eye to solid compound body, or even drilling a tiny hole through the body into the central hole! The bodies, being made from a special polyurethane compound, should take this DIY adaptation easily.

However, this detail does not detract from their undoubted strength when it comes to coping with powerful river fish, like barbel and chub.

Stems
The floats come with medium thick, strong carbon stems as standard, and in two of the stillwater patterns there is the option of a fibreglass stem. All stems are interchangeable and can be swapped whilst fishing, so in the highly unlikely event of a float stem being trashed during a session, you can quickly add another.

Bristles
This, I believe, is where the floats stand head and shoulders above many other patterns and display the most interesting potential. All the bristles are tough plastic and show light well through them. Each float comes with a trio of interchangeable bristles and, as an added extra, you can buy a separate bristle kit which gives many more permutations.

The sight bristles all fix firmly into the top of the carbon or fibreglass float stem (left). This is a secure fit and unlike some of the ‘double bristle’ floats in today’s market-place, they are difficult to slip off during excessive use.

There is a lot you can do with the Cralusso bristle system. Here's a sample of what's possible:
Changing bristle colour... Easy and quick. As light conditions change, you can quickly swap from a red to a black tip or yellow. It is a lot quicker than blacking-up a tip with a felt marker, but what I like about this interchangeable system is you can revert back just as easily… something which is almost impossible with a felt painted tip!


Changing the length of a bristle... The floats come with a number of small rings which you can just slide on below the bristle and above the float body. This allows you lengthen the bristle a little while fishing. I really liked this idea. If the wind gets up and you just want to hold the float down a bit more below the tow you can easily add a little more length to the bristle. You will only able to make small adjustments to the length as the float could become unbalanced if you made a bristle too long, but within reason you can play with bristle length in a quick and easy manner.

Changing the size of the bristle... The bristle kit also includes a range of different thicknesses. At first glance it seems like a great bonus to be able to swap effortlessly from a medium to a thick bristle, if you change a bait from say pellet to a lump of meat. However, the idea in practise, may not seem as useful as first thought. If you change bait you’d probably need to change hook and possibly shotting, so in reality most of us would change the rig! Fair enough, you can have another Cralusso float on a winder with a different bristle for different baits. My own opinion is that there’s less likelihood of you swapping to the bigger bristles whilst fishing with the SAME rig unless it's mainly for visual purposes.