Carry more with less... The story of the Boga/Plier float
Most of our products were born from years of struggle and experience wading the Texas coast, formulating the best way to carry more with less bulk. The “Boga & Pliers Float” on the other hand, was a brilliant mistake. In the early days of Lone Star Gear we wanted to offer a boga/accessory float; however, we wanted our float to be different and add something extra. After many less than impressive prototypes, I walked into the shop one day and there it was, our standard stringer float with a piece of paracord through the middle and a key ring on each side. I picked it up and looked it over when a switch flipped in my head. “This is genius! How did you come up with this idea?!?” Travis looked at me, dumbfounded. One of my biggest frustrations in fishing was to boga a fish, then I would have to get my pliers off my belt and deal with a deep or tough hook. With this new float my pliers were already there and ready to help me! I no longer had reason for a belt, finally.
In my vision, I saw my boga handing from one end and pliers on the other. Shortly after sharing my vision, the testing began. We filled up the shop sink and began to perfect what I saw as the ultimate fishing resource. We went through multiple floats, from paracord to cable and found the perfect split ring for the job. Finally, we had the product right and it was time to prove the concept. My favorite thing about developing fishing products is the testing.
My first time to prove my theories on the float, was an epic day in skinny water catching redfish on tops. As time drug on and we finally hit spring fishing. The float proved to be pivotal in the rapid release of some massive speckled trout.
The float works, flat out. I have it attached to my box on my dominant hand side, opposite my stringer.
We have heard it all. “I prefer a net.’ “I don’t own a boga.” “Boga’s are to expensive for me” Well I’m gonna hook you up! My buddy was tired of dealing with hooks in a net and wanted to test the boga concept without the same investment. Now, he could have gone to Academy and got one of the poor excuses for a knock off boga. Nope! He went on amazon and found a very close replica with 4.5 stars and 96 reviews! Click here to check it out. It's nearly the same size as the 15 lb. boga we designed the float for. This thing has been impressive to fish beside for the last few months. No, the head doesn’t swivel. Is the scale super accurate, probably not? Does it function like a boga and hold up? YES! Now as far as the net goes, yeah, it’s usually easy to scoop a fish up and deal with them from there. Get you a wound-up trout with two trebles attached to him and enjoy doing net surgery. What drives me up the wall with a net is dragging that thing around. They are constantly pulling on you when you are trying to cover a span of water fast, God forbid you consider swimming across a gut with one attached to you.
Take the time and minimal investment to make your fishing easier. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again… The more comfortable you are, the better your focus while fishing. The easier your gear is, the more efficient you will fish.
Click here to go to our store LSG Boga and Pliers Float
Matt Barrere
Public Water Owner
Co-founder: Lone Star Gear