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Wafters and pop ups in deep water???
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framey

Posts: 5162

#9 15 Feb 2026 at 8.48am

https://www.properjobpopups.co.uk/water_pressure.php

Superterrorizer

Posts: 1821

#8 15 Feb 2026 at 0.26am

In reply to Post #1
I haven't really thought this through but couldn't you test your pop ups like this:

Put your chosen pop up on a piece of bait floss and load it with a split shot. Then attach it with pva to a rig and cast it out into say 20ft of water. If the pop up comes to the surface after the pva has dissolved, then you can try with a heavier split shot. This way you should roughly be able to find out just how much weight the pop up can lift in 20ft of water.

Or the other way around. Do it with the same size of shot on every cast and start casting into 15ft, then 20ft and so on. If the pop up then doesn't come to the surface in say 30ft then you will have the answer to your question. if depth effects the buoyancy.

Does this make any sense? I think it's time for bed.

Baitman

Posts: 4861

#7 14 Feb 2026 at 10.27pm

In reply to Post #6
So, Google says;
Buoyancy generally decreases in deeper water because increased pressure compresses air in gear (like wetsuits) and lungs, reducing the volume of water displaced and causing the object to become less buoyant or negatively buoyant. Divers must add air to their equipment at depth to counteract this, as they become less buoyant.

So anything that isnt "sealed" (like a plastic bottle) should have the air forced out of it as depth/pressure increases, so becoming less buoyant.
So what about pop ups with glass spheres, surely the air is sealed inside?

Baitman

Posts: 4861

#6 14 Feb 2026 at 9.43pm

In reply to Post #5
I will have a look for the proper job tests.

I dont doubt what you say, but it seems arse about tit.
In a pool its harder to swim deeper, and push a float under and it seems more buoyant the deeper you go

inzenity

Posts: 449

#5 14 Feb 2026 at 9.01pm

Well, first archimedus, so dry vs wet weight. Since wafters are close to 1g/ml, let's say 0.9, at 20ft while using boyle's law you will see a significant impact, so what was perfectly balanced in 1 ft becomes closer to 1g/ml at 20 ft. (since the pressure increases). With pop ups, the same applies, but it is simply not that relevant, since it goes from very, very buoyant to slightly less but still very buoyant. This of course changes when in 1 ft it hardly manages to pop up. In practical terms, you need to overshot the rig less in deeper water.

On proper job pop ups, the lad has done some practical test which you can look up to get a good look at the influence of pressure, it's pretty good. Also he considers time as a factor.

In summary, with archimedes and boyle you could do the calculations for your individual wafter or pop up, since that changes depending on size and make up. I kinda did that years ago and my take away was that wafters are tricky and a good pop up will let you get away with a lot of differences in pressure and rigs.

MrNuvawun

Posts: 2212

#4 14 Feb 2026 at 8.56pm

In reply to Post #3
Gotcha. Maybe slightly under balance one in the edge, so that the counter balance only just doesn’t quite pin it down, if you’re worried about the pressure at that depth reducing the buoyancy.
I’ve personally kind of thought of it the other way round, that the deeper you go, the more the pop up is fighting to reach the surface, like when you try to swim to the bottom of a pool with a football. The deeper you go, the harder it is to hold it down.
I don’t consider 15-20ft to be deep, I’d just try a normal pop up to avoid leaf litter if I were you.

Baitman

Posts: 4861

#3 14 Feb 2026 at 8.47pm

In reply to Post #2
Im more than happy to fish bottom baits, but just a bit iffy about winter/spring if fishing over too much leaf litter and dead weed.
I would prefer some amount pop to keep the hookbait visible and prevent the hook being fouled with crud.

MrNuvawun

Posts: 2212

#2 14 Feb 2026 at 8.44pm

In reply to Post #1
I fish a reservoir with depths up to 70ft and common depths of 30ft+. I’ve given up worrying about it tbh. I only bother with pop ups up to about 15ft. Any deeper than that and I use either straight bottom baits, wafters, or snowman rigs (either 20+15, or 24+18). Have caught loads on the deeper rods using those setups. I just accept that they work well enough to get bites, even if they don’t behave exactly how they do in the margins in shallow water.

Baitman

Posts: 4861

#1 14 Feb 2026 at 8.06pm

Do wafters still waft in deep water, maybe 15ft to 20ft?

And if you were to critically balance a pop up, how will the depth effect its buoyancy.


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