With a little help from Keith Elliot’s Classic Angling, onto Jeff Dela Mura and other tackle friends we have managed to solve the riddle. Who is BJ the float maker?
Bernard J Mason of Totnes, between Torbay and Dartmoor in South Devon, is the artisan float maker/painter responsible for these stunning handmade creations.
Chatting to Bernard, he recounted his path to float glory.
“I have been thinking about what started me making and painting floats. Due to a back injury, I had to stop big carp fishing so went back to my roots and started float fishing for smaller species. I’ve always been a big fan of Chris Yates, I just liked the way he used vintage fishing tackle and this inspired me to try fishing with vintage tackle. I managed to get my hands on a pretty whippy cane rod, matched with an old fly reel. I went float fishing with it and enjoyed every minute of using it. I soon upgraded to a better split cane rod and centrepin reel, but I wanted to use a vintage-style float to complete the setup.
This is when I started making my floats, just plain and traditional to start with. Balsa wood bodies with cane or quill stems. Once my friends saw the floats I was asked if I would make a few for them and their friends and that is how it started. Now that many friends were enjoying using my floats I wanted my personal floats to be a bit different. So I experimented with painting my own in different colours and designs. Also, I was fascinated to try painting landscapes such as those on canvas in the style of Bob Ross, an American painter I loved. Initially, I wasn’t too good but this is where the idea for painting such scenes on my floats came from. The float collectors loved them, and it took off from there. Each fully decorated float takes me approximately three days from plain blank to the fully sealed finished product. The smaller the float, the longer the painting process as the micro detail is painfully slow to complete.”
Bernard no longer paints floats and I have been lucky to have amassed a small personal collection of these masterpieces. Many are painted showing the rivers and lakes where his inspiration to paint was born. Pike bungs, 12” long sliders, and the beautiful B.J. Lever Float in the original packaging. This pattern harks back to the Allcock’s Tippit float which lays flat until a bite and the top pops up.
However, I enjoy showing these floats to other collectors, so they remain loose in a fishing mug to play with. Should anyone wish to add further examples to my collection please drop me a line.
