Fish the bread overdepth on the lift method:
This has got to be one of the all time favourite float fishing methods. It is such a visually exciting rig to fish! This rig is designed for close-in tactics when trying to catch bottom feeding fish like tench, bream and crucian carp. As its name suggests bites are usually indicated by the float lifting up in the water rather than being pulled under and it works like this.
Firstly the float. As I said at the beginning of the article you use a standard straight peacock waggler for this method. The thick tip is important here as for this rig you are looking for buoyancy in the tip, not sensitivity. Make sure the float is made of peacock quill as this is the most buoyant float material. The float should be small, around four to six inches long, and attached to the line by a half inch long piece of silicon tubing rather than locking it on with shot.
The shot should be a single large weight, like an SSG, pinched on about four inches above the hook. The buoyancy of the float should ideally just support the weight of the shot.
The rig is then set over-depth by about a 12 inches and cast out. The float will obviously lie flat on the surface initially as it?s set over-depth and the large shot is on the bottom, so set your rod in a rod rest with the rod tip just touching the water and then gently wind in until the line tightens and the float cocks. Carefully wind in until the float is set with just its tip breaking the surface.
Depending on how a fish takes your bait, the float will do one of two things. It will either slide straight under as a fish picks up your bait and moves away with it quite quickly, usually resulting in your rod tip being pulled round too, or you will get the classic lift bite. The lift bite occurs when the taking fish lifts the shot off the bottom, causing the float to rise up in the water. If it lifts it far enough the float will actually lie flat on the surface. It will then slide away across the waters surface as the fish moves slowly off. At this point strike and hang on.
This method is a classic early season tench method and is very visual and exciting to fish. However, it is limited for casting distance and doesn?t work too well in windy conditions or where there is significant surface drift. But on a calm summer morning when feeding tench are fizzing up clouds of bubbles, it is superb.
This is an extract taken from "First Class Fishing" by Dave Cooper
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