I am certainly no expert on the lift method but I have found the shorter the float I use the twichier the bites can be (not always) and now I often use a crystal insert type waggler of about 7-8" and use one ssg 3" from the hook but I also add heavy metal putty round the shot A, to camouflage it a little and B, to finely balance the sinking of the float.
With the longer float its so much easier to tell a proper lift from small stuff moving the bait/shot around, and as already stated its all about the balance between shot and float. So even if you were (hypotheically) to use a huge float, so long as you had just enough weight to sink it, the method would not alter.
This is the way I would fish the lift method out to around a couple of rod lengths. Also of massive importance is sinking the rod tip and the line between it and the float.
Just my tuppence worth.
Scott.
