Coarse Fishing in the South East (UK)

Most people immedialty associate the lift method with either paste fishing or John Wilson (TV's Go Fishing) and his crowquill floats. Traditionally the lift method was used when stalking big carp and more recently for paste fishing on commercials. But have you ever thought of using this method in open water to catch tench, crucians, F1's, bream or even skimmers with baits such as pellet or corn? I have, with interesting results. One very frustraiting day's fishing saw me miss more bites than I connected with. I got my thinking cap on, how can I hit more bites? how can I guarantee the fish has the bait in it's mouth? how can I tell the difference between genuine bites and liners? I subsequently came up with my version of the lift method. I must admit that it's best used in the warmer months when the fish are active. I have adjusted the method to suit my style of fishing which is predominantly pole fishing.  Just ask yourself one question - would you like to have a days fishing with a difference, watching a float rise instead of sink? a method where you will hit far more bites than you miss? if the answer is yes then read on... My method is nothing more complicated than using a Maver Paste Float (0.5g - 2.0g). I have, however, made a couple of adjustments. Firstly I have removed the carbon stem and replaced it with wire (picture above - before and after). This should dot the float down to the base of the 8cm long tip. All the float needs now is a 0.4g Drennan Polemaster In-line Olivette to just about overshot and submerge the float. Now comes the important part, plumbing up. You must plumb so the olivette is actually resting on the bottom of the lake with your hook just two or three centimetres away, no more. The distance from olivette to hook is vitally important if you are to see the lift bites. You must have roughly 1cm of orange float tip showing above water (picture below). Secondly, I have painted the remainder of the float below the 1cm tip black to aid bite (or should that be lift) detection. The idea is simple yet effective. The fish picks up the bait and subsequently moves the olivette off the bottom registering the lift bite. Now, some of you at this point may be thinking the fish will feel the weight of the olivette and drop the bait?. I thought the very same thing initially but I assure you they don’t. In practice the float rising to expose any of the black tip indicates a bite. Incidentally, don’t strike at bites dips or knocks of the float or even when it sails under. Just wait until you see black, then strike. The remainder of my set-up was simply White Hydro and 0.12 Ultima Omega Pro line just in case the occasional bonus fish turned up. One thing I must stress when using this method is not to strike when the float goes under. More often than not it will be a line bite, if it is a fish taking the bait one of two things will happen either laccy will start pouring out of your pole or a few seconds after submerging the float will come rising out of the water! At any time I see the 'black' of the float tip I'm more or less guaranteed that the fish has the bait in it's mouth, after all, it has to have the bait in it's mouth to have lifted the olivette off the bottom. This is the time to strike and more often than not a firm 'lift' is more than enough to set the hook. Personally I use this method mainly for pellet and paste fishing. As with all methods, some work well on one venue and not so well on another! Obviously the geography of a lake and conditions under water play a big part in making the lift method work. 

The business end of the rig                                           A definate bite don't you think? 

If proof is needed that this method really does work then here's a typical example for you. I fished a Metro Musketeers match at Hawkhurst Fishery (match lake) in Kent just the other day. This is a cracking little lake, only 20 pegs, but with plenty of fish to be had from any peg at any time of year. Today was a typical day in May, sun, cloud, still, breezy, mild and occasionally wet! - what's new? I drew peg 12 and wasn't at all keen on being in the frame but was sure that I would non the less have a good days fishing, and that's what it's all about eh!. The draw being at 0800 allowed us an hour to tackle up before having breakfast at the on-site cafe at 0900 then fishing from 1000-1500. Nothing very complicated for this lake, just three top kits. One shallow with a dibber, one full depth with a 0.75g Drennan Tipo, and last but not least my lift rig. All rigs had 3lb mainline with a size 14 Preston's PR 21, these fish are not line shy and I expected the rigs to receive a lot of hammer during the course of the five hour match. The swim was 6 feet deep which is an ideal depth for the lift rig, anything from 3 - 7 feet is ideal. My shallow rig doubled as my inside line rig. Incidentally, I took three nets to the lake expecting to use two but having a third in reserve just incase I had a 'red letter' day!. Most fish were commons with the odd mirror in the 1lb-2lb bracket and the occasional 3lb fish. Loose set Black Hydro with a Preston Diatex Carp Pole completed the set up. After my hearty breakfast it was time for the match.

In went a hand full of BCUK B1 3mm Feed Pellets and some Omega Expander pellets in a pole pot at 8m and on the inside line just a foot from the bank three metres to my right went several handfuls of the same in just 18 inches of water, but making sure I rang the dinner gong by making as much noise as possible when 'throwing' it in. I then took the Tipo rig and baited my hook with an 8mm Expander and gave it a dip in my BCUK B1 Additive then shipped out. By the time my rig settled there was plenty of fizzing coming from feeding fish, my swim was alive!. Good news? maybe - but too many fish in the swim can be a nightmare with foul hookers and line bites which can drive a grown man to tears. Anyway, reducing feed, stopping feed, increasing feed did nothing to help my cause as I was plagued with liners for the first hour, although I did land several fish I knew I should be doing much better - a change was necessary. Out came the 'lift' rig and a blob of paste the size of a 50p. I still suffered from liners with the float bobbing, dipping, knocking and even submerging every now and then. Not to worry, all I was waiting for was the 'lift', so I ignored all other indications, unlike a traditional rig where you would have to lift at or strike at suspected bites often loosing your bait in the process and having to re-bait, all of which is time consuming and a valuable waste of fishing time. Anyway, after just a few seconds the float rose from the surface of the lake which was my queue to strike which produced my first fish of over 100 (101 to be exact!) on the lift method. From here on in I never looked back and proceeded to take a procession of carp on both pellet and paste. I relied on the paste to feed the swim so it wasn't necessary to feed any more pellets because the fish were in the swim all day long. I did, however, try and fish shallow on a couple of occasions and I even tried the inside line as well but the fish wouldn't oblige, they were happy staying on the bottom at 8m today which was fine by me. At the weigh-in I put THREE nets of fish on the scales for a grand total of 142lb. My nearest rival being nearly 35lb behind! and the next 70lb behind!! This rig also works very well for fishing pellet for skimmers, bream or even tench so don't disregard it as a carp only method - it's not.

Just part of my 142lb 'lift' method haul.............simple innit!!