"The Lift Method"

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Mr B

"The Lift Method"

Post by Mr B »

The lift Method,

I first used the lift method on our Club water at Sutton At Hone in Kent.
There were around five lakes there. One I called "The Rudd lake''
We used long self cocking floats and shotted them down with a group of dust shot about a foot away from the size 18 hook.
When i say shotted down, i mean so just the tip sicks out of the water.
We bated with maggot or bread flake and cast quite a way out into the the lake. (I was about 16 at the time)

As soon as the Rudd picked up the bait and took the weight of the shot from the float the long float would 'Lift" up in the water. "Strike'

We had lots of fine Rudd using the "Lift method"

Mark

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JerryC
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Re: "The Lift Method"

Post by JerryC »

That's certainly not the lift method, more like laying on.

The lift method was popularised by the Taylor brothers in the 50’s primarily for catching tench and goes pretty much like this according to FJT in his 1958 book Angling in earnest.

Line strength can be fairly substantial, but hooks will have to be smaller of course. The tackle is arranged as follows. A small length of peacock quill (a small Drennan crystal waggler, or similar, works just as well) is fixed to the line by the bottom end only and by means of a tight fitting rubber band. One shot is fixed one inch only from the hook which may be a size 12 or 14. The whole is then set slightly deeper that the water and is drawn tight. The float will register the quickest of bites by rising in the water and falling over flat. If you wait until the float has laid flat you will be too late. The time to strike is when the float begins to lift.

I prefer to have the rod set in two rests and my hand by the butt ready to strike. I really enjoy using this method, especially for tench. in my opinion it can be absolutely deadly, especially if you understand the reason you are using it.
Jerry
If you understand what you’re doing, you’re not learning anything...........

Mr B

Re: "The Lift Method"

Post by Mr B »

Ah, now thats interesting, I always called the method you described as "Laying on' because the bait was laying on the bottom, the float cocked at a jaunty angle, love that kind of fishing for Tench.. yes, I know exactly what you are saying, the float lays flat when the baits picked up. Had so many good days with that method.

I call the above post the lift method because the shotted down self cocking float, a nice long one, (lead wire wound round the base) lifts up straight as soon as a Rudd takes the weight of the shots from the float. Of course sometimes, the float goes under. You would use it when when the Rudd, as they often do are feeding near the service.

Thanks for your comments, great stuff.

Mark

Mr B

Re: "The Lift Method"

Post by Mr B »

Sorry Mate, I read your post in a bit of a rush, needed to move my car...
Of course with the method you out lined the float would sit upright, and lift. "My way" of laying on would be with a float attached top and bottom, and set so the float lays at the "Jaunty angle because you have got it set at the exact depth, shots to float. Great on a lake.

All the best

Mark

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GarryProcter
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Re: "The Lift Method"

Post by GarryProcter »

I often use the lift method (as described above by Jerry) when float fishing for tench.
As a lad (a great many years ago) we used to use a method that is quite the opposite, at least in the way the float responds to a bite. We fished Hanley Park Lake – a shallow boating lake. In the summer we always used cheese, to avoid the hordes of tiny roach and perch that inhabited the lake. It had to be New Zealand cheddar, which we rolled up into small balls, with one on the hook while feeding others ‘little and often’. The method was to place all the shot (no more than a couple of BB) together about 6” from the hook, and set the float (always a very small peacock quill attached by one end only) at exactly the depth of the water, but with the float lying flat (‘just not cocked’). A bite was registered by the float moving from flat on the water to a 'jaunty angle' while moving slowly across the surface. Roach were the normal quarry, but once or twice in the summer there would be a clustering of child anglers around a keepnet to witness the capture one of the hallowed crucians (the closest we ever came to catching a carp). We fished the summer expecting roach, but craving crucians. I have no idea why I never fished the lift method – I knew it was more sensitive, but we just had to use ‘our’ flat float method!
In the winter we fished maggots (any fish were welcome in the winter), using a method not unlike Mark’s (Mr B) rudd technique. I made very rudimentary antenna floats (I might even have one somewhere – if I have I’ll post a photo), which had long, very fine stems, painted with alternating bands of colour. Sufficient shot to cock the float so that just the (whole) antenna showed above the water was placed directly under the float. Enough dust shot were then spread out on the line so they sunk the antenna slowly. Once we knew how quickly the antenna would sink (by a few casts without bait) we could see when the bait was taken on the drop, by the antenna ceasing to sink.

PerchBasher

Re: "The Lift Method"

Post by PerchBasher »

Never been quite sure where laying on ends and the lift method begins? You can’t beat watching a red topped quill resting at a drunken angle near the lily pads on a summer’s dawn, seeing it twitch, rise in the water, lie flat and then slowly sail under. Sadly most anglers now seem to prefer their bites being indicated by a buzzer.

Which club lakes were they at Sutton at Hone Mr. B? I used to be a member of the old Halls Angling Scheme (later called Leisure Sport) in the 1970’s. I think they are now run by CEMEX? These days I’m a member of Dartford DAPS and regularly fish their two lakes

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Snape
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Re: "The Lift Method"

Post by Snape »

Surely the lift method is a form of laying on as the bait is laying on the bottom as is stret pegging which is laying on in moving water and occasionally allowing the bait to move downstream.
“Fishing is much more than fish. It is the great occasion when we may return to the fine simplicity of our forefathers,” Herbert Hoover.
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St.John
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Re: "The Lift Method"

Post by St.John »

The lift method is absolutely brilliant. And overlooked a lot.
"Be patient and calm-for no man can catch fish in anger."

Davyr

Re: "The Lift Method"

Post by Davyr »

Snape wrote:Surely the lift method is a form of laying on as the bait is laying on the bottom as is stret pegging which is laying on in moving water and occasionally allowing the bait to move downstream.
I thought this seemed strangely familiar - gentlemen, we've been here before:

http://www.traditionalfisherman.co.uk/v ... =laying+on

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AshbyCut
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Re: "The Lift Method"

Post by AshbyCut »

"Successful Angling" (Walker/Taylor/Falkus/Buller) :-

'Laying-on simply means that the bait is placed on the bottom and held there by a shot or shots heavy enough to overcome the effects of drift of current. Regular trotting tackle can usually be adapted by setting the tackle deeper and sliding extra shot down towards the hook' ... so more for moving water.

I took 'the lift method' as being more for still waters, with the shot around a foot from the hook.
"Beside the water I discovered (or maybe rediscovered) the quiet. The sort of quiet that allows one to be woven into the tapestry of nature instead of merely standing next to it." Estaban.

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