Lift Method when there's Crucians about

[Houghton]

I've just got back from a 2 hour evening Tenching session from my local pond (Wiganers, its the Red Pond) and have successfully caught my first Tench of the year.

 

I keep toying with the idea of using the 'lift Method' but one problem I do have in fishing is having the confidence to try different methods.

This pond holds many Crucians, and I know they can be very shy biters. Would the weight of the shot put the Crucians off?

 

Also, maggots seem to be one of the best baits in this pond. Would the weight of the shot put other, smaller, fish off?

 

Am I correct in saying on windy days the lift method is useless?

[Chris Plumb]

Nearly all my Crucian fishing is done using the lift method - tis a VERY sensitive method.

 

 

C.

[Houghton]

Nearly all my Crucian fishing is done using the lift method - tis a VERY sensitive method.

C.

 

Thanks for that.

 

As for not having confidence to try the lift method maybe next time I'll take minimum amount of gear so I'm forced to 'stick it out' on that method.

[Barry Kneller]

I haven't done any serious Crucian fishing for years - nearly always used the lift method with only about an inch between the 'lift' shot (usually one BB) just touching bottom.

 

Occasionally you get those times that the float will lift, dip and generally dither about without ever giving something definite to strike at.

 

When the Crucians are behaving like this, a good tip is (may have got it from a Dick Walker article?) to set the float a little deeper and raise the BB to about 4 to 6" from the hook, you're aiming to have the bait on the bottom by a couple of inches & the BB off the bottom by a similar amount.

 

Quite often the dips & dithers will turn into sail-away bites that are pretty un-missable.

 

Drift can be a bit of a problem, but it's worth persevering as the crucians don't mind a slightly moving bait - may even prefer it.

 

Cheers

Barry

 

PS - and (IMO) a small piece of peacock quill is still the best type of float to use in these conditions.

[Steve Walker]

The lift method can be scaled down, too. If you use a float with a long, thin antenna, your lift shot can be as small as a #6.

 

One caveat, though; to my mind, the main benefit of the lift method is that it allows you to present a large bait hard on the bottom while retaining good bite indication with a float. With small baits that you could have presented conventionally either slightly overdepth or just off the bottom, there's less advantage to it.