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There are times when the pike are not accessible to us from the bank we fish, this may be due to variety of reasons lack of bank access, size of venue or any of the reasons you may have encountered. Typically the fish are out of your casting range and you are unable to put a bait to the pike.
Over the years many different methods have evolved to deal with various similar problems, one of these has become an established and successful method in todays pike anglers armoury. This method is drift fishing and it allows a bait live or dead to be presented to feeding pike normally unreachable by normal methods.
With the floats which were previously hand made by the angler now being readily available from the likes of Fox and ET Tackle(Relum) the method is now more reliable in that the tackle is design and balance to do its job well. The tackle is not the method it is the vehicle to an end and some points will only be learned by taking advice and by trial and error. The following will give a reasonable grounding in how to drift but fine tuning the way you fish this method will evolve as you do it, there problems to be overcome, it is not like a bolt rig and hair to a carp angler, but it will help you bank a few more carp from difficult venues!
The float
The float in principal is a long stemmed affair with a large buoyant body, either a round poly ball or an egg shape made a special foam or polystyrene. Above this is the sail or vane that makes the float work. The vane should be attached using small elastic bands with a curve to allow it to fill with wind and to be released easily if the float becomes snagged in weed or reeds! Typical styles of float can be seen in the diagram and pics that accompany this article. Commercial brands are Fox and ET which are available from most good tackle shops. All these now supply in the pack an additional item which is important to the success of this method, this is used to support the line or braid that needs to remain on the surface throughout the drift, this will be discussed in the set up.
Rod and Reel
You will need a rod that is quite stiff, typically a fast taper type of rod of 12 to 13ft long for controlling the tackle at distance and for setting the hooks when a bait is taken, also the reel should have the capacity to hold 200 yards or so of 18 lb. mono or 30 to 40 lb. BS braid. The spool should also be of a strong material, typical reels are Diawa Emblems with wide and deep spools and high speed gearing to recover line when setting the hooks.
Terminal tackle
The tackle needed in addition to the float starts with the reel line, this needs to be either nylon monofilament of 15 to 18lb BS or a floating braid of 30 to 40lb BS. The nylon will require treatment before and during the drift with a line floatant, either a silicon spray or as most often used, line grease such as Mucilin or similar. This is best put on over a fair length of the line before starting the drift and to do this attach a 2 ounce weight directly to the end of the line and cast as far as necessary. Now with a pad of line grease coat the line as you reel the line back in, simple. When the drift takes the line past this point add some more, a butt greaser can be added to the bottom ring to do this automatically or you can do it by adding the line grease to the line on the spool!
Far better to invest in a quality floating braid and avoid having to mess around with grease when its really cold and it becomes stiff in the can and on the line!
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A selection of the authors floats
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A depth stop in the form of a Powergum stop knot and large diameter bead, one that won't go through the end ring, will need to tied at the sort of depth you expect to be drifting through then add that additional buoyancy aid so that the body will be at the surface and the attachment that links to the float
is at the bottom. Below this add another bead and then secure the braid or nylon to the top swivel of a 24 to 30 inch wire (30lb BS) uptrace. On this uptrace you will place enough weight to cock the float, this should see the float settle to the half the diameter of the body with the vane clear of the water so it doesn't drag on the surface. A special weight is available for this job ( Quick Change Egg Sinker) and you will need to place the tubing it uses on to the trace so that it can be locked onto the bottom trace swivel, as illustrated. You can make these weight yourself by enlarging the hole size and cutting a slot in the side of a zinc bullet weight. The principle is that it allows quick changes to the weight size for bigger or smaller float bodies and can be dislodged if the pike is lost with any end tackle, the weight pull off the stem and falls off the line!
From here on down is the hook trace, made up from 20 to 30lb BS wire and two semi-barbed trebles in sizes from size 8 up to size 2 in a strong sharp pattern. One important feature should be the upper treble is locked as shown in the whipped treble trace diagram.
By adding either a livebait of 4 to 6 ounces hooked in the dorsal and flank or a dead bait hooked similarly you will be ready to start drifting.
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Doing it
With the tackle set up something like described you should now be able to drift your baits to reasonable distances and maybe catch a few pike from areas previously unfished.
You will need to have some idea of the depth of water in front of you and where you will be drifting, this can probably only come from trial and error. You may need to plumb the depth to get some ideas of what is in front of you, deep water, bars etc.! If you cannot get such information then set the float to fish say at 5 or 6 ft deep, unless you already know the water is shallower and after each drift adjust the depth to 1 foot deeper and continue to do this until you get a fish or the bait fouls on the bottom or any associated snags etc. Then reduce the depth by a foot or so to get drifting again.
If you are using dead baits you could consider ‘dragging’ these over the bottom if this is fairly level and not too snaggy, (meres or Broads) this will be a slower process but may put your bait in front of a pike or two!
If you are greased line drifting then you will need to keep the grease topped up and with either this or braid ensure that the line is running off the spool freely and the float is running freely. You can periodically stop the drift and let the bait ‘wander around’ a little before drifting on, you may also benefit from pulling the tackle back a few yards every now and then and run it through an area once or twice to stir a fish into striking!
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The distance you should drift should be no more than perhaps 150 plus yards and you will need to watch the float at all times to see if it disappears or lays flat. The latter will occur due to the fact that the weight is locked on to the trace swivel and when the pike takes the bait it may well come up in the water taking the weight off the float, so watch for this and if it occurs be ready to strike to avoid deep hooking!
Striking is not the right way to describe setting the hooks on a getting a take, you will need to start winding the reel handle to recover line until you can feel the pike and then pull hard like a strike. To ensure you are connected, as the pike gets closer it may pay to make a conventional strike to ensure the hooks have a hold! The pike may not even realized it is hooked until it gets to the net!
Braid will help with all of this as it will not stretch like nylon, thereby aiding the hooking when winding down to the pike!
That should allow you to get started with drifting and once you become proficient you will find ways to enhance the way you can make it work for you, but don't forget that it is an active method and it may not need to get very far to be taken by any pike between you and those far off areas you fancy, enjoy them all!
NB: it is illegal under Environment Agency By-laws to move fish from one water to another with out consent and Pike Online supports this restriction on the translocation of fish wholeheartedly and recommends each angler observes this ruling and any that may apply on the individual fisheries you may visit.
