Over the years many different methods have evolved to deal with various similar problems, one of these has become firmly established and a very successful method in today's pike anglers armoury. This method is drift fishing and it allows a bait live to be presented to feeding pike normally unreachable by normal methods. Deadbaits can be used if you are limited to these, either by personal preference of by fishery restriction or lack of access to live baits, it is however less effective in most circumstance.
With the floats, which were previously hand made by the angler, now being readily available from the likes of Fox and ET Tackle, the method is now more reliable in that the tackle is designed and balanced to do its job properly and well. The tackle is not the method however, it is the means to an end and some points will only be learned by taking on board advice and by trial and error out on the bank.
Hopefully the following information 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 are 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 pike from difficult venues when you do it right!
The float in principal is a long stemmed affair with a large buoyant body, either a round poly ball or an egg shape made from either 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 Tackle which are available from most good tackle shops. These all now come complete with a very important an additional item, the buoyant stem, which is important to the success of this method, this is used to support the line or braid so that needs to remain on the surface immediately behind the float throughout the drift, this will be further 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 with a test curve of 2.75 or 3lb for controlling the tackle at distance and for setting the hooks when a bait is taken. The reel should have the capacity to hold 200 yards or more of 15 to 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 possible. Now with a pad loaded with line grease coat the line by running it thorugh the pad between your finger and thumb, 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 priodically!
Today its probably far better to invest in a quality floating braid and avoid having to mess around with grease. Its horrible stuff when its really cold and it becomes stiff in the can and on the line on the spool and difficult to feed to the drifting float!
Assembling the Terminal Tackle
It all starts with a depth stop in the form of a Powergum stop knot or Fox Braid Stop and then a large diameter bead (2), one that won't go through the end ring. The stop will need to fixed at the sort of depth you expect to be drifting through, add the bead and then add that additional buoyancy aid (3) 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 stop knot or Fox Braid Stop (4) and then secure the braid or nylon to the top swivel of (5) a 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) (5) (you can make your own) 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. This fixing of the weight is very important.
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 will pull off the stem and falls off the line!
You can see in the photo on the left just how the 'bouyant stem' works, it holds the line at the surface in all circumstances, the float is mounted 'bottom only' to the clip on the buoyant stem. Anyone who waggler fishes will understand the principle. However there is a fuller explanation of how this works in 'drift rig explained'.
From here on down attached to the uptrace via a 'safe-lok' link (6) is the hook trace,(7) made up from 20 to 30lb BS wire and two semi-barbed trebles in sizes from size 8 up to size 4 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 (8) hooked in the dorsal and flank or a dead bait hooked similarly you will be ready to start drifting.
If dragging a bait in shallow water, this can be tail mounted or head up mounted so that it will trail smoothly and not stop the float, baits should be small and perhaps semi-buoyant to reduce drag.
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 also 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, both close to you further out, 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 be about 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, (Mere's or Broad's) 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 mono 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!
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 
have 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!
If all this advice has been followed and your flat has drifted into a likely feeding area you should catch an additional pike or two.Don't become a 'drifter' only angler, but have the skill and tackle at hand and available if you find yourself in a swim with opportunities!
Rigs Plus 
