I've been following this thread for a while now and it's certainly true that no method or style of fishing, outside of the dry fly brigade, evokes such strong feelings in fisherman.
Here's my thoughts...which aren't worth much, it's true....
It's really only carp that can be fished for using the 'bolt rig' as they are under normal circumstances the only fish that shuts its mouth and 'bolts off' upon feeling resistance in its mouth. I once got in an awful tangle when a carp took my bait and it must have been a full 40 seconds before I was able to actually pull back....the carp was still gripping the bait at that point but soon spat it out again.......
However, there's always a
chance that a fish might self-hook itself....(note the bolt rig doesn't normally self-hook...the carp just shuts its mouth!) against the resistance of a weight or a perch bobber float for that matter.....and the 'lift method' is
supposed to use a single shot big enough to cock the float so it must be a possibility.
There seems to be two schools of thought though. Richard Walker who wrote about the Taylor brothers success with the method...and bear in mind he did actually fish with them....seems to view it in a different method to John Wilson who wrote rather forcefully on the subject having seen it done 'wrong' so often.
Wilson wrote that the float rising should 'fall-over' and it was
this falling that bore the weight of the single shot. A cantilever if you will?
This rather limits the distance at which you can fish the method if Wilson is to be followed as a single swan is going to need a HUGE float to lift it........not exactly subtle.......Wilson almost demands it be fished with a single bit of peacock quill attached to the line by a single rubber at the bottom and the float be cocked by loading the line against the weight....and it
must be a single weight.
I'd imagine the stretched rubber band is adding to the cantilever effect in truth, as it tries to lay the line tight against its body once more.....?
I think a lot of anglers set up a rig to show 'lift bites' but aren't actually fishing the 'lift method'.
Who cares if what you do produces fish?.......well John Wilson did a bit.......