The reel’s line clip is also vital for the way I like to feed. I actually cast beyond the feed and hit my line clip so it is around three to five reel turns further out. This allows me to reel in three, four or five turns to sink the line adequately. Once the float is in position I often open the bail arm of my reel and pay out some line, just to let the bulk reach the bottom and settle everything properly. However, in shallower swims like today that is not always so necessary. Long rods are unwieldy, poles have limited lengths and legering restricts you to presenting a static bottom bait. The solution to this conundrum is to use the slider float. Our next port of call, on our European slider tour, is Hungary, who emerged throughout the late 1990’s and early 2000’s as the NEW force in world angling. They were led by a group of talented and dedicated world class anglers, such as dual WC Tamas Walter, and driven by a desire to develop their angling into a manufacturing industry. Perfect and Cralusso have been two companies who have taken this force and turned it to creative use. I mentioned earlier that the Perfect slider floats seemed to inject new life into the method, even for top English anglers like Will Raison and Steve Gardener, who started using these floats for all their slider work. Perfect floats were the first to get the 20%, or less, brass loading in the base of the float accurately. Since then, Hungary has carried on the great tradition of quality float manufacturing and many of the top waggler floats on the market today, not to mention the many pole varieties, still originate from Hungary.

My hooklength is the ever-reliable Supplex Fluorocarbon in 0.10mm to 0.15mm diameters. This stuff is surprisingly strong in water and less susceptible to spin-ups on the retrieve than mono. Gentle casting. Firstly you need to be able to cast in a very gentle but positive way without rushing. No urgency, no ‘punching’ the float out hard, just take it easy and use a smooth repeatable action time after time. You can do that, can’t you? I have three favourite hooks for this method. A Kamasan B560 is ideal for light to medium slider work, small skimmers and smallish baits, usually in a size 16. For more positive work I really like the Drennan Fine Maggot in a size 14. This pattern is actually only currently available overseas, but it is similar to a Kamasan B511 but bronze and very strong for its wire gauge. If barbless hooks are enforced then I use a Kamasan B911 F1 in sizes 16 and 14.In this world of commercial fishing, where the pole is the first item out of the bag (and often the ONLY item, let’s be honest) many young anglers today don’t hone the skills of fishing with a rod and line. Then, because of the aforementioned requirement for gentle casting and feathering, slider fishing especially can frighten an angler away who doesn’t regularly use rod and line. The ‘bulk’ shot needs to be positioned away from the float to ensure that it does not bang against the float on the cast/impact with the water. I tend not to loose feed as a rule because the fish can easily come up of the bottom, and when fishing 18 to 20ft deep, it can be a nightmare trying to find the depth they are feeding. So anytime I feel the need to feed, it’s done via two balls of groundbait to keep the fish nailed down. Fishing the Slider

Whilst purist anglers on the pole are concerned with placing a bait with pinpoint accuracy, and to precise depths, fishing with the slider doesn’t require the same level of attention. But don’t think that you are going to miss bite after bite because, though appearing to be very crude, a slider will surprise you with the frequency that you get unmissable bites, very often showing lift bites as opposed to the float going under. The fish takes the bait, lifts the line off bottom, and then lifts the lowest dropper shot. At this point your float starts to rise as the weight of the lowest shot is removed. I will remind you of what was stated earlier, “every shot must have a discernible effect on the float”. Then tie a long hooklength, between a metre and 1.50 metres to the swivel. To this add three No.6, or two No.6 and a No.8 dropper. I use no swivel on the hooklength itself, preferring to go for a much longer and more spaced out sort of hooklength, which I believe adds to the efficiency of the whole rig.England and Italy may be the two classic homes of slider fishing, but it's great to see how other nations are taking the style forward. I mentioned at the start that Pierre Francois originally renewed my interest in slider fishing with his simple tube system. Here is how his system works: If I’m getting the bait intercepted on the way through the swim, then this is where the two stop knots come into play to slide the one up the line to enable fishing off the bottom. Also, the line of number nine shot I’ve attached, I can slide a few down to the hook length to get a hook bait to fall faster through the water. Casting the Slider

One of the latest stop knot trends to come out of Italy is that of using marker braid, rather than mono line. This is a strong braid of between 10 and 15lb, which the carp boys use specifically on their marker/spod rods. The braid is capable of biting the reel line very tightly and has the added advantage over nylon of being bright green or yellow and thereby easy to spot! Rigs can be made-up and stored more easily, as you only need a small winder for the float adaptor and the bulk shot to sit on. All your floats can travel safely in a float tube! Once you’ve got your head around fishing the slider, it is a brilliant method to use. Don’t be fooled into thinking it is just a deep water method either, as I’ve used it 12ft of water as well as the deeper 16ft plus areas.

Hookbaits

Get the basics right and it’s a great method and a really enjoyable way to fish. Hopefully, my advice and tips will convince you to give it a go! This may seem crude but it still meets the criterion that every shot is still having a discernible effect on the float. If a fish dislodges the anchor shots, no matter how many there are, the float will invariably shoot up to clearly indicate the bite.