Looking at this method on a personal level, it is the one that in my mind, when arriving at a fishery, is in competition with drifting as to whether one or the other is a viable method for that water or conditions on the day, are there likely holding spots that need to be fished in this way?

There are many floats that can be used to fish a successful sunk float paternoster, really and buoyant through the middle slider can be brought into use, a favourite for may years has been a polystyrene ball of around 2 inch diameter, coloured black. The float here is a modern twist on that and is a transparent bubble, purposely made to fix to the uptrace. These are available from both Fox and Prowla and are designed to be securely attached to the uptrace top swivel doing away with the need to use stop knots and beads or float stops, although you can use them with these and not lock the float to the trace. However the rig works best as designed, so do give it a try.

As is often repeated on Pikeonline, this rig uses a rotary uptrace, either a commercially made one like is shown here or a home made one using a rotary uptrace kit form Fox or a home made set up as described in the ‘Rig Bits - DIY’ page.

Whichever option you choose to adopt, the uptrace should be at least twice the length of the hook trace, ideally being around 30 inches of 30lb BS multi-strand (7) wire with a good swivel at the top and a quick link swivel at the bottom to allow for the ‘rotten bottom’ paternoster link to be attached. The name rotten bottom describes a weak link that holds the rig to the lead, which is designed to ‘break first’ if snagged. Ideally the maximum strength should be around half the breaking strain of the hook trace, but still tough enough to cast the lead weight you will be using. This should be around 11/2 to 2 ounces, but you may need a heavier one in some circumstances. The rig is not so much a ‘distance rig’ but a targeted short to middle distance rig for difficult swims, live baits don’t prosper well when cast long and hard, so bear that in mind.

The rig will work well in open water but it is a rig that helps target pike in difficult situations, typically close to lie up swims that may be snaggy or difficult to fish without the risk of snagging the hooked fish, sunken trees or structures are typical spots, Or optionally you want to place a bait on a feature where pike are likely to patrol throughout the day and you want the bait to be kept in position until one swims through, ends of or down the side of a bar or drop off are typical features. This is sunken float paternoster territory.

The bait is mounted with the upper treble in front of the dorsal and a retained with a piece of wide (1/4 inch) elastic band or a red bait flag on the bait holding hook, the end treble is then placed in the pectoral fin root area. The trace should be of a size to the suit the bait, a roach or similar of between 2 and 4 ounces, with two size, 4, 6, 8 or 10 semi-barbless treble on 15 to 18 inches of minimum 20lb BS multistrand (7) wire. This should be attached to the rotary uptrace swivel via a quick link, this should have a silicone tube covering it once connected to prevent snagging.. This can be built into the hook trace to save on the amount of links and swivels at the rotary rig end.

This rig allows the bait to swim freely round and around itself  in a 36 inch circle and to swim up and down to the extent of hook trace length. On a rotten bottom of 36 inches the bait will swim up to 4 1/2 feet off bottom and down to within 18 inches of the bottom. The rig is set up to fish in around 6 feet deep swims or deeper, not less otherwise the float will be breaking surface, so depth of swims will dictate whether it’s the rig to use.

You can adjust the trace lengths and rotten bottom length, but using a surface paternoster may be more practical, keeping this rig for deeper water fisheries and swims. It can be fished on rivers, drains etc, but the hooking style would see the bait fished with the upper hook in the top lip and the end hook in the flank/belly behind the pectoral fin.

The rotten bottom is a critical part of this rig, it has to withstand casting, but be weak enough to break if the lead gets snagged. The range of braking strains is likely to be around 8 to 9lb BS mono and can be further ‘weakened’ by tying a couple of knots in its length to create a ‘weak’ spot. As mentioned earlier, this is not a distance rig, so learn to cast it ‘gently’ to avoid break off’s of the lead and to conserve baits, as live baits don’t do well when cast hard and long!

Bite indication? Well you might ask, this method demands a audio-visual indicator, either a purpose made audible drop back/backbite mounted under the reel spool or a drop off indicator fished in conjunction with a carp type roller bite alarm on the font rod rest.

The key to setting the bite indication up for this rig is immediately after casting allow the flat to fully rise vertically, the after a few moments, with the rod in the rests, recover line until it is hanging off the water from the rod tip for a reasonable, but not tight. Now slowly tighten the line to the float so that the line is ‘tighter’ but still hanging down slightly, then, by hand pull the line back at the butt ring so that the line tightens straight to the float and then let it go, it should go back through the rings and hang loose again, this confirms the float is working and fully up, now tighten the line a little more and then attach the bite indicator(s) and pull them down a little to a horizontal position, then down to 45 degrees, then let go, if everything is working correctly the indicator should rise back up when the float rises again, continue tensioning until the float is fully rien and the indicator arm is level, switch on the audible alarm and await the indicator to unclip or fall back. See how backbiter / drop back alarms work!

If the indicator should fall back and rise again be ready to strike as a bit is happening, if doesn’t rise and unclip, strike as soon as possible.

Don’t allow yourself the comfort that you can wander away from the rod as you have an audible bite indicator to warn you, stay close. Its also the law, not to be no more than 3m from your rods!

Enjoy sunk float paternostering.