Fred Foster's Swing Tipping

is an excellent (out of print) book by Fred Foster (isbn 0-304-29467-5). As usual I'm going to quote from a few pages:

Imagine you are just lifting the hook gently but firmly into the fish and you've got the idea.

As soon as the bomb has settled, I tighten up to it in the normal way and set the swing tip. That's the starting position. I leave the bait there for one minute and then twitch it forward for the first time. ... I give my bait a twitch once every 30 seconds after leaving it for the opening minute.

On hard fished waters, my aim is always to fish as far out from the bank as the prevailing conditions will permit.

As I see it, the hook is always far more visible to the fish when the bait is suspended (as it mostly is with the float) than it is when the bait is on the bottom as it always is when swing tipping.

I prefer a 3 foot hooklength.

In my experience, accurate casting is more vital when swing tipping than in any other form of fishing I have known.

There isn't such a thing as a magic bait and if those who suspected it spent their time practising their tipping instead of wasting it on wild goose chases like this they'd start to give the likes of me a closer run for our money.

Accurate synchronization in the placing of the hookbait in relationship to the feed is one of the most important requirements if you are to achieve any real success.

It's a case of practice makes perfect until you can drop that bomb on the same spot every time.