I have beaten floating pole and floating bait bans. The way I do it is fish 12-18" deep and match hook for bait. For expanders I use a size 16 and for bread a size 10. 'Bread floats' your thinking, but just get a thick sliced loaf and get rid of the crust. Cut up remaining bread into 2cm squares, put back in bag.
When fishing just take a square of bread out of bag and flatten it to get rid of all the air, you now have a thin bit of bread. Quickly and crudely put the hook in the middle of it and ship out, try not to drag it through the water as it may fall off. Lower the bread in and it will sink, expand and cover your hook. loose feed over your pole tip as normal and hover your tip just above the water, your not fishing a floating bait and not floating your pole! Just keep lifting the bread up to the top and let it fall at its own pace. I know this works a treat and the carp are suckers for it. You will get more fish on the hook for sure.
