You didn't nick it Chris. There will be somebody before me who's at least mentioned it somewhere and we can't keep track of everything ever written. And besides, it's good when somebody else brings their way of thinking into any method.
What I've been trying over the last three years, when it's reasonably calm and you can set everything very finely, is the lift-method for pike.
I use a very buoyant waggler float and a heavy lead (2oz usually), again semi-fixed, set the depth about 2ft to 3ft overdepth and tighten up so that the float almost disappears.
You get some amazing takes, from the float disappearing altogether, to it almost jumping out of the water.
Never use a weighted float and whatever the float does it is important to strike immediately. I miss very few takes and I've never yet deep-hooked a fish.
It's almost like the reverse effect of the drift float method, but with the same positive conservation results.
As you said, too many pike anglers don't think enough about how they pike fish.
Here's another thought to chew over and something I've thought about but not tried yet for pike (although I have for other species). I reckon it's got tremendous potential:
A very heavy swingtip set at 45 degrees, and the line clipped up (as light as possible) at the reel. Yes, I know it's only another form of drop-off indicator, but I'll leave you to think about it some more and let your imagination run free.