Lead Thrower, dont waste time and energy, on sliding floats, there are really very few river situations that call for a sliding float, and I would venture to say zero situations for steelhead, and just a handfull for salmon, as Osprey put it, maybe for lower river Springers, but thats about it.
you will be much happier fishing a fixed float on a long float rod. I fish jigs much like Osprey does, very aggresively and often "tail" or hold back a bit on my float to get the jig to swing into a particular piece of holding water, with a sliding float this is impossible.
when the float dissapears I reel as fast as possible,until I feel a little tension, and then set the hook, as hard as possible, followed by several more fast cranks of the handle, followed by a second hard, downstream hookset, the rest is up to the fish. dont be afraid of setting too hard, it isn't possible with long float rods, you arent actually setting as hard as you think.
bury that sucker! good skill, and stay with it, you'll soon be landing more steelies than you though possible.

Fuzzy

Silent Approach Jigs