Man, you guys are working too hard. If jigs and baits under a bobber get hammered by fish when they are at half the water depth (and they do!) then who cares whether you are ticking away on the bottom every few feet. In fact you are probably fishing under the steelhead! Think about it....boondogging is a murderous technique on steelhead and salmon and rarely do you need to ever be even near the bottom.

As for leader length, again it makes less difference than some think. The best guide on Alaska's Situk River (Frank Deveraux) for years used straight corkies and leaders of only 6-9 inches length for spring steelhead. Many jig fishermen are going back to 12-15 inch leaders and are reporting good success.

If you bonk ol' Ike on the beezer with your lure or bait he hits it. It ain't nuclear science.