I gotta say good post Ryan (geez, that's hard for me to say - jk ). I have found myself getting lazier in recent years as regards to adjusting lead to fit the situation. It really came to mind when I watched the good drift fishing video by Bill and Nick. 'Zog is of course right at the top among driftfishers and he likes to tick bottom every 10 feet or so. And they showed this with underwater cameras. I think in most situations I would agree with this presentation for steelhead (although chinooks respond a little better to a slower drift of eggs, thus I use a little bit more weight for them). But this isn't always best in all situations, thus I like Ryan's work ethic for adjusting weights frequently. If fish are present and not responding to the deeply presented bait/lure that is moving close to bottom and near current speed (maybe a timy bit slower) as with the recommendation by 'Zog, then next try lighter amounts to see if the fish are suspended off bottom a ways, which will sometimes be the case in murkier water when the mud and silt content moving along the bottom bothers the fish's gills and make them move up a little. If neither of those presentations work for fish present, then try adding more weight for a slow drift thru them. In this scenario I would recommend having a floating lure (corky, rag, SnG, etc.) with your eggs or shrimp so as to keep them up off bottom a few inches while the lead is moving slowly along right on bottom. It doesn't take that much time to be flexable and try these things out on fish that are there. Then follow the drift fishing by going to your jigs, hardware, plugs, etc. to see if you can entice a strike. Then go cover other water to make better use of your available time. My 0.02.

RT