HeY Floatzman. Hawk from Minnesota here. I can vouch for the effectiveness of the float rod, baitcaster set up.

I fish lots of rivers in Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and found that it works pretty darned well. More than likely, I use a lot of the same small balsa floats that you do. My rig is set up (10 foot rod and baitcaster)with 10 pound Power Pro, and connected to 6 pound maxima ultragreen as a leader. Most of the time, I coat the first 30 yards of the Power Pro with a dry fly dressing to help it float on the surface, if I go for a real long drift. The reason I run a shorter rod, is I fish a lot of rivers where a longer rod would be too restrictive. Usually a looper bug,cadis or small stone fly,1/16th ounce jig tipped with a waxie, or a size 6 egg hook and a 5 or 6 egg spawn sack will due the trick during this time of the year.

I saw a few guys running center pins over at Tippy Dam in Michigan, and up on the U.P. and they were doing well. The only turn off for me, was the effort required to retrieve your line. I'm always looking for ways to fish differently, and it would be a giggle to learn the center pin gig from a Canuck. Do you ever fish the St Mary's, Saugeen, or Ganaraska? If so, maybe I could make a road trip, and we could fish together some time. I'm a puppy, and have only been a steelhead addict for 23 years. Hope this helps you out. You can e-mail me if you want to get in to more particulars. Could also send you some rigs that have worked for me in the Midwest.