When I first started fishing with floats we had to make our own (1970s) and as a result they were fixed (peg thur a cork float). With our 8 1/2 foot rods could only fish to depths of 6 or 7 feet. Over several years caught a number of winter fish that were holding in 12 to 15 feet of water - clearly the bait was more than 5 feet off the bottom. Believe the fish were holding on the bottom but they moved that far to get the bait (low and clear water). Learned that I didn't have to be right on the bottom to catch winter fish.

As a side note several times had winter steelhead strike my red float on the surface (once in 12 feet of water).

Tight lines
Smalma