hey guys i live in the northern part of california and have seen the big weight and corkie thing for over 20 years on the mad river. the large corkie is only for the guy to see where his hook is while sight fishing. they wait until a fish swims by and they set the hook. these guys used to put their hook about 18 inches above the weight which was tied to the end of the line. a small piece of yarn was placed on the hook for the game wardens to see. i seen tinfoil used as well. this was outlawed 15 -20 years ago. second, when fishing a deep hole the corkie keeps the hook off the bottom. the fish swims into or past your line and the hook is set. with the corkie floating off the bottom it makes a "u" shape turn during the hook set and ends up somewhere on the belly of the fish. these guys are easy to spot, becuase they set the hook and run backwards. they have to run becuase a fish might have ran into the line several feet above the hook. we also have a huge "lining" (long leader) problem down here. they closed the mouth of the klamath river last year, and this year basically resricted a long leader set up. this concerns me becuase no one can fish a closed area. some one posted earlier than these guys might be plunking, i dont think so. plunking works best in higher flows, not low clear water. anyways my two cents worth.