I keep hearing "Keep your rig about a foot off the bottom." Ok, but, how do you know how deep the water is, and how far off the bottom your rig is?? I'm sure there is some simple way you guys know, and I'll feel like an idiot, but hey, I'm a rookie (Smolt)! Thanks for the mass help so far.

POTAIRE, im no grand jig thrower but i personally test the bottom by going to deep and then bringing it up as i need, say if i using a slip float i slide the stopper up 4-6 inches at a time and then see if im still hanging up if not then i will go down a lil at a time so as to not get to far off the bottom, like i said im not a very avid jig and bobber guy but im gonna start tying my own jigs this year..so how ya been doing on the carbon for steelies this year? ***schitzo**

I use a fixed float and rarely fish my jigs deeper than 2'- 3' below the float. Using the foam(dink) floats you can tell alot by paying close attention to the floats position. It should be standing straight up, if it is dragging on bottom the top of the float will lean or point downstream. If you have too much drag on your line the float will point upstream. The key to success is to achieve a drag free drift with your rig. And don't hesitate to run you jig several feet off bottom, remember fish can only see up not down. They will move quite a ways to take a jig. Good Luck.

I am strictly the bobber and egg guy. I mostly fish small creeks and rivers. I always start deep and work up. Most of the time my offerings are two or more feet off the bottom. I usually do this for two reasons, to avoid hang ups such as large rocks and know when that float goes down I got something, and also since I use fixed dink floats I can cast much easier.