Slip floats or fixed, Just curious

I'm personally very new to steelhead fishing, but I plan on giving it a very solid try (once again) this spring in some new rivers I've found. Anyway, I know both are effective but I'm curious as to which is used more often in the Georgian bay area.

Is there a time and place for both, or is it really just preference? Thanks for any votes and or feedback, I feel like I mostly have float fishing figured out (at least to the point of effectively fishing) but there's always gonna be more to learn, especially with the trout game it seems.

Tight lines everyone!

You're right
There is a time and a place for everything
I use fixed floats when in the river and slip floats when in open water.
If it's more than 7 or 8 feet deep, the slip float will come out.

What type of float fishing do you do? You may deny yourself some bites. Eggs, jigs, spinners all work under a float. And don’t forget bottom bouncing without a float. All work in moving water.

I strictly use slip floats just for their convenience, to be fair I've never got a fish float fishing before. Missed two last year though (both drifting skein) so I'm getting the idea of it by now when it comes to dos and don'ts.

Also, just my two cents on bottom bouncing in rivers, although I know it can be done properly. Almost 90% of the time when I see people bottom bouncing, they're flossing (the fish are hooked on the side of the mouth because it basically drags across them.) I really don't think most people even mean to do it, but it seems really common so I just avoid bottom bouncing.

Oh, you know what I bet there is one big factor for most people. With a center pin setup, typically your rod is much longer than a casting or spinning setup. Meaning managing a long fixed float line is very doable, and likely more effective. Personally, I use a 7ft casting or spinning setup, so a slip float is much easier to manage,

(I'm getting a longer rod whenever it's in the budget, I know it makes managing your line during a drift much easier)

Correct

If you bottom bounce correctly it takes some skill as the hook/bait should go down stream first ( just as in float fishing) the small weight only helps to keep it in the strike zone. And we don’t rip the line back at the end of a drift as most float fishers do. Bottom bouncing has been around for many years.

A little off topic. I notice a lot of guys like to use the old Zebco cardinal spinning reels on the river. They fetch a pretty hefty price on the used market. What's the deal with these things and what do guys like about them compared to the newer open face spinning reels?

That's a great question, I've seen/heard a few people who love those old buggers and I have no clue why. I'm sure they work, but I can't imagine they compare to most new spinning setups.

When I steelheaded 30 days a year I mostly bottom bounced. You would average a cast and drift per minute and I usually fished six hours not including breaks.If you do the math and hopefully a few fish to break it up you would end up with approximately 10000 casts and retrieves per year. I could wear out a good quality reel in two years.

There were many older steel headers that used those old Cardinals and I don’t know if they rebuilt them or took better care of their gear but they used them for years and years. I think they just lasted better. They were too heavy for my liking but that was a personal thing.