well it has been a while since I have posted a tech like tip so here goes.
this is a tip about a technique that I am far from mastering but I have done a few times with great succes and that I spent a few days learning, this last week with a good friend in California. we call it doggin most call it hover fishing, free drifting bait etc.... it is very similiar to boon doggin or side drifting for steelhead but with a few modifications.
I first saw this in action by a tillmaook area guide who has a heck of a reputation for whaleing on fish by the name of Clancy Holt. he is a master of this technique and I have seen it in action. how he rigs it I am not sure but here is how we do it and what we do it with.
The idea is to get a fairly light action rod and tie off a dropper rig like you would to troll with. I like anywhere from a 1 to 6 oz. wieght depending on the current and the depth you need to fish. mine looks like this.
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I start with a main line of 50 pound braid and add a slideing dropper about 18 inches long then tie off with a 3 oz wieght. I have found that 3 oz is where I usualy end up fishing in water between 20 and 30 feet with little to no current. I have only fished this in tideal areas never up higher in systems so in tidal areas this is some what easy to find and the curent is similar to that found in nearly every tidal area just to give you an idea. but from that I add a 8mm bead and tie on a swivel to a leader of between 20 and 30 pounds which is light by most standards for the fall. I like to fish a longer leader about 5 to 6 feet in length and I split that with another swivel or a bead chain to keep tangles down. I have not yet broken off with this set up on a 30 pound line but I do usualy bobber fish with 40 pound leader so I always think about it while I fish. but for this even 20 will work as long as you are carefull. then I finish it off with a 6/0 hook with an egg loop and in the end it look's like this.
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to that I add a good size glob of eggs and now I am ready to fish!!
This is where the technique is won or lost I like to mark my line every 5 feet so i know exactly how deep I am fishing just like I do my bobber rods. then as I mark fish in a hole I simply strip my line down to the desired depth and I am able to keep that bait right in there faces and like you geussed you can motor the boat right around or stay right on top of the fish and hold that bait right there for as long as you want in most cases I like to slowly drift through the entire hole and I lift and lower my bait as I mark fish in driferent areas of the run. with a good kicker or even oars you can keep the angle of the line off of the rod at a 90 degree angle to ensure that the bait is right next to the boat. this is where a heavier weight is good since it keeps the drag out of the line and allows the line to be nearly straight down so every bite is seen on the rod. and the bait is kept right where it needs to be.
now the bite, the bite is a funny bite I have only seen one good pound down most of the bites are a fluttery bite for me where the rod sort of wiggles around or slowly bow's. Just like a bobber bite always wait for the wieght of the fish then just lift it up hard there is no need for a hammering hook set since the bait right beside you. the hook angle is great and with braid you have no stretch so a solid hook set is the norm. just work on keeping the angle at 90 degrees and slowly controling the bait around the hole at the right depth and you will get fish. it is like mooching with eggs. so you must wait it out and be sure the fish has a good bite on it.
this will work in almost all the spots that you can bobber fish and unlike bobber fishing you can adjust the depth nearly imediately and keep the bait in the water rather then reeling up and fixing a bobber stop. we all know the longer the bait is in the water the better. This is a new to me way of doing it that I hope can get used by some of you as well to put more fish in the boat like it has for me. I am far from a pro at this so I will be doing little things this summer and fall to learn this way better but as I do I will post new ways of doing it. but if you think about it when you get it learned it can be deadly efective in tidewater for sure!! just imagine being able to hold a bait of eggs right infront of a bunch of chromers waiting to move up river I remeber a quote by a great eggg fisherman and guide Scott Amerman in an older isue of S.T.S in it he said he thought he could get any fish to bite in tidewater if he gets his eggs infront of them.( or somthing very similar sorry if I mis quote you Scott
) this has been through my mind a million time's since I read it and this is a nails technique to doing just that puting baits infront of fish and keeping them there in a natural slow drift!!
good luck this fall and summer
SalmonJeff
a chinook secret now out of the bag!!
I'll have to try it this fall.
I've seen Clancy and some others put on several "clinics" over the years. 
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