I think this question is for Mr Paty. I seem to recall reading a tip he posted (can't find it again) about using his line and a sharpie to make it easy to repeat your fishing depth. Of course any other tips are welcome.

I mark my pole 2 feet up from my reel. Then use that to get depth after the length of my pole.

Just use the length of your rod to determine how much line you need.

That's what I've been doing i.e. using the rod. When it's a bit windy, I find I'm fighting with the loose line a bit.

What I do is use the memory the line has. When you catch a fish, the line will be stretched at the depth you caught the fish. Just let the line out till you see curves then you will be at the same depth. It's nice because everytime you catch a fish the line will tell you how deep it was.

some lines don't have the memory. i use old ambassadors that have the level wind feature that works when in free spool. i watch where the level wind is and can easily drop back there without any question.

sharpie/magic marker.......

One thing that has been working for me is I drop all the way to the bottom, start turning the reel handle really slow and counting the turns I make till I get a hit. The next time I drop down I just crank it the same number of times as the first hit and normally get another hit. At least thats what has been working for me at Ray Roberts.

That's how I do with my long rod's with casting reels, what about a spinning reel?

I'm using spinning reels...driving me nuts with the loose line trying to feed it out, hence the post.

magic marker...it's pretty precise

The easiest way is on the 1st fish pull your line under the keeper tab on your spool spinning reels only sorry

+1

Sharpie or my calibrated line pull (1 good pull = 2 feet). Sharpie works better when I'm on deeper fish.

I have two ways that I normally do.Usually pull out enough line that is the length of my rod . then pull line from the spool to first eye with arm extended. I am 5'6", so that is five foot.( it depends on your arm length ). I suggest get your rod and measure one foot from last eye to jig or hook (if you use minnows).Flip the bell and grab the line with your left hand (if you are right handed)and pull the line extending your hand outward. I usually use my thumb and index finger.now close the bell using a tape measure, measure the amount of line now. Now you know how much line you pulled out. In winter i drop all the way to the bottom and real up. Most reel tell how much line recovery they are. If you don't know, pull out 3 ft of line,now make make one complete revolution of the handle and measure the remaining line. Now you what your line recovery is. Most of my reels are 24 ", with some being 18 ". I hope this helps.