How do you know where your jig is? Critical question. Partly experience. Partly feel. Partly analysis. The experience part you'll have to get yourself.

Feel. If you never tick the bottom and feel the jig bump, you probably are not close to the bottom. Slow down. Use a heavier jig. Use lighter line. Or some combination.

Analysis: A little high school geometry. What angle does your line enter the water? How deep is the canoe (I never carry a depth finder in the backcountry, so an educated guess is needed here)? With those combinations, how much line do you need to hit the bottom? When you cast, the jig hits the water and you tighten the line between the rod tip and the water, the jig will swing back toward the canoe rather than drop straight down. If you think the jig is directly below where it landed and it did not sink on a loose line, you're wrong. This is where your finger on the line is important as fish often hit on the initial fall, but you can feel a strike with pretty slack line -- if you are paying attention.

Using the guidelines above, you should have a good idea where your jig is, how close to the bottom it is, whether casting from deep to shallow or drifting along.

Many tournament bass anglers fish jigs on bait casting equipment all the time.