+1 Always Slack.
Fish will sometimes drop the bait and forget about it if they feel resistance, on extra calm days when I use two rods, I will actually leave the bail open and dab a bit of bright powerbait on my line where it exits the last eye on my rod, that way I can tell if I had a hit while I wasn't looking.
If you don't need the whole 1/8oz slider, you can use a very small split shot to pin your PB to the bottom, 9/10, they will still pull out slack with the shot.
There are ways to fish an open bail during somewhat rough weather, it can just be very tricky, I generally keep my rod pointed straight towards my offering and my tip close to the waters surface, the more line you have going from the tip of your rod to the surface of the water = the more effect the wind has on it, sometimes I even set the top eye of my rod just barely on the surface.