Last summer I fished Blue Creek for the first time. One of the first things I noticed was everyone was fishing these rediculously long leaders that were like 6 to 10 feet long. much longer than my standard 3 to 4 foot leaders. my first thought was "these fish must be really spooky". I also noticed that thoes with the long leaders were the ones catching the fish. So I put on a 8 foot leader and eventually I caught a fish. After that first trip was when the "flossing on the Skok" threads began popping up. I saw quotes like "any leader longer than 4' is flossing not fishing" and " any leader longer than 3' should be illegal" and "with a 10'leader you wouldn't feel a bite anyway". I couldn't believe everyone that was fishing Blue Creek was intentionally flossing. In retrospect, I couldn't be certain but I'm pretty sure I hooked my fish inside the mouth. I should hope I would notice something strange if the hook was outside the mouth pointing in. Anyway, to be sure I wasn't indeed flossing I decided to investigate further. I went back to Blue Creek and decided to play the "eager netter". I netted 9 fish and all were hooked inside the mouth. With this I felt confident that long leaders fished from the bank did not = flossing. Are some fish flossed? I'm sure, but none that I saw. I cant explain why such long leaders are so successful at Blue Creek. But I don't think flossing is the answer.

Mike