With regards to the long leaders, a friend of a friend, on a river that shall not be named, has figured out an approach for silvers that uses a very long leader (8 ft). He has been doing very well. I feel fairly sure that the technique is not flossing the fish, because the bait is almost always swallowed. Deeply.

So at least in this one case, there is an angler who is using a long leader very effectively, appropriately, and legally. Can't speak for the Blue Creek crowd, I never fish there.