I will take that challenge! I'll be going out there again Friday morning, so I'll try the 2ft leader and see what happens.

Fishprince, you're right I'm just ignorant of how flossing works - why the hook ends up in thier mouth and not somwhere else. I'll try that when I find a clear running river in a real fishery (assuming I can find one).

I thougt that it was obvious that my 'bragging' about my gear was done in jest, and that even if it were taken the wrong way that my admission that I was still new and still learning the ins and outs would further illustrate the (apparently unsuccessful) attempt at humor. The only assumption that I make is that I'm probably one of the most comfortable people on the river as the Simms waders are more comfortable than any regular pants that I own, much less waders that I've tried. I bought them 4 days ago and am still experiencing and getting used to the 'awesome-ness' of them. Do I really 'need' them for the kind of fishing that I do? Probably not, but when I put them on just for a kick (they were pretty expensive), I couldn't get over how great they felt - they felt custom made for me. So I bought them.

Here is an embarrassing story about why I bought the Simms to begin with: A friend of mine and I went out on opening day and all I had were hip waders. The water was clearly too high for them, so my friend (who has alot of fishing gear) lent me a second pair of chest waders that he had in the his trunk. I said to him once I had donned them, "Dude, I think these are too small for me." To which he replied, "ah, don't worry about it, they're tough. Just give them back to me at the end of the season."

I used them for up until 4 days ago when, as I was bent over unhooking a fish, I heard a 'pop' coming from behind me...the seat of the waders had blown out!

I'll report back after I try the shorter leader.

Thanks for reading.