Todd,

I've assumed that your "last point" has been in active play since the first comeback regarding my questioning tying the Prom Dress to simulate a plug. This is a discussion of far more opinions than facts. I think sharing our opinions helps all of us broaden our respective perspectives, for those who are open to it. I'm having fun; I presume all participants are, or why else bother to post? I have no illusions about my posts here being gospel or anything close to it. This isn't like the main board where I do my best to share objective information on fish management, biology, ecology, etc. My pompous arrogant H2O tone is part of the act, and it usually works pretty good. I get more bites in here than I have fishing this year. I 'spose that makes me a troll.

AP,

Feathers hold scent well, but the problem is that then they smoosh down and have little or no action. So ya' makes yer choice, go for the visual or the smell. Ya' get one, but not both.

Coley,

Aye that. That's my primary reason for contributing what I have here. However I confess that as soon as Stam reveals his button being pushed I just can't resist probing a bit to see what pushes draw the most reaction. That's my mean streak, but my defense is the devil makes me do it.

OK Stam,

If my posts are nauseous I figure you wouldn't bother reading, let alone responding. And I apologize to the extent I've been pushing your bait button. But you have an eloquence of your own that makes it too fun to pass up.

As for my list, it isn't skewed. It's my list, and it's based on my experience and observation. I'm not putting anybody down with it. That's a value and judgement you're assigning to it, which you're free to do, but that's not my doing. As evidence, I never mentioned any of the drift fishing pioneers who you name, so clearly this is a put down that you're inventing. I don't judge people by how they choose to fish. If I did, I wouldn't spend the time I do on this forum. Instead I've found this to be a valuable place that transcends fishing methods and a lot more.

BTW, the first recorded sport fishing for steelhead in the U.S. was fly fishing, not drift fishing. Not trying to poke you in the eye with a stick, just sharing the history. Fly fishing tackle existed before spinning and casting reels, so it's natural and logical that the first attempts to catch steelhead on hook and line was with fly gear - greenheart and bamboo rods, those reels made in England I (humorously) referred to on page 1 or 2, silk lines and gut leaders. The first drift fishing I know of actually used fly rods and reels (and I kinda' thought maybe Todd was referring to that a couple pages back) linen line, gut leaders and worms or roe for bait. The method was known as strip casting, and was popular on the NF Stilly and Sky pre and post WWII.

As for your plug pulling example, we both know that is the exception to the rule and would be a difficult trick for anyone to pull off. And that example hardly exemplifies the far more typical plug pulling alongside the high bank side of the slow hole for 200 yards where the boatman is still doing all the work, all the fishing, and the front seaters are boat ballast in terms of who is fishing. And if people choose to do that as a conscious choice or because they really have a limited understanding of steelheading, I don't care. I'm not judging those foks, but I am judging the method in terms of what it means to me and how I would stack it up with alternative methods. I'm drawing a distinction between fishing tackle and methods and judging people. It looks like you make no such distinction and that it's all the same to you.

The pinnacle of the sport is whatever you decide it is for you, and I for me. While I might rate an upstream drag free dead drifting dry fly as the pinnacle of my steelheading, I don't for general trout fishing. That's how I've caught most of my stream trout, and so I've been practicing nymphing for trout, partly to broaden my fishing horizon and also because I know full well that trout eat nymphs for about 90% of their diet, not dry flies. And because nymphing, at least at the start, turns out to be more difficult than fishing dries.

And:
". . . I just don't appreciate the attitude.. and that is what I enjoy monitoring..." Man, that's just sick, or perverse, or something. And of course there's attitude. This is the fly fishing forum, and I've made a heck of an effort to exude the attitude. That you find it offensive and a put down to you and people who you hold in high esteem is funny, as in funny odd to me, since you invented the ascot fly label, and this forum is replete with all kinds of comments about fairy wands, Spey pride, and elite fly fags, and you've been azzcrack deep in most of that. Are you suggesting I should take some offense at that? I've interpreted that attitude is part and parcel of the schtick here. I could be wrong.

Dan,

I don't think I have Spidey senses, but whatever senses they are have surely been numbed by bait thuggery. But I'm off the clock now and intend to dull them with something else.

Sg