hmm there is something i'd like to make a small note about and thats that many enviromental groups feel that fishing line is a problem and ya know what they are probably right.. my suggestion is that noone throws away fishing line at least in the river i'd also suggest that we use as heavy line as possible to avoid losing line in the river.. just trying to keep up out of the enviromental gun sights thats all
tight lined
rob

rob, good point. I have to admit I've never thought about how going light leaves more line in the water. Like most, I've gone 4# test on kings, or such, at rare times just to say I've done it. But 98% of the time I use line that is plenty adequate for the fish I'm going for because I'm a believer that they shouldn't be played too long, for obvious reasons. For example, there is no way I would regularly fish in a stream with 8# test line or leader that has wild steelies in it, even if I could say "I hardly ever break off", and even if it meant not getting as many hook-ups due to not getting as good of a drift, or the fish will see it, or whatever. Thanks for giving me another reason not to regularly go light.

I don't think line broken off by fish is a significant part of the problem. Most of the wads and tangles of mono that I have picked up along the riverbanks appear to have merely been spooled off the reel and dropped. Who knows why? I'm afraid we're dealing with Homo slobbosus here, an unfortunately not-so-rare species that can easily be identified by the trail of empty bait containers, beer cans and assorted debris left behind.

More than once I have lost a setup only to have a fish come flying out of the water with the lost setup in his mouth later on. So I know that lost gear does hook fish.