$400 dollar rod-check
$200 dollar reel-check
Simms gear from head to toe-check
9 foot leader-check
tuft of yarn (black or purple)-check
hefty rip each and every cast after approx. 3-5 seconds-check
multiple foul hooked fish, one after another until the triumphant cry of..................it's in the face, on the head, whatever.....priceless!
The long and the short of it is this...THE FISH NEEDS TO TAKE THE HOOK, NOT THE HOOK TAKING THE FISH!
It seems easy to cast your glance on the guy with the white or yellow 7 foot broom handle rod with the oversized spinning reel, but in reality they are the minority. When you stand back and observe at the Skok, Satsop, Hump, or anywhere else where kings and silvers congregate in freshwater in our fine State, what you actually see is the first eight lines of this post. If your hucking a gob of lead and 9 foot of leader your one of them. It is remarkable to me that the same guys that you see doing the 5 second rip on salmon are the same guys that are carefully dissecting water and working hard for a bite come steelhead season. In a boat or on the bank, they fish jigs under a float, drift eggs, pull plugs and set the hook when necessary, not as a matter of routine each and every cast in hopes of finally getting one somewhere from the gill plate forward. Flossing (gentleman snagging as some refer to it) is a joke. You can dress it up and justify it any way you want but if you think it is legit or sporting (in WA), you are our of touch. Let the fish take the hook (offering) not the other way around.