Northwest Fishing Reports

I hear people all the time claiming, "They Dont Floss the fish in the rivers bite my corky and yarn" Come on now. Once the fish are in the rivers they no longer eat, you are either flossing or you are prompting them to strike out of agression. I spoke to a Game Warden and his advice to catch fish FLOSS and FLOSS hard(there was more than this but I'll keep it simple) Everyone down there is flossing but wont admit it.

Am I off balance or right on??????

right

Hooking a fish in the mouth is the only legal way to bring a fish in when fishing freshwater. Flossing is nothing more than a technique to get the job done. If you get right down to it, what's to say swinging a fly, spoon or spinner through a drift isn't flossing? What could be more sporting than hooking a fish in the corner of the mouth? Anti-flossers get over yourselves and give it the recognition it deserves, a good technique that solves lock-jaw.

I am a very experienced angler. I just thought I could head to a river and catch anything that swims. I was wrong. I caught the non moving stuff such as rocks, sticks and logs and of course myself..I spent the whole winter reading, watching tips on you-tube, watching Hawg Quest, all trying to figure out fishing in the river system. To be able to detect a fish takes skills, patience, and time. There are some anglers that I have seen I am guessing are really trying to snag a fish with the soul purpose of keeping the fish regardless how it is hooked. More than most times on the Puyallup, I have hooked them in the mouth. I think the term flossing is over used in a negative way. Well whatever you want to call it, to quote G-man: "Anti-flossers get over yourselves and give it the recognition it deserves, a good technique that solves lock-jaw."

I'm NOT going to show my stupidity and ask what 'flossing' is.

http://www.outdoorcanada.ca/special/opi ... acas.shtml

Check this link out.

Some people call it flossing, the state calls it drift fishing. Its a legal fishing technique. They even show you how to do it on the website. If you dont like it, you can always go plunking or float fish.

what we need is some underwater cameras to once and for all solve this debate - and even then I doubt it would help. When I first heard this debate years ago it was any leader over a certain length was considered flossing - now we're saying any drift fishing is flossing? Who's to say that jig off of a float didn't drift into an open steelhead's mouth? Really, unless you can see the fish pursue the lure how can we ever be certain?

Maurice wrote:I hear people all the time claiming, "They Dont Floss the fish in the rivers bite my corky and yarn" Come on now. Once the fish are in the rivers they no longer eat, you are either flossing or you are prompting them to strike out of agression. I spoke to a Game Warden and his advice to catch fish FLOSS and FLOSS hard(there was more than this but I'll keep it simple) Everyone down there is flossing but wont admit it.

Am I off balance or right on??????

Maybe I misunderstand what flossing is, but if I understand it right , isn't it a form of snagging???

From WDFW

Snagging
Attempting to take fish with a hook and line in
such a way that the fish does not voluntarily take the hook(s) in its mouth. In freshwater,
it is illegal to possess any fish hooked
anywhere other than inside the mouth or on
the head.

I am by no means a expert, but the way I understand it, the differance between the flossing and drift fishing is what is done at the end of the drift.

G-Man wrote: Anti-flossers get over yourselves and give it the recognition it deserves, a good technique that solves lock-jaw.

I really hope you are being sarcastic....

Fishing doesn't involve long leaders and tufts of yarn, accompanied by the multiple hook sets per cast....There is zero sport in that.

Figure out how to catch em legally....As one of our notable members (Marc Martyn) signature states: "When it comes down to it, it is really up to the fish." I do not feel that the next option is to snag or floss fish. If they don't bite, then don't go ripping hooks through their holding water....
.
Drift fishing can be done and can be effective, minus flossing. You can only keep fish that are hooked INSIDE the mouth, flossing leads to a lot of hooks set outside the mouth or elsewhere on the body, which means you can't keep them.

Maurice wrote:I hear people all the time claiming, "They Dont Floss the fish in the rivers bite my corky and yarn" Come on now. Once the fish are in the rivers they no longer eat, you are either flossing or you are prompting them to strike out of agression. I spoke to a Game Warden and his advice to catch fish FLOSS and FLOSS hard(there was more than this but I'll keep it simple) Everyone down there is flossing but wont admit it.

Am I off balance or right on??????

If you can figure it out, you can get a fish to bite in a river. Put your time in. They will bite; not always, and often times it isn't easy, but should you rip a hook through their mouth if they don't bite? No.

Figure out how to get a fish to bite in the river, drift fishing isn't the only technique out there.

Certainly don't become a flosser/snagger. Many of our Puget Sound rivers are full of flossers and snaggers (see: Skokomish River, Samish River, Puyallap River) and these places have become nothing but snag and floss fests, full of "fisherman" with a lack of respect for our fish and our rivers...

Do you happen to know the name of the Game Warden you spoke to? I am highly concerned about the state of our WDFW enforcement if one of our wardens is suggesting flossing. Please expand on this story, as this is a highly concerning matter.

I don't have a problem with flossing. I do have a problem with snagging. Too many people can't get over the fact that its two different techniques. Fishing boards have blown apart by people taking sides over the issues. Gamies don't write tickets for flossing. They do write a lot of tickets for deliberate snagging.

I dont know the name of the game official and cant say for sure they were a game warden, other than they were carrying a metal clipboard and wearing a wdfw hat and shirt. The statement may have only been for the river I was about to fish because I was not on the river yet i was in a parking lot.

I have tried many if the various techniques on this river from drifting dick nites, and jigs, corky and yarn on about 18-20 inch leaders. I have caught fish but few and far in between. I have fished other rivers that are nice and clear using a similiar setup, and caught a few fish.

Here is what I see as the def of flossing, can anyone verify or correct this

Flossing: the use of long leaders in rivers, in which are casted and drifted were fish are holding and then are slowly pulled through the drift which will pull the leader through the fishes mouth until the hook catches the fish in the mouth or other part of the head.

Any fish hooked in the mouth or head is legally hooked freshwater only(according to the way the rules are written)

As the anti snagging rule reads you cant have a wieght less than 12 inches above the hook or below the hook of course only one single point hook maybe used

but I guess the question remains, is flossing legitimate, the answer comes down to each individual and how they feel. And the debate goes on

Maurice wrote: Flossing: the use of long leaders in rivers, in which are casted and drifted were fish are holding and then are slowly pulled through the drift which will pull the leader through the fishes mouth until the hook catches the fish in the mouth or other part of the head.

I understand it as what you said but not slowly retrieved, it is allowed to drift down to where they think the fish are and rip the line back with a huge hook set, even though no bite was felt. Trying to hook one. That was my understanding, and why I thought it seemed more like snagging then fishing.

Maurice wrote: Any fish hooked in the mouth or head is legally hooked freshwater only(according to the way the rules are written)

but I guess the question remains, is flossing legitimate, the answer comes down to each individual and how they feel. And the debate goes on

Don't forget the part where it says "voluntarily take the hook(s) in its mouth"

Flossing seem to be a gray area, everybody looks at it differently.

okay man flossing is actually the use of a leader over 4 feet and the use of a large or medium sized bead.. I run 7 foot leaders with just yarn when its needed and its in the mouth I never set the hook. and you misconception on not feeding in freshwater your right BUT and this is the big one your wrong about the eatting of eggs you see and no offence I am a fish tech for the state and for my thesis in college to finish my degree I wrote a paper on why salmon eat or more so crush eggs with there jaws... and they do this with only other speices eggs as a part of say a coho trying to survive over a chum or pink. but as for flossing bead and hook on a leader longer then 4 ft thats my input

driftercn83 wrote:okay man flossing is actually the use of a leader over 4 feet and the use of a large or medium sized bead.. I run 7 foot leaders with just yarn when its needed and its in the mouth I never set the hook. and you misconception on not feeding in freshwater your right BUT and this is the big one your wrong about the eatting of eggs you see and no offence I am a fish tech for the state and for my thesis in college to finish my degree I wrote a paper on why salmon eat or more so crush eggs with there jaws... and they do this with only other speices eggs as a part of say a coho trying to survive over a chum or pink. but as for flossing bead and hook on a leader longer then 4 ft thats my input

this mkaes no sense at all.

first off, if you were a fish tech I think you would provide more info on this then "I wrote a paper in college".

Come on Mr. fish tech........give us someong a little more technical on this subject.

Not trying to come off wrong, but if your job is fish then I think you can provide much more info then waht you have.



Tight lines everyone

Well those that fish the puyallup may have a different perspective than A9. I am not saying that fish don't bite there. Flossing is the norm, and it is the norm to hook the fish in the mouth. If you are not you are not flossing correctly. I don't like fishing the puyallup and stay away from it unless a buddy makes me go there. Last year when fishing with bait there a game warden told me to switch to yarn and use a longer leader...

I'm not going to choose sides, but on the puyallup 95 percent of the fish i catch are in the mouth. I hate seeing the guys out there that set the hook on every little bump, and snag the fish. Last night i saw a guy snag a silver about 5lbs in the tail and throw it in his truck and leave. Even after i suggested he release it, and that it was foul hooked.

My dentist told me to floss after every meal. :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
Flossing with fishing leader??????................ That can't be good for your teeth or gums???.......

But seriously, as a fishing technique come on, it's a little like shooting blindly into the woods to hunt deer. Not very effective. If anybody thinks the salmon or steelhead line up with their mouths open so you can drag a leader of any length through it, come on. It's just non-sence. People fish long leaders all over the place, especially when the fish are spooky. As for not biting on yarn...... get a couple of the fishing videos with underwater footage. Salmon and Trout will pick up all sorts of stuff in their mouths and just move it around. Don't ask me, I just watch the vids.

In fact I'll even stand in the middle of the street with my mouth wide open and anyone that wants, I'll give you 40 feet for an average cast. So anyone that thinks "flossing" is a viable way to catch fish can come on over and try and hook me. I'm bigger and I move slower than any fish you're after. Not to mention you can see me. Oh and if you foul hook me be prepared to pay the consequences.

I say get over it. If there was anything wrong with it, the enforcement officers would be out checking leader length and writing tickets. We have bigger problems to worry about, like building the fish numbers in the runs by shutting down the hatcheries. It just doesn't work.

Building off what Bodo said:

I was fishing a short leader with minimum results. I wanted a heavy weight to cast way across and to slow my drift, but this brought my hook lower than i wanted in in the water. Behold! from up stream someone's gear floats by! I reach out and grab what is about a 5FT leader with nice orange corky and orange yarn on a small red hook. Sweet!

I rigged that up with my 2 oz weight and started nailing them! Only foulhooked fish I had was after the line had drifted beyond a point I was comfortable with and I began to quickly reel in the line to as not tangle with other fishermen! hooked two that way. one in the tail, one in the dorsel. neither were intentional and both were released.

other than that, I would cast way out and let my line drift straight until I got my strikes. yeah there is probably some truth to the flossing, and my fish may have been a mix, but the majority of how i was fishing was not conducive to a flossing method. my keepers were all hooked IN the mouth too, not from the outside going in, but from the inside going out. a flossed fish would be more likely to have the hook on the OUTSIDE of the mouth.