Thread: Okay Guys, what is Flossing?

This is a challenge for you fly fisherman. Explain Flossing. We Fly Fish for steelhead and Salmon using the Flossing method with a troutbead.

Thought that was the nasty stuff you run between your teeth after eating!

Why "floss fish" for salmon and steelhead? Because the fisher is not good enough to get them to bite their presentation.

Flossing is a method of fishing that catches fish without getting them to bite. You take your standard gear and set up a super long leader. Both ends are weight just enough so that they will stay low in the water. When you cast out, you simply pull back hoping that line has went through the open mouth of whatever fish you are fishing for. The hook then catches the fish without ever having the fish even know that you were fishing for them.

It is a technique that I will not use here because I think it is no better than snagging. I might do it in places where the fishery supports it and there are tons of extra fish to be had just because but if I can't get a fish to BITE my presentation then I don't need to catch them. I would do it as catch and release only though. Some states have made rules that have basically made flossing illegal anyway. In Oregon a salmonoid and steelhead is not legally hooked unless it from the inside of the mouth.

Now if you are using a trout bead on normal gear and fishing it correctly then you are at least trying to get a fish to bite it.

Fish 4 All your right. This method is used when the fish are stacked up in a hole. Its legal too floss in Idaho. Its serprizing how many fish are hooked in the mouth and not snagged. The steelhead are so thick this year that the creel limit is 5 fish per day and 10 fish in possession. That limit is in the Salmon river here in Idaho. The fish aren't very big around 30inches and in the 8 to 10 pound range. We mostly fish the Clearwater River catching the B run fish there 11 to 20 pound range. These fish are two year olds and the Salmon run is the A run 1 year fish. I've got a 42in steelhead on my wall and it weighed in at 23 1/2 lbs.

I also wanted to add something. I have seen a technique for using trout beads that put the bead 4-6 inches above the hook. This is specifically done to prevent the fish from swallowing the bead and getting a hook deep in it's gullet. It is similar to using a corky and letting the hook hang down from the corky instead of pegging it right up tight.

Either way, my idea of catching requires the fish to hit whatever I am fishing with. If I can't get them to do that I don't deserve to take them home to eat them.