Originally Posted by
Bamboozle
I fish a lot of small streams. Before I got my hands on some really short (3') furled leaders, I routinely used 5-6 feet of leader material tied directly to the end of my bright chartreuse fly line. The fish didn't care one bit.
At the same streams I now use 3' furled leaders attached to the same hideous colored fly line with 2-3 feet of tippet and the fish still don't care.
When you think about the fact that the fish that the "experts" keep telling us about that are super intelligent, super wary, super selective, impossible to catch except when wearing a ghillie suit while casting 100 feet using a 25 foot leader; are STILL being caught using something attached to fishing line with a curved hunk of metal hanging below it...
...it makes you wonder who is dumber, the fish or us for believing all of that nonsense.
Call me a heretic but all of warnings related to trout fly fishing practice like avoiding short leaders, heavy leaders, heavy line weights, line spray, bright colors, etc...
...are just an fancy way to excuse yourself from a lousy presentation or being outsmarted by a pea brained fish. ;)