Bunk? I see it on the Stave and Vedder rivers, I have found betties and some what shorter leaders on smaller creeks that I will not mention on here.
Agreed. Flossers have been on the Vedder and elsewhere for decades but it has really gotten prevalent in the last 5 years by my impression. It is a direct consequence of the sockeye fishery IMHO, as people bounce the Fraser in August and move right on to the Vedder in Sept/Oct though I don’t have any data to back it up other than observation.
Just like all types of fishing, there are those that BB, do it right and IMHO don't snag. There are others that fish unethically. Granted, for BB, the number fishing unethically is probably higher than most other methods. I have seen unethical bar fisherman, fly fisherman, you name it, and plenty of unethical bottom bouncers. My family and I have refused to fish with people who we consider to be fishing unethically. Many on here like to group all BB together assuming everybody fishing like that is the worst, that we all condone everybody who bottom bounces and their methods, that we condone bottom bouncing with long leaders in any river. In my opinion, if someone goes to a smaller river and fishes using long leaders and the same method, they are idiots.
That’s sometimes true but harsh and little unfair. Many people’s first salmon experience is flossing sockeye because it gets a lot of talk and can be very productive and is relatively easily learned. It’s not unreasonable for such anglers (ie inexperienced) to expect such methods to be perfectly acceptable to harvest salmon during any opening on any water. It’s hard to argue that too. Logically why is flossing sox on the Fraser OK but not for chum on the Vedder? Why cant any argument one can make to defend the practice on the Fraser also be made for other waters? To be fair, bottom bouncing is a legitimate technique while flossing is a subset of that, and it can take a bit of experience before the difference is evident.
Obviously one doesn’t *need* to floss on the Vedder, Stave, Chehalis etc but why is it frowned upon can be hard to understand by new anglers who haven’t yet recognized the subtleties of pursuing fish with the concept of ‘fair chase’ vs raking hooks across a fish’s (hopefully) face. Sure call me elitist but that is the crux of the debate.
I’d also point out that some other jurisdictions have recognized this as a problem and have taken steps with gear restrictions and regulations etc to try and curb flossing before it spreads even worse. If this is the course we are content to take in BC, then this is what we are going to get, a generation who don’t need to expand their toolbox of fishing techniques and taking that technique to any flow at any time and technically that’s their legal right as per the current regs. You can hardly expect otherwise; you reap what you sow.
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