This morning I stopped to get a work out on my arms with some chum. I had my trusty Salmon setup ready to go with a float, weight, 30" leader, and a tied jig. There was a total of 4 guys on the run when I got there, I stepped in to the middle wide opening and started casting. 3 casts in caught a beauty doe chum, brought her in and let her go while keeping her in the water.
Two more older (60 something) gentlemen showed up and went on either side of me. Everyone in the run except me was using wool, the two newest guys without floats. I was catching fish after fish after fish. No one else seemed to catch anything except for two snagged and lost fish.
I lost my float on a big male, and decided to pack it in. As I turned around I noticed the two gentlemen rigging up their rods again after losing some tackle. I asked them where their floats were (with a friendly chuckle), and they said they had some but weren't using them. They asked how I was doing so well. I started to explain my setup with them, showing them the jigs, the float, the leader length.
They didn't have any jigs so I gave each of them one, and I helped them rig up the same setup I had. They were eternally grateful, and one of them, handed me a $20 bill to my protest. As I was rigging up the second guy he also tried to hand me a twenty. They were saying that my information and jigs had to be worth it. I poltitely declined the second $20 after accepting the first one (wanted to replace my jigs). The first gentlemen I setup had a fish within 3 casts, but one of his knots came loose!
Soon another gentlemen had come over and was happy I was showing these people a good setup. He too was using wool, but at least he was short floating it. He asked what the secret was and I showed him the jigs I was using, He said his son had told him about them, but he had never picked them up.
So I wished everyone good luck, and was on my way, As I was about to walk up the path two more gentlemen started asking me questions. I gave them the quick low down that I just told the others. Low and behold one of them had a nice purple jig in his box, and I told him that was the ticket with 24-36" leader at most. They thanked me and I walked away with a smile.
It felt amazing to help educate people who were flossing, snagging, or just not catching fish with wool. I felt like I had done something good today, and I hope they stick to it.