I'm guessing you and your fellow guides are running bait the majority of the time. Flouro would not be my no 1 choice for running bait because of the stiffness and the cost. The line is expensive and 5-8 foot leaders are common. Dogfish chewing up your expensive bait is annoying enough, without getting flouro leaders chewed up as well. You can have a lot of junk fish hitting on and destroying your bait rigs at times. That is rarely an issue using Hoochies. I personally think flouro is perfectly suited to heavy test leaders for hoochies.
Most guides will also say they won't run spectra on their clients Salmon gear either. I love spetra on my Salmon reels, with a mono top shot. Spectra line has been around over 20 years, but it has only become mainstream for downrigger fishing around here in the last 5-7 years. I have been using spectra for my Salmon downrigger reels since it came out almost 25 years ago. Spectra is also replacing stainless cable on most downrigger drums as well these days. Flouro is no different, it will take a while before it is adopted by a large percentage of Salmon fishers. As the cost of Flouro drops, and the line technology keeps improving it will become far more mainstream for Salmon fishing around here as well. I may be an old dog, but I do pick up a few new tricks when the benefits are too obvious too ignore. I love my old gear, but I also love technological improvements. No one way is right in fishing, everyone does things differently. I'm sure most guides would drastically outfish me using their preferred bait rigs in there home waters. But every dog has his day, and my hoochy rigs caught lots of nice springs on my trip to Ukie this year. In the end I'm happy fishing the way I like to fish, regardless if it is the most consistent or deadly method.
I only kept one or two of the many Springs I caught on the west coast this summer. I always rig with only one single barbless hook on all my hoochiee rigs. I ran strictly hoochies while I was there, and did very well fishing that way. My main concern is being able to release my salmon quickly and safely, so I never rig tandems on hoochies. I rarely fish bait and if I do I still prefer to run strip with one barbless hook. Most guides main concern is to put big numbers on the deck for their paying clients. If guiding was my main source of income I would probably run exactly the same type of bait rig as the majority of guides do as well. Luckily for me that is not my concern, so I fish with gear that I enjoy running and relax while I wait to fool a fish with my artificial imitation. To each their own my friend.
