Realize how you asked your question. I think in the older days many kept a shooter in their tackle box but these days it seems more the practice to open or conceal carry if at all.

Decades ago I quit using closed face reels and went to open face. Casting is easier and most other types Of fishing is fine with them. I do use level winds for trolling as it’s easier to manage but open face reels would work fine as long as they are sized appropriately. With my open face reels for trolling for steelhead, I like to set them so it’s just the clicker holding tension so I’m not using heavy rigs. Extra sharp hooks and when a steelhead hits the lure isn’t jerked out of their mouth but tp stays with hem till I can grab the rod and set the hook. I’ve got a couple Abu Garcupias that work good for that. Back fishing for steelhead and a slice bobber I use a larger open face since recasting is constant. And I use braided line for both styles. Mono or flour for smaller fish on smaller rods.

As has been mentioned, learn from the tight lines nymphing guys. One thing you will pick up is that they understand that current is slower at the bottom than on top. With drys, there can be no drag to the fly so the trick is allowing a little slack in the line right at the fly. With nymphing the trick is to keep the nymph bouncing along the bottom even if you snag up occasionally. The tech. is to keep slack out and lead the line and nymph down stream so the current doesn’t lift it off the bottom. You should be feeling bottom and your line relatively tight and ahead of the drift, not behind. Same whether it’s a small bead head or a wooly bigger. It needs to be down where the fish and the bugs are. Wet flys and streamers are different in that they can stand a bit of speed through the water as in the swing at the end of a drift. Not too much. When I was able to fish wading safely I tried to cast up strwam rather than across for dries. With nymphs, a small floating strike indicator helped let the nymph stay down but off the bottom a few inches. That was fun in little streams to work a hole.but remember that if the water is at all deep, the indicator will be going down stream faster than the nymph. So you add length to the leader below the indicator to allow for that. That’s a trial and error job. Use an indicator you can slide to reposition. Start shallow and increase depth until the nymph is bouncing off bottom on a drift. That’s where the fish are. Work the hole methodically as fish don’t like to work hard. They find a spot and hold there. Tight lines!

Various small flies on a dropper with a clear bobber n the end for casting. Think size #14 and smaller. Parachute Adams, elk hair Caddis, etc. or small mergers. Sharp hooks. Fine leaders. Dropper a couple feet back from the bobber. Dropper less than a foot or half foot long.

Considered a delicacy back East. Introduced tp the Pacific Coast in the late 1800s. Best smoked and canned. Eggs are delicious fried. Think really big herring.

And I use braid on my spinning reel for steelhead. Plenty of pluses. I also use it on level winds for trolling and even I can cast a level wind with braid.

Figured there wasn’t much else to say but......... among other things I’m a Master Hunter and Hunter Ed Instructor in WA and one thing we try to stress is that we have to respect private property rights. The best way to be a good Sportsman. So, all one can do is be polite, ask permission and be polite if your turned down. No law against asking again, another time. No law against offering your labor to help the land owner who’s paid for the land and the taxes, etc. a smile and a little respect can go a long way. Good luck.

Leaders of course start out fairly heavy at the butt and tapper down to the tippet where you attach whatever fly your using. That ripper is sized as has been pointed out to fit the fly you choose. I will have the end of the leader as it comes from the rack an attachment point for the final tippet which will be closer to 2 or 4 lb test. You can catch very large fish on that strength by playing the fish. But the bigger tippet you use, the more likely a fish might refuse your offering. 6# tippet isn’t too big but it’s a guessing game. If you can catch fish on it, use it. I can land 10#-16# steelhead on 10# leader. Probably bigger fish but they haven’t ever come my way. That was with level line reels and spinning reels not a fly rod. But it’s done often by the guys out west.

Unless you have a medical problem that we don’t know about, I think your over thinking this. Most Yaks are not very heavy and surely can be floated and pulled onto a trailer. All you really need is a bow rope to tow, pull it onto the trailer, secure the bow and strap it down. Most boat trailers have a post at the front to secure the bow of a boat. They normally have a winch with rope, cable, or strap to pull the boat up snug and secure while on the road. A kayak just isn’t heavy enough to need a winch. Just the post and a way to tie off the bow rope.

Fly fishermen usually tie a length f leader much smaller than the rest of the leader to make it as invisible to the fish as possible. Two ways to do this. The original way was to add a few feet or inches, say from Two feet or 18”. Maybe a bit longer as the situation dictates, with a simple double overhand knot. Called a blood not as I recall. Trimming of the tags that are left. That’s more than enough length to fool even the most spooky trout. But every time you change flys, you loose a few inches of that small tippet. Eventually you need to replace the tippet and then you start loosing a few inches of your main line.

Now most use a very small ring on the main line and when the tippet gets small you just tie another length into the ring. They are small enough they don’t sink the fly. Actually float. Or they will use a micro barrel swivel. Same results. Were it me, I’d tie on a very small snap swivel and attach extra leader, say a couple feet with a loop for the snap l swivel. Then as small a snap swivel to the end of the extra leader to take different lures, even a different sized snelled bait hook. Placement of a weight anywhere you want if you need weight. A couple feet of line hanging past the top connection shouldn’t restrict casting. And the amount of leader below the top connection should allow plenty of leader below for a through the weight sinker if you want the fish to be free to pull a bit of line out on the bite.

But normally main line in mono or fluorocarbon shouldn’t be so big as to need any extra leader. Maybe if your using braided line. Just my thoughts.

I’m reregistered just now. For some reason, while I’ve been o;for a few weeks I’d lost ability to post.

Anyway I’m from WA, east side and got a kick out of reading this question about tides and some of the responses. First off, unless your fishing salt water, the only trout that would be affected by tides are Sea Run Cutthrout and sea Run Rainbow along any of the coastlines and in rivers and estuaries dumping into salt water. And by the way, the Columbia River has dams all the way from just east of Portland OR up to just short of the Canadian Border so it’s only affected by tides in that lower section from the mouth to the first dam.

As to catching trout in a lake, none of the lakes in WA would be affected by tide levels. They certainly could be affected by changes in Barometric pressure. It was likely coincidence that fish were caught at different tides in the Sound and the Ocean. Tidal measurement is different at different locations at any specific moment in time as tidal movement, high or low, moves across the planet and large bodies of water. And tides are more pronounced the closer you get to the North Pole or South Pole with very little tidal action near the equator.

So if your fish fresh water or hunting, the success would likely be affected more by moon phase or barometric pressure. And I’ve fish my favorite eastern WA lake and released a dozen or so trout, gone fishing there the next day and not caught a single fish. Musta combed my beard different.