[rphaler]

Dana/Juro:

On a previous thread (Spey Clave\Destinations\Clearwater), which is now closed, "Marketic" posted a response (subsequent to "Rats in the Belfry") on 10/22/02 in which he stated:

"On at least one of the rivers I have fished, the guidelines also stipulate not only the type of line you may use (with attendant maximum sinking rate) but also the acceptable angle at which you may cast your line across the river."

Do you know where this river is? How exactly does this stipulation read? What is the overall intent of such a stipulation? Does this stipulation apply to floating, intermediate (full and tip), and sinking (full and tip) lines?

I've fished on a Norwegian salmon and sea trout river where regulations prohibit extra weight being added to the fly and sometimes will disallow sinktip and full sinking lines during a segment of the salmon season (dependent upon water-flow conditions), but I've never come across regulations regarding casting angle.

BTW, is the use of sinktip and full sinking lines currently being scrutinized/evaluated by salmon fishery officials in America, Canada, and Scandinavia?

Thank you very much for monitoring such an enlightening forum.

Regards,

Richard

 

[BeBop]

I believe the River Test in England only allows upstream dry fly casting to visibly rising fish. Iv'e never heard of a salmon or steelhead river with those requirements.

 

[marketic]

DRACONIAN FISHING REGS?

rphaler--

The river I made reference to in an earlier post (with the somewhat draconian fishing regulations) is the Tweed River in Scotland. However, I should clarify that the behavioral mandates I referred to may have been specific to Tweed waters in the Peebleshire District only.

The frowned-upon lines were the full-sinking HI-D lines (shooting heads) that were popular at the time I fished there.

The intent was to place handicaps on the John Hook's of the region, the ruffians fond of "sniggling". You may know that local fishers use heavy brass tube flies (with treble hooks) on that river. That type of "fly" with that type of heavy sinking line makes for a deadly snagging combination if one has that brand of entertainment in mind.

I will stress, again, however, that in other townships and on other private beats on the Tweed the regulations might perhaps be somewhat different.

The specific mandates in effect in the Peebles Town Water I can paraphrase loosely as follows:

No fast sinking "shooting head" type lines
All casts are to be made cross stream and downstream (as opposed to up-stream)


As to the situation in North America: there are no specific mandates on lines usage or casting angles as far as I know. There are, however, some very specific guidelines as to what constitutes a fly and what constitutes fly fishing.

This is only important if one is fishing a stretch of river that is referred to in a regulatory pamphlet as “fly-fishing only”. My guess is a brass tube fly would not pass the smell test on a fly-only river, though a fast-sinking line would as long as there is no external weight attached to the leader or fly.

 

[juro]

Interesting!

Well, most PNW steelheaders I've ever known would have no interest in casting upstream and currently there is little to no need of regulations for something no one wants to do. I suppose the bobber crowd would moan about it... :devil:

Fishing a full sink hi density line is unusual in my experience, but sinktips are very common. They must be horrible to cast!

Brass tubes with trebles? I've never seen them used in the PNW. Again, sounds difficult to cast! I don't like weighted steelhead flies of any sort. I can just imagine trying to doublespey a 3" brass tube on a full sink type IV line!

The percentage of designated fly water in the PNW is so infinitesimally tiny that such rules have little impact (percentage-wise) on the overall fishery.

.02

 

[MJC]

Brass tubes and fly only water???

Quote: "My guess is a brass tube fly would not pass the smell test on a fly-only river,"

Marketic, In light of your above statement, in your opinion would an aluminum or plastic tube be legal on the same water, everything else being equal?

 

[marketic]

BRASSS TUBE FLIES

MJC--

I made that comment about brass tube flies more tongue-in-cheek than anything else. Reason being: the 3/0 trebles which the Brits are so fond of using would be frowned upon in any type of fly-only climate.

A plastic or aluminum tube with single hook? That should not be a problem on any of the fly-only stretches I've fished. I clipped this from another Web Site and I think it describes well enough the intent of most fly-only regulations:

..." the fly can be weighted, but not with external weight added later. Only weight that is built into the pattern is allowed. There can be no weight or other material added to the line, other than a leader. There can be no spinner attached to the fly...."

Tube with plastic or aluminum bodies and a single hook would be easy to defend based on a strict interpretation of the above.

 

[rphaler]

Sinking Lines for Steelhead & Salmon

Thanks to all for your very informative replies to my "Fishing Guidelines" post.

I cannot remember exactly where I read it, but somewhere while surfing the Web I ran across some grumblings from Atlantic Salmon fly fishers regarding the use of sinking fly lines. I believe the comments were directed at totally abolishing sinking lines and restricting fly fishing to full floating lines on Canadian salmon waters.

I could be mistaken, but I believe I've interpreted the gist of thread conversations accurately.

Just curious, but has anyone encountered net traffic of this genre?

Regards,

Richard