THE LATEST NEWS and advice on fly fishing, fly fishing gear, fly fishing trips, and fly fishing books and media.The End of "Chuck and Duck" on New York's Salmon River
It appears that New York DEC law enforcement officers are so sure of their ability to tell the difference between a classic roll cast and a weight-assisted, over the shoulder lift-and-snap cast that the state feels confident enough to ban the use of "slinkies" on fly-fishing-only portions of the Salmon River. It comes to the great relief of many fly fishers who want the shoulder-to-shoulder chuck and duck festival to come to an end.
"Of course, if a pool is ringed with anglers lobbing 'slinkies' -- three-inch lengths of parachute cord stuffed with split shot and clipped to the leader -- then real fly-fishing is going to be difficult, if not impossible. Getting a fly near the bottom of an eight-foot-deep pool, even when using a sinking fly line, requires casting well upstream of the target lie. That’s not possible in crowded conditions. Chuck-and-duck fishing leads to crowding, and crowding makes chuck-and-duck necessary." Morgan Lyle in the Schenectady, New York Daily Gazette.
