duckster,

A month or so ago I posted many of the State reg definitions of fly fishing.

As long as we can do away with Fly Fishing Only areas we need no definition of Fly Fishing. However, once you want an entitlement like FFO, you better have a solid, ironclad definition of the term. Hey, don't blame me, that's the law, it's called "substantive due process", it protects us by ensuring that laws are not overly vague. Most of the State definitions have large holes that can be exploited -- for example, the reg may say "casting a fly by the weight of the line"; well, you can ball up some leadcore line into a nice little ball and cast the fly with your spinning gear. Sure, that's "reducto ad absurdum" but it illustrates my point.

The pre-1992 State regs in NH and ME had a conservation reason in FFO. Under the old regs, you could not use weight on line, leader, or fly. This meant that fast water provided "sanctuary" for the trout, as you couldn't get a fly down more than a few inches. Lee Wulff considered this an important element of FF and the most sporting method. Now that these States allow weight, it is probably hypocritical to have FFO stretches since ALO is just as good from a conservation perspective.

So, for those of you who say FF is what you want it to be, please join me in eliminating FFO water. Thank you.