# Chuck n Duck vs. Tightlining for Salmon/Steelhead



## Lamarsh (Aug 19, 2014)

As a threshold matter, when I say tightlining I'm not talking about the drop shotting with heavy splitshot that snaggers use--I'm talking about various euro nymphing methods for salmon/steelhead by using somewhat heavily weighted aqua dynamic flies only, with no shot. I've been very successful using both chuck n duck and tightline methods, but haven't quite figured out which works best most of the time. Anybody have any input as to which they prefer? I tend to prefer tightlining on shallower redds, or super clear deeper pools. 

Also, if you prefer an indy rig over the aforementioned setups, I'd love to hear that and when/why you prefer it. I will also tend to lean towards an indy rig in shallower water like the flies only section of the PM.

Feel free to explain your setups. For tightlining, I'm running a shooting fly line on a 11' 7wt switch rod with about 6' of 20lb amnesia + 1-2 feet of 16lb sighter to a tiny Raven barrel swivel, and about 3-6' of tippet from there with my flies, either a one or two fly rig. When I switch to chuck n duck, I don't change that setup much except I slide a snap swivel floating above the barrel swivel and typically run unweighted flies.


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## riverman (Jan 9, 2002)

It is all about biting flies, legal under current regulations, no reason to open this age old controversy. Enjoy salmon season


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## Lightfoot (Feb 18, 2018)

My chuck n duck system for my 3wt to 7wt. Floating line (I use dt), a stupid long leader depending on water depth and speed, and a metric ton of weight 18 inches or so above the fly. I'm partial to #16 -18 glo bugs on a 2x heavy scud hook. There is no back cast involved, rather a lift, load, fling and duck.


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## riverman (Jan 9, 2002)

And the magic word to fly fishing salmon, lift, you can do it with zest or you can do it in a very subtle way, right combination of biting flies and either way find scales.


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## Lamarsh (Aug 19, 2014)

Lightfoot said:


> My chuck n duck system for my 3wt to 7wt. Floating line (I use dt), a stupid long leader depending on water depth and speed, and a metric ton of weight 18 inches or so above the fly. I'm partial to #16 -18 glo bugs on a 2x heavy scud hook. There is no back cast involved, rather a lift, load, fling and duck.


I think my smallest egg patterns I've tied for salmon and steelhead are on a #10. I used that size hook because what I guessed to be an approximate size for a salmon egg needed that kind of hook gap, and frankly with that size eggs the gap still looks a bit on the small size. 

Do you like your weight clamped onto your leader or on something dangling down such as pencil lead or a piece of mono with split shot on it? 



riverman said:


> It is all about biting flies, legal under current regulations, no reason to open this age old controversy. Enjoy salmon season





riverman said:


> And the magic word to fly fishing salmon, lift, you can do it with zest or you can do it in a very subtle way, right combination of biting flies and either way find scales.


No clue what you're talking about... but thanks anyways!


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## Lightfoot (Feb 18, 2018)

A #16 is a good match in size for a pautzge salmon egg from a jar, a #10, not so much. I like water gremlin split shot and clip it directly on the tippet above the fly. 

I never noticed issues hooking fish due to smaller flies. You can always tie a smaller fly on a larger hook.


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## Lamarsh (Aug 19, 2014)

Lightfoot said:


> A #16 is a good match in size for a pautzge salmon egg from a jar, a #10, not so much. I like water gremlin split shot and clip it directly on the tippet above the fly.
> 
> I never noticed issues hooking fish due to smaller flies. You can always tie a smaller fly on a larger hook.


I could be missing something here, and I know they vary in size from fish to fish, but I had thought most king salmon eggs are around 8-10mm in size. 

I have a bunch of much smaller eggs I tied that I use out west. Not sure they're on strong enough hooks. I'll have to hit the bench and tie a few like you're using. I have these 3x strong buzzer hooks that I think would work good.


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## dirtyfisheyes187 (Jul 12, 2017)

Tightlining? Is that a fancy word for snagging


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## Lightfoot (Feb 18, 2018)

derail.

I would say it could be. Come up behind a salmon, cast ahead and raise the rod as the fly gets to the fish. I did it one day as a kid with a friend of mine on the Feather river and we hooked fish at will, on the underside of the snout, so actually in the mouth. Technically we were snagging them.

Years later, fishing the glo bug bite on the nearby Yuba river was a different story. It was basically spin fishing with a fly rod. The main advantage with the fly rod was time not wasted to reel in your line to cast again. You couldn't see the fish but didn't need to , they were aggressive and no snagging involved.

re-rail. I was working in the garage this evening and found an old jar of Pautzges. Calibrated eyeball says they are probably closer to your #10 than my micros, humble pie. In my wanderings the little glo-bugs vastly out fish the larger ones.


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## Whitetail_hunter (Mar 14, 2012)

Tight lining= still fishing to me (and I have seen floater bags deep in the mouth of kings. Chuck an duck is what it is some bite, some get lined and some get snagged. 

Do you have fun and dont keep snagged fish and you dont have a thing to worry about.


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## Lamarsh (Aug 19, 2014)

Whitetail_hunter said:


> Tight lining= still fishing to me (and I have seen floater bags deep in the mouth of kings. Chuck an duck is what it is some bite, some get lined and some get snagged.
> 
> Do you have fun and dont keep snagged fish and you dont have a thing to worry about.


Agreed. If you have the right rod and terminal tackle, it's a great method. I heard T&T makes a 10'6" 6wt specifically designed for nymphing for steelhead. Out of my budget right now, but it would definitely be nicer than my switch rod, which I'm learning is not sensitive enough to get the most out of this technique. 

I don't like to eat salmon, so I always let them go even if they're chrome fresh.


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## Whitetail_hunter (Mar 14, 2012)

Lamarsh said:


> Agreed. If you have the right rod and terminal tackle, it's a great method. I heard T&T makes a 10'6" 6wt specifically designed for nymphing for steelhead. Out of my budget right now, but it would definitely be nicer than my switch rod, which I'm learning is not sensitive enough to get the most out of this technique.
> 
> I don't like to eat salmon, so I always let them go even if they're chrome fresh.


You may already know this but just incase I will tell ya. I am used to fishing with rods that dont have the best sensitivity, what I do is put the tip of my pointer finger on the line after I shut the bail. You can feel everything you need to in the line.


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## Lamarsh (Aug 19, 2014)

Whitetail_hunter said:


> You may already know this but just incase I will tell ya. I am used to fishing with rods that dont have the best sensitivity, what I do is put the tip of my pointer finger on the line after I shut the bail. You can feel everything you need to in the line.


I'll definitely try that out. I've been using longer fly rods for this, but with some of the new jigs I've been tying in 1/10th to 1/4oz I'm going to switch to one of faster action medium weight spin rods. I really made them for twitching cohos, but I want to try them for kings and steelies too. I get a lot more sensitivity from braid with a 3-4 feet of fluoro tippet than I do with even the shooting style fly lines.


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## Uncle Boopoo (Sep 15, 2008)

As a hunter/walleye fisherman none of this stuff makes any sense to me. It’s like you guys are speaking a foreign language. :lol:

I’ve been deer hunting for 30 years, right outside of Baldwin but I have yet to try to salmon fish. One day it will happen but all the technical stuff seems so overwhelming!


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## Ojh (Sep 4, 2019)

Uncle Boopoo said:


> As a hunter/walleye fisherman none of this stuff makes any sense to me. It’s like you guys are speaking a foreign language. :lol:
> 
> I’ve been deer hunting for 30 years, right outside of Baldwin but I have yet to try to salmon fish. One day it will happen but all the technical stuff seems so overwhelming!


Salmon fishing is only as complicated as you want it to be. If you catch walleye, you'll catch salmon, I fish for salmon and walleye hits the same lure. You'll know the difference.


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## MoJoRisin' (Jan 30, 2004)

The fly guys have their own language. Us hardware and "organic matter" ie bait fishermen dont understand fly language. I really dont want to either. Just me tho...


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## ESOX (Nov 20, 2000)

A heavily weighted streamer, fished straight downstream to a salmon and dangled in it's face will elicit vicious strikes.


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## mattm (Aug 13, 2005)

I use the same rig for salmon and steelhead. 10ft 8wt with long belly tapered salmon steelhead fly line, a bit of amnesia, 7-9ft flouro 15lb leader to swivel with 2-3ft tippett. Split shots on a swivel above the tippett. 

Switched to this from chuck and duck after fishing PA steelhead where the holes aren't as deep as our rivers. The fly line stays floating for the most part and kind of acts like a strike indicator.



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## TK81 (Mar 28, 2009)

MoJoRisin' said:


> The fly guys have their own language. Us hardware and "organic matter" ie bait fishermen dont understand fly language. I really dont want to either. Just me tho...


Fighting a hot 20lb King on a fly rod is like nothing else in fresh water. Except maybe a big steelie. It's a rush. I will keep about one river fish per year for the smoker and the rest are fight and release. I like all styles...bait, pier casting, and plugs / spoons. Back when we got a heavy run of Kings in the Grand, I used to troll the river with cleos. Caught lots of fish, but no where near as much fun as fighting one on the fly rod.


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## piscatorial warrior (Sep 14, 2011)

Uncle Boopoo said:


> As a hunter/walleye fisherman none of this stuff makes any sense to me. It’s like you guys are speaking a foreign language. :lol:
> 
> I’ve been deer hunting for 30 years, right outside of Baldwin but I have yet to try to salmon fish. One day it will happen but all the technical stuff seems so overwhelming!


Pretty easy actually. Just cast Firetiger Deep Diving Thunderstik juniors on 20# Braid using a med-heavy spinning rod of about 7 feet. It's a blast when they're biting!


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