I drive rite past the region 8 office twice a day and finally got a chance to stop and ask ! The guy looked at me like I had a third eye or something when I asked .He said why would you want to fish like that anyway ... theres no sport in that kind of fishing .I guess he's never tried it if thats his thought .
Per his words ... If you are caught doing so you will be charged with unlawfully fishing New York state waters and along with the charge is a hefty fine to be determined by a judge .
Fortunately, we dont have to rely on cops to interpret the Constitution. You can't be charged with doing something illegal if it's not currently illegal, and use of set lines is valid (considering you are already able to do so with a permit) until October 1, 2006 when the new regulations finally go into effect. I would be willing to bet that you could still get a permit to, considering they have to follow the law on the books (if you were willing to fight for it).The final rule is available at http://www.dos.state.ny.us/info/register/2006/MAY3/PDFS/rules.pdf, including the responses to commemnts made regarding the proposed rules that someone (I think it was bigred) posted several months ago.