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62 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, August 3, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Prime Times Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend July 29, 2004 Zlatek ushers in annual big-fish season By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune GOLD BEACH — Cleaning his customer’s fish July 20 at the Jot’s Resort dock, fishing guide Matthew Zlatek saw a few chinook salmon break the Rogue River’s surface and thought he ought to take one swipe at catching them. Good decision. He said goodbye to his clients, then jumped in the boat of fellow guide Chris Young and promptly caught the biggest salmon landed so far this year on the lower Rogue River. The fat female fall chinook weighed 54½ pounds, easily cracking the magical 50-pound class and ushering in the annual big-fish season in the lower Rogue bay. "I had the feeling that I needed to make one pass at those fish," says Zlatek, 22, of Central Point. "It was just one of those gotta- do’s." Advertisement It’s also one of those gotta-show’s. Photographs of Zlatek’s salmon, as well as others in the 50-pound class, are starting to make the rounds among the region’s anglers now starting to flock en masse to Gold Beach for the annual rite of big-salmon passage. Late July and August marks the start of the fall chinook run into the lower Rogue, which typically sports the largest salmon the Rogue has to offer annually. Chinook tipping the Toledo’s in the 30- and 40-pound range are considered big prizes for anglers who can turn just one of these chinook into a block-party barbecue. Fellow guide Mark VanHook caught the first 50-pounder three weeks ago, and a string of similar fish has Gold Beach buzzing. "There have been a few of the 50-pounders caught, but (Zlatek’s salmon) is definitely the biggest so far," says Randy Mickelson at the Rogue Outdoor Store, where business has increased four-fold in the past two weeks. "It’s telling me we got a lot of big fish out there." The lower Rogue has been a big-fish Mecca the past three years, drawing international attention after Grants Pass resident Grant Martinsen set an all- time fly-fishing record Oct. 24, 2002, with a 71½ -pound fall chinook in the lower Rogue. That has made Gold Beach synonymous with big chinook and helps draw hundreds of anglers daily to the bay in late summer. It makes for good business to guides like Zlatek, a Central Point resident who spends summers working the bay. But that doesn’t mean he can’t go out and play on his own. That’s exactly what happened July 20, when he was about to call it quits for the day. Young had already backed his trailer down the Jot’s Resort dock when Zlatek suggested they take one shot of their own at a chinook. Within minutes, the chinook bit Zlatek’s spinner while right off the Jot’s dock. Armed with 30-pound leader, Zlatek was able to get the big salmon into Young’s next not five minutes later. "It never really acted like a big fish," Zlatek says. "It was in the net before it knew what was going on." The fish was weighed at Jot’s, which issued Zlatek the coveted gold button that the resort gives only to people who weigh in a 50-pounder. Last year, 10 people earned Jot’s gold buttons, resort worker Sarah Backman says. The first one came July 28 last year, she says. The early-run fall chinook typically are the same salmon that are headed to the Grants Pass areas, says Chuck Fustish, an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist in Central Point. Later-run fish are bound for the Applegate River, while still others cross into the upper Rogue. Last year’s run over Gold Ray Dam was a record of more than 24,000, even the vast majority of the all-wild fall chinook run spawns in the main-stem Rogue near Grants Pass and in the Applegate River. Though the ODFW does not do run estimates for fall chinook, ODFW biologist Dan Van Dyke says this year’s run should be similar, or slightly less, than the past two years. "So, we think we’re looking pretty good for ‘04," Van Dyke says. Fifty-pounders represent a small sliver of the fall chinook run and Zlatek proves the only way to catch one is to try. "Like I said," he says, "I saw those fish rolling out there and knew I had to make just one pass before we left." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S RESOURCES Oregon Road Conditions & Cams SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Food for Thought Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Prime Times