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Rogue River bait ban petition accepted By Mark Freeman NEWPORT � The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission will decide next month whether to reconsider new angling regulations that ban bait-fishing on two stretches of the Rogue River beginning next fall. The seven-member commission on Friday accepted a petition signed by 1,400 anglers asking for the repeal of the fall bait-fishing bans on the upper Rogue and lower Rogue Canyon river stretches. The commission had adopted the bait bans last month after other fishing groups called on the changes to help protect wild summer steelhead from dying after being caught on bait then released. The commission will decide at its Nov. 17 meeting in Portland whether to conduct a new hearing on the rules, which have generated intense criticism from some anglers since the commission adopted the rules Sept. 22 despite opposition from state fish biologists. A contingent of nine sport-fishermen traveled to Newport on Friday to deliver the petitions that have circulated since the ruling. While the group pleaded Friday for a repeal, they were encouraged by the commission�s decision to revisit the issue. "I think this is a big step forward," says Dave Grenbremer, political director for the Rogue River Guides Association. "They could have declined it and we would have to go to the trenches, so to speak." If the commission decides to re-open the deliberations, another public hearing would be held to gather testimony about the two bait-bans. After that, the commission could decide to re-affirm its original decisions, alter them or reverse them altogether. If unchanged, fishing on the Rogue upstream of Gold Ray Dam would be legal only with artificial flies and lures in August, November and December. The months are the most popular times for using roe and worms to catch hatchery and wild summer steelhead. They also sandwich the Sept. 1 through Oct. 31 season when bait is already banned there. The commission also banned bait Sept. 1 through Oct. 31 on the 31-mile Wild Rogue Canyon stretch from Grave Creek downstream to Foster Bar. If left unchanged, the new rules are set to run from 2001 through 2004. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.