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Mark Freeman Commentary Rogue venture doesn�t disappoint Photo by Mark Freeman GOLD BEACH � The Rogina family of Ukiah, Calif., came to this windy Southern Oregon coastal burg for a short vacation centered around an excursion jet boat trip up the Rogue River. But one sight of the armada of fishing boats bloating the bay in their daily quest for fall chinook led family patriarch Wayne Rogina to alter his plans. Rogina�s wife and kids took the jet boat ride. Wayne took to fishing. "I had heard that fishing was the best that it�s been in 10 years, so I couldn�t turn that down," says Rogina, 43. "So I decided to try it." Rogina�s morning did more than live up to this year�s chinook fishing reputation. It added to it. Rogina hooked and landed a 49-pound fall chinook salmon, the biggest salmon landed so far in what is shaping into the biggest and best run of fall chinook the Rogue River has seen since the mega-runs of the late 1980s. Rogina�s chinook is just one of hundreds caught already by anglers flooding the Rogue�s tidewater in Gold Beach to take advantage of strong, early returns of fall salmon. The early run has taken salmon managers as well as anglers by surprise on the Rogue, which was forecast for a ho-hum fishery that made no promises of greatness. But the past three weeks have even the piscatorial pundits at the normally conservative Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife giddy over the numbers of fish they�ve seen caught. "There�s fish everywhere, and the best part is there�s lots of fish over 40 pounds," says Russ Stauff, the ODFW fisheries biologist in Gold Beach. "It�s been beyond outstanding. It�s incredible." It�s also ready to trickle upstream, where eager anglers are preparing to ride the run�s coattails this fall. With river conditions starting to more closely resemble fall than summer, the schools of salmon corralled for weeks in the estuary are now headed upstream. This has anglers in Grants Pass and Gold Hill pining to savor the intoxicating taste of chinook-fishing success. "We�ve been waiting five years for something like this," says Jim Broman, a Grants Pass tackle-shop owner. "I had a pile of guys in here this week all hyped up, just waiting for those fish." (Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470, or e-mail him at: [email protected] ) Outdoor Journal Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA