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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 27, 2005 Flyfishers banquet is slated for Saturday By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune The Rogue Flyfishers Association still has seating available Saturday night for its annual banquet that caps the group’s steelhead tournament fund-raiser. The banquet and auction includes a special slide show on Northwest steelhead fishing by author and photographer Brian O’Keefe. The event, which is the Medford-based association’s only fund-raiser of the year, runs from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Red Lion Hotel, 200 N. Riverside Ave., Medford. The doors open for the Wet Fly social hour at 6 p.m., during which participants will have opportunities to bid on a wide array of silent-auction items. A buffet dinner will follow, and it includes three entree selections as well as a choice of salads, desserts and complimentary wine. The dinner, with gratuities, costs $27 per person. Advertisement After dinner, the RFF will hold a ceremony to announce the winners of Saturday’s steelhead tournament. In the tournament, participating anglers will use flies and conventional fly-fishing gear during a day’s fishing on the Rogue River for summer steelhead out of driftboats with oarsmen provided by the RFF. All steelhead will be released, with the caught fish measured by the oarsman. Awards will be given to the two anglers with the largest fish, the two anglers with the most inches of steelhead caught and the most inches of steelhead caught by a single team. The oarsman rowing the team with the most inches caught also will win a prize. For more information and ticket reservations, call 858-5981 or visit the RFF at www.rogueflyfishers.org on the Web. A NEW TOXIC algae bloom again has closed Southern Oregon beaches to the harvest of razor clams after new tests showed unhealthy levels of a dangerous toxin in these shellfish. Two weeks after opening the southern Curry County beaches to shellfish harvest, the Oregon Department of Agriculture ordered a shutdown Friday for Oregon beaches south of the Rogue River because tests showed the clams had unhealthy levels of domoic acid. "It caught us by surprise," says Brandon Ford, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Marine Program in Newport. "We did some tests (earlier in the month) and couldn’t find any in the water," Ford says. "Then all of a sudden, it shows up." Domoic acid is a naturally occurring toxin produced by microscopic algae that concentrates in algae. The acid can trigger amnesic shellfish poisoning in people, with symptoms including vomiting, nausea and abdominal cramps within 24 hours of ingestion. The Department of Agriculture closes razor clam harvest when domoic acid levels exceed 20 parts per million. That provides a safety buffer because higher than 20 parts per million can trigger illness in some people. Tests of razor clams last week at Myers Creek revealed acid levels at 36.6 parts per million, says Mitch Vance, from the ODFW’s shellfish program in Newport. To reopen, beaches must show two successive tests of less than 20 parts per million. The closure does not affect the sport harvest of crabs, which has been very good recently in estuaries and bays. Ocean sport crabbing does not open until Dec. 1. Clatsop County beaches are the only Oregon beaches that remain open to razor clam digging. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail Flyfishers banquet is slated for Saturday ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker dvd-r Distance Education Computer Security Cheap Website Hosting Discount Hotel Reservations Online Pharmacy Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Deep Muscle Stimulator Sports Equipment Online Casino Reviews Student Loans High End Computers Online Casino News Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Salvia Divinorum Online Casino Fundraisers Advertisement s