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Learning to play nice together on the Chetco Friday Nov 17, 2017 at 12:01 AM Mark Freeman Mail Tribune @MTwriterFreeman BROOKINGS — The annual screaming match known as the Chetco River's winter steelhead fishing season is right around the corner, and Randy Henry will be wading into the sandbox in hopes of stopping a few fisticuffs before they begin. Henry is the Oregon State Marine Board's boating program safety manager, meaning the only thing the Chetco's boat and bank anglers can agree on is that they need to yell at him to keep the other guy from ruining his day on the river. Boat anglers are tired of bankies casting aspersions at them in the form of 3-ounce lead sinkers when they side-drift through popular riffles. Bankies are sick of driftboaters firing up their outboards to motor back up to fish a riffle time after time after time. "If you're only pointing your finger at the guy in the boat, you're ignoring half the people, half the problem," Henry says. The simmering animosities came to a head last year when one half of the problem in the form of some bankies tried to coax the Marine Board into banning motors on the boats of the other half of the problem. While the Marine Board said no, Henry promised to come back to talk some more to find a solutions that most Chetco anglers can live with. He's holding up his end of the bargain today when he returns to Brookings to host an open house for all to bend his ear about the problems as well as potential solutions. The open house will begin at 3 p.m. in Rooms 138A and 138B of the Southwestern Oregon Community College branch at 96082 Lone Ranch Parkway. "This is just a chance to talk about what it will look like before we get into it," Henry says. "I'm trying to come up with a community solution," Henry says. "If this year is a really difficult year, that's more reason to come up with something creative to solve these conflicts." Anglers have been getting into it annually on the Chetco for decades, particularly during the river's famed winter steelhead fishery that peaks in February, drawing far and wide interest to this far corner of Oregon. The stark reality is that the Chetco's winter steelhead fishery simply is too good for its own good. The river boasts a large complement of wild and hatchery steelhead, many weighing in the high teens or low 20s. Moreover, the river is easy to float, with no rapids cancelling out novice oarsmen and thereby adding to the traffic. There is lots of public land and, therefore, public access for steelheaders. And in recent years, it has become a destination for Northern California guides and their clients interested in catching and keeping a wild winter steelhead because the Chetco's run is considered strong enough to support limited take here that is banned now throughout most of the Pacific Northwest. "In some ways, it's a great problem to have," Henry says. But so much pressure among different users creates a often testy competition for these fabulous fish. "If people can solve it without some kind of complex regulatory solution, that would be great." And it's not like boaters and bankies are the only parties in Chetco conflicts. There are boat anglers versus licensed guides. Licensed guides versus illegally unlicensed guides. Wild fish advocates versus wild fish thumpers. All sorts of ideas have been bandied about, including such things as no-motors on Sundays and no killing of wild steelhead on Saturdays. One thing is clear, however. The solution will not be an outright motor ban like on other nearby rivers such as the Elk and Sixes. The Marine Board last winter decided these conflicts were about etiquette for those floating on — as well as standing in — the Chetco, so there must be some sort of way to get them all to get along. It's just that there is no agreement as to quite what that is. "Eventually, we'll end up with some kind of regulatory change," Henry says. "But when you try to drill down into specific solutions, people have trouble rallying around an idea." About the only thing these divergent groups can support together is more police presence on the Chetco, particularly during the three-day weekends of February when the winter steelhead run, and the tempers of its anglers, are hottest. So that's what you'll see. The Marine Board plans to bring in marine deputies from other counties this winter to beef up its presence in hopes those in the steelhead sandbox play well with others — at least while they're around. — Reach Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman.