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Mark Freeman's Commentary Hatchery pond might open to fishermen TRAIL - Like most Rogue River salmon anglers, John Billows often fantasizes about how great the fishing could be each spring in the final 250 yards of the upper river historically off-limits to any fishing. Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of hatchery spring chinook boil and roll a few last times near a short gravel island before darting into the hatchery, where they eventually will be grabbed, killed, sold and hauled away as table fare or cat food. "Boy, I'd love to stand on that island right now and make 20 casts," Billows says. "Just 20 casts for those springers, just to see what would happen." Billows is perhaps two weeks away from getting his wish. For the first time since the hatchery was established almost 30 years ago, this salmon sanctuary at the entrance to the collection pond would open to fishing under a state proposal aimed at giving anglers more chances than ever to catch the fish raised and released expressly for them. Riding the statewide wave of boosting angler catches of hatchery salmon, local Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists are revisiting the possibility of making the off-limits part of the Rogue the salmon anglers' newest "honey hole." The hatchery is estimated to collect about 20,000 excess spring chinook adults, which are typically killed and sold to a seafood processing company - a move that leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of Rogue sport anglers. But a rallying cry among agency biologists and angling groups across Oregon this year is getting the excess salmon out of the hatcheries and into anglers' barbecues. Opening that stretch of water from Memorial Day through July could lead to another 1,000 salmon going home with happy anglers instead of being loaded onto refrigerator trucks bound for market. "If we're serious about trying to increase the number of surplus hatchery fish in the bag for fishermen, then I think we need to look into it," says John Thiebes, the ODFW's Rogue watershed manager. "Why not?" But critics such as Pat McNeilly can count the ways. McNeilly, an Oregon State Police senior trooper in the fish and wildlife enforcement division, worries it invites all sorts of troubles from conflicts with rafters to fights among over-crowded anglers to illegal snagging and other ills. As recently as 1995, the OSP has scuttled attempts to get this stretch of river open to fishing. And McNeilly hopes they can do it again. "They've got miles and miles of river to fish, and I don't see enough fishable water there to make a difference," McNeilly says. "It's just a gut feeling that it's a bad idea. No thanks." Even Billows wonders whether the nightmares this proposal might bring are worth the casting fantasy. "Everybody knows there's a lot of fish concentrated up there," Billows says. "But whether you can catch them or not? Only trying it will tell." The same goes for any problems created if the ODFW opens the sanctuary to fishing on a trial basis this summer. "If this is done, it will be done on the understanding that we'll see how it works," Thiebes says. "If it works well, we'll stay with it. If not, we'll kill it. Fast." The proposal is on the fast track. Thiebes has set up a 7 p.m. public meeting May 17 at the Upper Rogue Community Center to discuss the proposal and hear other ideas that could help increase catches of hatchery salmon this year. The Rogue proposal comes on the heels of increased bag limits for hatchery salmon in the Columbia River, where more than a million hatchery coho are destined this year. The ODFW last week also began selling a special hatchery harvest tag, allowing anglers to catch and keep an extra 10 hatchery salmon or steelhead above their previous 20-fish annual limit. Also for the Rogue, the ODFW is floating the idea of increasing the daily limit on hatchery coho from two to three in waters downstream of the Illinois River. But the notion of turning the salmon sanctuary into the newest honey hole is the most intriguing. It surfaces every few years, particularly during big-run years such as 1995, when 50,000 excess salmon clogged the hatchery and had to be sold. But the local OSP's fish and wildlife enforcement contingent, headed by Lt. Larry Belcher, killed the idea in 1995. Officers feared it would draw so many anglers that the ugly side of salmon-fishing would surface. Snaggers who operate often in other Rogue holes would find it difficult to withstand the temptation to cheat, while the hordes of anglers would cause massive congestion on the river as well as the adjacent boat ramp. Moreover, hatchery workers fear that having anglers traipsing around the hatchery with dead adult salmon might spread diseases that could kill an entire year's salmon production there. Belcher has since retired, but the concerns among police didn't go with him. "Cops are opposed to it," McNeilly says. "Always have been, always will be." But McNeilly concedes that it has a greater chance of happening this year than ever before. Then again, maybe not. For the water to be opened, ODFW Director Lindsay Ball would have to sign an order. Six years ago, Ball headed the OSP's fish and wildlife enforcement division - the same troopers who scuttled the change. Whether Ball wears his old OSP hat or new ODFW hat on this one remains to be seen. (Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470, or e-mail him at: [email protected] ) Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.