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Fly-fishers will get their say By Mark Freeman Fly-fishers will have their chance Friday in Portland to argue why the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission ought not re-open a spirited debate. The topic is whether two new bait-fishing bans belong on the Rogue River, beginning next year. In announcing an apparent switch in plans for its Friday meeting, the commission has scheduled fly-casters to have 20 minutes of testimony � the same as a Grants Pass man who wants to see the commission revisit its new bait-fishing restrictions for the upper Rogue and the lower Rogue Canyon. Both groups are set to testify one after the other beginning at 1 p.m. at the commission�s meeting in Portland. Initially, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife had not expected rebuttal from backers of the new rules, according to agency spokeswoman Anne Pressentin Young. The ODFW staff mistakenly thought only those seeking the rehearing would speak, she says. That misunderstanding was corrected and invitations to speak were sent to Irv Urie of Medford and Ken Helfrich of Eugene, Young says. Both men have supported the bait bans in the canyon. They were meant to be invited all along, Young says. The commission in September passed a set of sport-fishing regulations for 2001-2004 that included a ban on all bait-fishing in the upper Rogue during August, November and December, which covers the bait-fishing months for summer steelhead. The months sandwich the current Sept. 1-Oct. 31 flies-only fishing season, where bait and lures are already banned. The commission in September also banned bait for salmon or steelhead fishing in the Wild and Scenic Section of the lower Rogue Canyon from Sept. 1-Oct. 31. Fly-fishermen pitched the restrictions to the commission as a way to protect wild summer steelhead from swallowing baited hooks and dying, even though the fish must be released unharmed when caught. Bait-fishermen have cried foul and point to an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist�s opinion that the changes would provide almost negligible benefits to the Rogue�s wild steelhead runs at the expense of reduced fishing opportunities. At issue Friday is whether the commission should set aside those decisions, hold a new public hearing and re-vote on the proposals. Jim Broman, owner of Jim�s Bait and Tackle Shop in Grants Pass, has petitioned the commission to do just that. He had been granted 20 minutes to state his case. THE OREGON FISH and Wildlife Commission on Friday is also set to adopt an emergency change to sport-fishing rules. The move will fix a legal glitch that technically has made common anglers into illegal anglers with virtually no one knowing about it. The problem surrounds infant coho salmon taken as excess from Cole Rivers Hatchery and released into four Southern Oregon reservoirs � Emigrant, Applegate, Lost Creek and Galesville. The cohos stocked in lakes have grown into schools of 15-inchers that are fun to catch and prized to eat. Current Oregon fishing laws, however, ban any coho fishing except where it is explicitly allowed. The law is an offshoot of wild coho protection measures enacted in Oregon to keep any sport-fishing from harming coho unless where specifically allowed. While the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has stocked coho into the four local reservoirs, the angling rules do not specifically mention that anglers can either fish for these coho or even take some home. "When we put coho into reservoirs, we don�t mean for them to be protected," ODFW biologist Mike Evenson says. While no anglers have been cited on this technicality, biologists have found it and feel a need to correct it. The commission on Friday will be asked to adopt a change that specifically lists coho as part of the trout bag limits for the four reservoirs, where anglers are allowed to keep up to five trout over 8 inches a day as long as no more than one is over 20 inches long. 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 � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.