Document text
Discussion to resume over bait-ban plans Oregon fish managers stand poised for compromise in the battle over bait-fishing bans on the Rogue River � if they can find solutions to end infighting among anglers yet create more protection for wild summer steelhead. And both the bait-fishing and the fly-fishing camps appear willing to deal. In agreeing Friday to re-open public debate, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission has said it will consider alternatives to the controversial fall bait bans planned for the upper Rogue and lower Rogue Canyon. Already, key spokesmen on both sides of the issue are independently talking about how best to settle the argument while ensuring more wild steelhead survive catch-and-release fishing. Possible changes include cutting one or more months from the proposed three-month ban on fall bait fishing in the upper Rogue upstream of Gold Ray Dam. Others are to shorten the boundaries for a Sept. 1-Oct. 31 bait ban in the so-called canyon stretch of the Wild and Scenic Rogue from Grave Creek to Agness. But whether these or any other alternatives can survive the litmus test for political compromise � to equally anger and please both sides � is today�s Thanksgiving mystery. "Obviously, the commissioners are sniffing around for alternatives," says Bob Hooton, who heads the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife�s steelhead program. "But I have no idea where they�re going to go. "I�m not sure how they�re going to handle this, frankly," Hooton says. This all smells of possible success to Jim Broman, who has spearheaded attempts to get the bait bans for 2001 lifted before they begin. Broman hopes the legions of sport-anglers on both sides don�t blow this rare second chance by refusing to ease the all-or-nothing stands they have taken to date in the great bait debate. "Now�s the chance to lay out some options for the commission," Broman says, "instead of bait-fishermen just beating them over the head with a big club, saying we think you�re wrong." The six-member commission on Sept. 22 enacted a ban on all bait-fishing in the upper Rogue during August, November and December, sandwiching the current Sept. 1-Oct. 31 flies-only fishing season. The commission also banned bait while salmon or steelhead fishing in the Wild and Scenic Section of the lower Rogue canyon from Sept. 1-Oct. 31. The restrictions were pitched by some fly-fishermen as a way to protect wild summer steelhead, a fish proposed for threatened species status. Some anglers fear that too many wild steelhead die from injuries suffered when swallowing a baited hook, even though the fish must by law be released unharmed. "Every wild fish means a hell of a lot to us," says longtime Rogue guide and fly-fisherman Irv Urie, of Medford, "because we�re losing them." Bait fishermen have cried foul, and ODFW biologists are on their side. The agency�s official position is that the changes would provide almost negligible benefits to the Rogue�s wild steelhead runs at the expense of reduced fishing opportunities. The commission on Friday granted Broman�s crowd a second chance by setting aside the September decision and agreeing to rehear the arguments in a new public hearing Jan. 19. A re-vote would then follow Feb. 15, when the commission would either keep the bait bans, pitch them out altogether or enact some modified rules to remain angling law on the Rogue through 2004. And by no means does this signal the death of the bait ban as currently proposed. In fact, Broman warns that bait anglers run the risk of losing more now than they did in September. "They�ve opened up a pretty good-sized Pandora�s box in a ways," says Broman, who owns a Grants Pass bait and tackle shop. "Worst-case scenario, they could say no bait from Agness up to the hatchery. I don�t see that happening, though." The most likely scenario is the commission exercising the politics of compromise. At the commission meeting Friday in Portland, Broman argued to completely lift the bait bans, while Urie urged the commission to uphold its September decision in its entirety. This week, however, both are singing a more conciliatory tune. For the upper Rogue, there appears to be willingness on both sides to negotiate whether one or two of the months could be dropped from the bait ban. Proponents of the ban have focused on the heavy catch-and-release fishing with bait in early November when wild steelhead are susceptible to getting caught with roe. Broman says it�s possible that some bait-anglers will concede November in exchange for getting August and December back to the old regulations. But he�s not ready to speak in favor of this or any other potential compromise just yet. "I�m not for it or dead set against it," Broman says. "But if (the commission) wants compromise, that�s one form of compromise." While Urie says he would "hate like hell to see that change," he concedes that December could be cut without neutering the ban�s intent. Broman and Urie also are showing a willingness now to shorten the area of the bait ban in the canyon. Broman would like to see the upper boundary shifted from Grave Creek down 25 miles to Blossom Bar. This change, Broman says, will still keep the bait ban in the area where halfpounder steelhead fishing is best in early fall, yet retain bait as an option for fall chinook salmon and sturgeon anglers in the Rainie Falls area. Urie, however, believes a shift only a few miles downstream to Whiskey Creek would keep bait viable at Rainie Falls and worm fishing away from most of the halfpounder water. Broman and Urie don�t consider these options as selling out, yet they don�t consider them formal concessions, either. "They want to hear options," Broman says. "Well, we�ll give them options." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.