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State may throw back bait ban New Rogue rules get hearing in January By Mark Freeman Sport-fishermen will have a new chance in January to argue whether fishing with bait should be banned on two sections of the Rogue River during its famous summer steelhead fishing season. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission on Friday in Portland agreed to set aside the fall bait-fishing bans the commission adopted in September for the upper Rogue and lower Rogue Canyon. The commission will revisit the regulation proposals that have divided the Rogue�s angling public over whether allowing fishing only with flies and lures is necessary to help more wild summer steelhead survive sport-fishing. The commission will convene a public hearing, tentatively scheduled Jan. 19 in Portland, to gather input about the rules, said Anne Pressentin, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Pressentin said commission members will take a month to digest the comments, then decide whether to keep the new rules as written for 2001, throw out the changes and retain the 2000 rules, or create a modified version of the regulations that are scheduled to remain in effect through 2004. The commission also will take written testimony until just prior to the February decision, Pressentin said. Friday�s decision, which came unanimously from the six-member commission, will open for change all sport-fishing rules on the Rogue from Agness, 35 miles east of Gold Beach, to Cole Rivers Hatchery near Trail. The upper Rogue and the lower Rogue Canyon are on both ends of the stretch, with the Grants Pass area in the middle. While the middle Rogue was not part of September�s changes, alterations to the fishing rules in that section could be made based on Friday�s decision, Pressentin said. 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 to Oct. 31 flies-only fishing season on the upper Rogue, where bait and lures already are banned those two months. The commission in September also banned bait while salmon or steelhead fishing in the Wild and Scenic Section of the lower Rogue Canyon from Sept. 1 through 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 adult wild steelhead die from injuries suffered when swallowing a baited hook, even though the fish must by law be released unharmed. Bait-fishermen have cried foul, and point to an ODFW 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 was not whether the rules should be changed, but whether a re-hearing should be held. The commission�s vote came after Jim Broman, a Grants Pass tackle shop owner, and Eagle Point dentist Keith Ogawa argued that the new rules are unneeded. The group has submitted 3,251 signatures of people opposed to the bait bans. Backers, including fishing guide Irv Urie of Medford, argued that the new regulations should remain in place. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.