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Mark Freeman Commentary As rain wanes, anglers return to Rogue In the back of Jim's Tackle and Bait Shop in Grants Pass, the High Water Lounge lizards had a two-drink minimum most of this winter, and the beverage of choice quickly became whine. Mother Nature, clearly suffering from PMS, had left the Rogue and Applegate rivers too high and muddy to fish for winter steelhead virtually every day from Christmas into early March. Frustrated anglers collected in the back room of Jim Broman's tackle shop to complain and complain and complain. "The High Water Lounge was crowded," Broman says. "Everybody sat around, drank my coffee and didn't buy anything." The Rogue seemed it would never be more green than brown again. Then the clouds parted, the rain stopped and the Rogue became a steelheader's heaven once again. Winter steelhead catches have become so good this past week that Broman's impromptu High Water Lounge is closed for the season, replaced with a real fishing shop full of optimistic anglers who are actually buying tackle. "Everybody's out fishing," Broman says. "Guys come into the shop and ask where the hot spot is. I tell them the same thing -- it's anywhere you want to go." Bank and boat anglers have found a strangely large cluster of winter steelhead in the 12-15 pound range. That's exceptional for the Rogue and Applegate, which are known for large numbers of midsized steelhead but not for really big fish. Catches also have been loaded with wild fish, indicating that the Applegate and the middle Rogue tributaries seem to have generated a good run of native steelhead this winter. As long as heavy rains stay away, the rest of March and much of April look as if they will provide great late-winter steelheading on the Rogue. While high water has posed problems for steelheading this winter, high spring water is breeding high hopes among the Rogue's most passionate of anglers -- the spring chinook salmon fishermen. "People in the know realize what makes for good salmon fishing -- high, cool water," says Ron Oachs, the new president of the Rogue River Guides Association. "Low, clear water is what we really despise," Oachs says. Low water won't be a problem this spring in the upper Rogue. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has forecast an average of 3,900 cfs to be released in May from Lost Creek Lake. That's a full 1,100 cfs higher than last year and three times higher than the lake releases during the awful drought years of the early '90s. "Man, 3,900 (cfs) is a lot of water," Oachs says. "For anybody who rows a driftboat, they better start now on their rowing machines." While it is tough to muscle a driftboat around while rowing in high, clear water, those conditions are good for the fish and for fishing. The fish like it because it allows them to migrate disease-free from the ocean to the upper Rogue. The fishermen like it because the salmon are more frisky and tend to bite better. "Springers," Oach says, "just do not bite well in low, clear water." Other than sore-muscled driftboat oarsmen mortgaging their homes to buy new powerboats, the only down-side is that hatchery spring chinook will likely migrate faster upstream and, therefore, enter the hatchery quickly. "Personally, I welcome it," says Oachs, a powerboater. "But I don't row anymore, either." But even those fishermen who don't row anymore still cast -- and that simple act can get you into the angling version of Stupid Pet Tricks. Zebco, the fishing-tackle company, is trolling the country for three super-casters to try to set a new record for most consecutive casts without a back-lash in their reel. It seems that in 1956, some Texan named Bill Carter cast for 14 hours and 14 minutes to set a record of 3,453 straight casts without the line balling up back-lashing into an impenetrable knot of monofilament. Apparently, the boys at Zebco believe it's time to break that record, and they are looking for the right three people to try. Organizers of the Zebco Casting for a Record contest are looking for three finalists to compete for the "championship title" during the tackle-industry trade show July 9-11 in Chicago. The contest is open to all U.S. residents. To enter, casters must submit a VHS videotape with three specific components: A 30-second, on-camera opening interview stating why you want to break Carter's record and why you think you can; a precise 30-minute segment of uninterrupted, unedited video showing you making cast after cast of at least 75 feet with -- and this is important to the Zebco guys -- a push-button Zebco spin-cast reel; and a label on the videocassette with your name, mailing address, phone number, average casts per minute and date the video was made. Mail them to Zebco Casting for a Record, 6101 E. Apache, Tulsa, OK., 74115. Entries must be received by June 1. Three winners will get an expense-paid trip to Chicago for the ICAST '99 show, where they will have lunch with a few bass-casting legends like Bill Dance before embarking on their marathon casting session. The contest will continue either until only one angler surpasses Carter's 3,453 cast mark, or until noon July 10. If the deadline is reached, whichever angler has the most casts will be declared the winner. Apparently, the folks at the Guinness Book of World Records are interested in possibly recognizing the winner in its next book. Which makes beating Carter's 3,453 casts a better way to get into the record books than beating Charles Osborne of Anthon, Iowa. All Osborne did was hiccup every 1.5 seconds from 1922 to February 1990. (Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470.) Outdoor Journal main page Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA