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51 °F Forecast | Road Cams Monday, April 25, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend May 14, 2004 Jerry Cave casts into the upper Rogue near the Highways 62 bridge at Shady Cove on Thursday, the proposed deadline for a compromise to the upper Rogue�s bait-fishing ban in late fall. Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli River rules Many anglers seek repeal of a four-year-old ban on steelhead fishing with bait in late fall along the upper Rogue By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune WHITE CITY — Bait fishermen literally gave their thumbs up Thursday to a proposal that lifts the 4-year-old ban on steelhead fishing with bait in late fall along the upper Rogue, saying don’t let a bad rule perpetuate any longer. Opponents to the controversial Rogue "bait ban" flooded a public meeting meant to collect opinions on proposed changes to Oregon’s angling regulations. They told Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife that the bans are unneeded, offering only token help to the intended target — wild summer steelhead in the upper Rogue, downstream of the Rogue Elk boat ramp, each November and December. Fly-fishing groups and wild fish advocates four years ago convinced the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission to enact the ban, saying catch-and-release fishing in late fall for upper Rogue wild summer steelhead leads to too many wild fish dying before they spawn in January and February. But ODFW biologist David Haight reiterated his agency’s opinion that a negligible number of wild summer steelhead — perhaps fewer than three dozen, less than 1 percent of the run — die from hook-and-release fishing with bait. "All the anecdotal tales of hundreds of dead steelhead in the upper Rogue is flush," said Chuck Fosterman, whose 450-member Middle Rogue Steelhead Chapter of Trout Unlimited supports a repeal. Advertisement Agency biologists Thursday then asked for a public vote — thumbs up for those wanting an appeal, thumbs down for those who want to keep the ban in place — and the Jackson County Auditorium in White City erupted with a sea of thumbs pointing to the ceiling. Only eight thumbs from the nearly 100 people in attendance pointed toward the carpet. "Obviously, the people are way for it," said Vernon Grieve, an upper Rogue guide and part of an association that has lobbied for the ban’s repeal since 2002. "I can’t imagine them not doing away with the bait ban." But a smattering of fly-fishers and wild fish advocates who support the bait bans testified, telling the agency not to give up on the fledgling rule before it has a chance to make a difference in wild fish returns. "The rule change has only been in effect for four years," said Teresa Kasza of the Grants Pass-based Southern Oregon Fly Fishers. "That’s not long enough to show" any benefits. Thumbs also went downward for a compromise proposal that would have extended Nov. 1’s open bait waters from Rogue Elk ramp seven miles down to Shady Cove. Fly-fisher Larry Bressler of Ashland proposed that as a way to afford protection from bait to wild steelhead downstream of Shady Cove, but still give driftboaters a full day of bait fishing from the Cole Rivers hatchery ramp all the way to Shady Cove. John MacDiarmid, a Central Point fly-fisher, said the lopsided number of thumbs at Thursday’s meeting does not reflect the hearts of the angling public. "I don’t think those of us who support (no fall bait) were as well-organized as the other group," MacDiarmid said after Thursday’s meeting. "That was reflected in what was said tonight." The bait-verses-fly debate erupted in 2000 after the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission banned bait like roe and worms while fishing in the upper Rogue from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, when a mix of hatchery and wild summer steelhead are in the river. All wild steelhead must be released unharmed, and bait-ban backers — led by fly-fishing groups — sought the ban as a way of curbing the numbers of fish that die after being caught with bait and released. But applying conclusions from studies done in British Columbia to catch counts in the upper Rogue, the ban would have spared only 18 fish in 1998 and just 30 fish in 1999. The commission, which can decide angling rules based strictly on social issues if it desires, supported the ban in 2000. The ban creates a bitter schism among angling groups along the Rogue, with bait anglers believing that fly-fishers sought exclusive use of the upper Rogue each fall and fly-fishers panning the studies as flawed and not representative of the Rogue. But six of the seven commissioners from the 2000 vote are gone, and no one’s sure where the commission will side in September, when it will vote on all potential changes to Oregon angling rules. Any changes will not go in effect until 2005. "Everybody in the angling community still feels the same (as in 2000)," MacDiarmid said. "Only the commission has changed. The proposals do not change the historical bait-fishing ban each Sept. 1 through Oct. 31. That is designed to curb harassment of spawning spring Chinook salmon in the upper Rogue. In a separate issue, all but five people at the meeting were thumbs-up for a repeal of bait-fishing bans in the Lower Rogue Canyon from Sept. 1 to Oct. 31. Like the upper Rogue ban, this ban was sought in 2000 to protect wild adult summer steelhead and immature "halfpounder" steelhead from hooking mortality with bait. Haight also called that one as creating negligible positive impact on wild fish survival. Have your say There is still time and opportunity for the public to comment about proposed changes to bait-fishing bans on the Rogue River as well as any other proposed angling regulation changes for 2005 and beyond. WRITE A LETTER — All letters are forwarded to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission. Letters should be mailed to: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Angling Regulations, 3406 Cherry Ave. NE, Salem, OR 97303. SEND A FAX — (503)947-6202. SEND AN E-MAIL — [email protected] Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Distance Education Diamonds Online Poker Slippers Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Tatoos Advertisement s