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Tradition wins out in dispute By Mark Freeman Changes to bait-fishing regulations on the upper Rogue River and the lower Rogue Canyon were not the only major adjustments to angling regulations in southwest Oregon beginning next year. Fly-fishermen clashing over angling techniques on the North Umpqua River also took center stage before the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission, which sided with traditional fly-casters over new-school "nymph fishermen" in the river�s famed fly-angling waters around Steamboat. The commission adopted rules that basically make traditional streamer fly-fishing with floating lines the only legal way to fish in the North Umpqua�s fly-only waters from July through October of each year beginning in 2001. The commission banned the use of weighted flies favored by nymph fishermen to get down to the bottom where summer steelhead lie during the hot summer months. The commission also banned the use of weighted fly lines during the summer and early fall in the fly water, which covers 31 miles of the North Umpqua from Rock Creek up to Soda Springs Dam. The area�s requirement for single-point barbless hooks remains. The changes favor the traditional methods of North Umpqua fly-fishing by using streamers on long leaders and floating lines that are cast and swung across steelhead riffles and pools during early mornings and evenings. The use of weighted nymphs became very popular on the North Umpqua during the 1990s because it is an effective way to catch and release wild adult steelhead throughout the summer. But the practice drew intense criticism from traditional fly-casters who believed their nymphing brethren were causing too much stress on the wild steelhead. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Dave Loomis says there is no evidence that nymph-fishing causes any negative impacts to the North Umpqua�s famed wild summer steelhead run. "It was a social issue, not a biological issue," Loomis says. "We have more wild steelhead returning ... than what we�ve seen here in the past 30 to 40 years." Regardless, the debate over the fairness of "nymphing" on the North Umpqua had sharply divided the river�s fly-fishing community. Dick Bauer, a North Umpqua fly-fisherman who co-authored the rule change, says the ban on everything but non-weighted flies and floating fly lines helps protect spawning salmon from snagging as well as wild summer steelhead from over-fishing during hot summer months. The fish in summer hunker down in holes where anglers with weighted nymphs can run cast after cast over them until the fish bite. "The studies are inconclusive, but I think anybody can reasonably conclude you can�t hook these fish repeatedly and expect them to spawn," Bauer says. "I think this is a long time coming," he says. "A prescription like this isn�t so tough, considering the kind of resource we have here." The commission passed the changes during its Friday meeting in Portland after a lengthy discussion over fly-fishing rule changes that also included new bait-fishing limitations to the Rogue. The upper Rogue upstream of Gold Ray Dam will keep its Sept. 1 through Oct. 31 flies-only season, but it will be followed by flies-and-lures fishing only during August and again from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31. The ODFW originally said Monday that the commission only passed the no-bait rules for November and December. But the commission intended to add August to the bait ban as a method of protecting spring chinook salmon from harassment by steelhead anglers fishing with bait, according to Commissioner Don Denman. ODFW officials added August to the new rules Tuesday, and the entire package will appear in the 2001 sport-fishing regulations booklet, ODFW spokeswoman Anne Pressentin says. The change bans the popular use of small roe clusters to catch adult hatchery and wild summer steelhead during early November when adult steelhead are busy eating eggs laid by chinook salmon in the upper Rogue. The commission enacted the change despite opposition from the ODFW and biologist Mike Evenson, who said the wild summer steelhead are in no need of the extra protection from bait-fishing in late fall and that the change would do little to reduce hooking mortality on these wild fish. The commission also banned bait-fishing in the Wild and Scenic Section of the Rogue from Sept. 1 through Oct. 31, allowing angling only with artificial flies and lures. The so-called Lower Rogue Canyon stretch is a popular area to catch immature halfpounder steelhead in the fall. The Rogue changes, like those on the North Umpqua, begin in 2001. The next set of angling changes are not scheduled for commission review until 2003. The new regulations are scheduled to remain in effect until 2004. Changes on the Rogue and North Umpqua came after hefty numbers of letters and some public testimony for and against the changes. The commission "did hear from the public on both issues," Loomis says, "and I�m sure they�re going to hear more from the public once word of the regulation changes gets out." Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470, or e-mail him at [email protected] ) Outdoor Journal Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA