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Fish and Wildlife changes angling, hunting rules By MARK FREEMAN Anglers can keep up to three hatchery coho salmon on the Rogue River this fall under changes to sport-fishing rules meant to help anglers feast on Oregon's coho cornucopia this year. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted changes to Rogue angling rules for this fall as part of a temporary package statewide giving anglers more opportunity to catch and keep some of an estimated 1 million excess hatchery-raised coho in Oregon streams this year. The commission, at its monthly meeting in Portland, also adopted the most liberal duck and goose-hunting seasons for fall and winter allowed by federal law. But the six-person commission delayed until September its consideration of whether to re-open the popular Hatchery Hole to angling on the far upper Rogue adjacent to Cole Rivers Hatchery. Increasing the hatchery coho limit from two to three a day is for this year only, and is one of state fish managers' solutions to a hatchery-fish glut coastwide. It includes an estimated 22,000 hatchery coho bound this fall for the Rogue. Biologists believe the high return of hatchery coho stems from salmon-friendly ocean conditions and cutbacks in sport and commercial coho harvest offshore. While the increased daily limit may make a big splash in the Columbia, it will likely generate only a ripple in the Rogue Valley. Coho are rarely caught by anglers in the middle and upper Rogue, in part because the fish are not considered aggressive biters and people are primarily either hunting or fishing for steelhead. "If people are going to catch them up here, they'll catch them this year," says Matt Frank, assistant manager at Cole Rivers Hatchery. However, the lower Rogue bay at Gold Beach is a popular place to fish for coho in early to mid-fall. The upper Rogue's Hatchery Hole could be a good spot for coho fishing if the commission re-opens it beginning in November. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife opened the hole in June and July to give anglers a chance to catch excess hatchery spring chinook, and more than 2,000 fish were caught along a quarter-mile stretch of water that traditionally has been off-limits. The hole, however, was fraught with abuses, generating more than 150 angling citations, according to the Oregon State Police. The hole closed to all angling July 31. The commission will wait until after an OSP report about Hatchery Hole citations due later this month, ODFW spokeswoman Anne Pressentin said. Also, the commission wants to hear feedback from an Aug. 23 public meeting planned in Shady Cove to gather input on whether to re-open the hole permanently to angling. The commission on Friday, however, did adopt lengthy waterfowl hunting seasons for fall and winter. The duck season represents a total of 107 hunting days, the most allowed under migratory game-bird treaties. It includes a 105-day general season, plus a special youth waterfowl hunt set for Sept. 22-23 statewide. The duck season will run Oct. 6-17 and Oct. 20 through Jan. 20 statewide. The daily bag limit of seven birds includes no more than two hen mallards, one pintail, four scaup, and two redheads. New for this year, however, is a separate season on canvasback, a species rarely shot in Oregon. The canvasback season will be Nov. 1 to Dec. 8, because a computer model predicts that a full 107-day canvasback season nationwide likely would drop the numbers below targets. The Pacific Flyway is sporting an estimated 36.1 million ducks this year, down 14 percent from last year's record high but still 9 percent above the long-term average. The drop was attributed to drought conditions in Alberta and a late Alaskan spring. For geese, the Western Oregon season, which includes Jackson and Josephine counties, will run Oct. 13-17 and Oct. 20 through Jan. 20. For Lake, Klamath, Harney and Malheur counties, the season runs Oct. 6-17 and Oct. 20 through Jan. 13. The statewide bag proposal remains four dark geese and three white geese a day. 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 � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.