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Hatchery coho season slated By MARK FREEMAN The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission has approved a short sport-fishing season targeting excess hatchery coho salmon off the Central Oregon coast this summer. Anglers can fish beginning July 1 and continue until a 20,000-fish quota is reached. The season, which mirrors seasons crafted by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, covers the off-shore waters from Cape Falcon near the Columbia River mouth on south to Humbug Mountain just north of Port Orford. Only fin-clipped coho can be kept, and fishing is allowed all week except Mondays and Fridays. This marks the second consecutive year that Central Oregon ports have had a summer sport-fishing season targeting hatchery coho only and steers anglers away from the wild coho, which is listed as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act. This and other sport-fishing seasons along the coast are crafted in a way that led biologists to predict that 91 percent of the estimated 66,000 wild coho in the ocean will escape angling harm. The Central Oregon coho season will come during the region's chinook salmon season. During the coho season, anglers will be able to keep up to two chinook and two fin-clipped coho per day. From April 1 through June 30, and from Aug. 1 through Oct. 31, only chinook can be kept. The commission on Friday also approved two extra salmon-fishing seasons set for ocean sportsmen this fall. These popular seasons are called "bubble fisheries" because they focus fishing effort on a small area around the mouths of specific rivers where fall chinook salmon are bound. By allowing sport-fishing in the ocean within a short bubble in front of the river mouths, anglers can target the salmon headed into these rivers, where they also face getting caught by in-river sport anglers. The Chetco River's bubble fishery near Brookings will be Oct. 7-15. The rules will allow sport-anglers to catch one chinook salmon per day, but only four in the season. The Elk River's bubble fishery near Port Orford will run Nov. 1 through Dec. 15, with a two-chinook daily bag limit. A special season also is set for Tillamook Bay, where anglers fishing Aug. 1 through Sept. 31 can target fin-clipped hatchery coho salmon headed for the Trask Hatchery. The Trask is one of several rivers that flow into Tillamook Bay along Oregon's North Coast. Anglers can keep two fin-clipped hatchery coho during this season. An outdoor story in the April 20 edition of the Mail Tribune incorrectly listed part of the hook requirements facing Oregon anglers this year. Anglers can use up to three hooks when fishing for most fish species in Oregon, including all trout, salmon, bass and panfish. A treble hook is considered one hook. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife again is offering a series of popular outdoor-related workshops tailored to women. Oregon Outdoor Women seminars are scheduled locally and across the state for this summer and fall, and they include a new weekend program called "Becoming an Outdoors Woman." Both programs provide opportunities for women to learn about a wide range of outdoor recreation activities through hands-on, skill building classes. Many of the activities are also taught by women. The series again includes three seminars scheduled for Southern Oregon. One is a two-day seminar on fly-fishing skills offered at the Holy Water stretch of the upper Rogue River near Cole Rivers Hatchery. That seminar is May 20-21, and space is still available. A two-day coastal fishing and crabbing seminar in Gold Beach is set for June 9-10, but it has already filled. A pheasant hunting seminar is scheduled for Sept. 16 for the Denman Wildlife Area in Central Point. The seminars all cost $50 apiece, except the "Being an Outdoors Woman" event set for Oct. 13-15 in Wilsonville. The cost of that seminar has not been set yet, but organizers expect it to be about $150. The ODFW has touted the programs as a fun and low-stress alternative for women to learn outdoor skills other than by their spouse or in the traditionally male-dominated field. Agency officials say the programs are good for participants looking to learn a new skill, improve their existing skills, or just meet new friends with similar interests. Oregon Outdoor Women events are scheduled through October. Workshops include classes in turkey hunting, fishing, canoeing, clamming, crabbing, firearm safety and handling, deer and elk hunting, Native American basket weaving, and outdoor survival. Oregon Outdoor Women seminars are usually one-day events, while the Becoming an Outdoors Woman workshop is a weekend event. Here is a run-down of the scheduled events for the upcoming season: OREGON OUTDOOR WOMEN Basic Seminar -- June 10-11, Bend; June 24, Corvallis; July 22, LaGrande; and Aug. 5, Portland. OREGON OUTDOOR WOMEN Single-Focus Seminars -- May 20-21, Fly-fishing the Rogue; June 9-10, Capture the Coast, Gold Beach; June 17, A Day at the Range, Springfield; July 15-16, Capture the Coast, Garibaldi; Sept. 16, pheasant hunting, Central Point; Sept. 23, pheasant hunting; and Sept. 30, Fly-fishing The Grande Ronde. A three-day "Becoming an Outdoors Woman" retreat is scheduled for Oct. 13-15 at the Namaste Retreat and Conference Center in Wilsonville. Registration information can be found on the ODFW web site: www.dfw.state.or.us or by telephoning Nancy Smogor at (503) 872-5264, extension 5358. Advanced reservations are required, and sessions sometimes fill quickly. (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 Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Mail Tribune � 2000 -- Medford, Oregon USA