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Feature Story Ring in new year with rules Fishermen, hunters face many changes By MARK FREEMAN New Year's Day brings more than football games, hangovers and new wall calendars. New angling rules and a need for new fishing and hunting licenses come into play after today as 1999 brings a host of new rules for the hunting and fishing world. For those who plan to hunt waterfowl or catch steelhead in early January, beware: New licenses -- and, in some cases, new tags -- are required. The primary requirements for anglers planning to fish the Rogue River, beginning Friday, are a 1999 fishing license and salmon/steelhead tag. Together, they cost $31. The license applies to anyone 14 years or older who is fishing in Oregon, except Oregon landowners and their families who are fishing on their own property. All anglers, regardless of age, need tags to fish for salmon-steelhead, sturgeon or halibut. The salmon-steelhead tag costs $10.50. For kids 14 to 17, a juvenile fishing license costs just $6.25. Hunters must own a 1999 hunting license before going afield, even if they have tags valid for hunting in the new year. For instance, hunters with an upland game-bird or waterfowl stamp for 1998-99 can continue to use the stamps as long as they purchase a '99 hunting license. Ditto for those holding antlerless elk tags for later this winter. Those perusing the new fishing regulations will see blue boxes around the new rules that differ from those printed in the 1998 fishing synopsis. Many, however, have been in effect since last winter, when the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission enacted new rules to protect wild steelhead in Western Oregon rivers, including the Rogue, Applegate, Chetco and Elk. The rules include: Catch-and-release of all wild steelhead in the Applegate, Elk, Chetco and Pistol rivers, as well as Brush, Euchre, Hunter and Winchuck creeks. However, up to two fin-clipped hatchery steelhead may be kept daily. Wild steelhead may be kept as part of a legal bag limit Feb. 1 through April 30 on the Rogue River above Grave Creek. The rules apply Jan. 1 through April below Grave Creek. Only one wild steelhead per day over 24 inches, and no more than five of these a year, can be kept. Bait can be used on the Rogue and Applegate rivers only with hooks with a gap of at least a half-inch between the point and the shank. All commercially produced size No. 1 hooks fit the law, which applies to barbed and barbless hooks. Bait fishing in Big Butte and Little Butte creeks is banned during trout season. The upper Big Butte trout season is now from the fourth Saturday in May to Aug. 31. This year's opener is May 22. Some new regulations adopted last August also go into effect Friday. Locally, they include the following: EMIGRANT LAKE -- The new crappie regulations include a minimum length of 8 inches for crappie kept by anglers. The rule is intended to grow bigger, more desirable crappie in the lake near Ashland. BIG BUTTE CREEK -- No limit on the size and numbers of brook trout. Same for Little Butte Creek. GALESVILLE RESERVOIR -- No bass 12-15 inches may be kept by anglers, and only one bass over 15 inches may be kept per day. The change is to help create a trophy bass fishery at the reservoir. New wording -- the phrase "in the aggregate" -- has been added to salmon-steelhead limits statewide, but the wording does not change the actual laws. It is meant just to clarify it. When salmon and steelhead can be kept, anglers can keep just two salmon and/or steelhead in any combination. The rule has always said "and/or." While the phrase "in the aggregate" may be a redundancy, it is meant to clear up any confusion by those who mistakenly believe they can keep two salmon and two steelhead a day. Outdoor Journal main page Mail Tribune Copyright � interRogue & The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA