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CLEAR Temp: 90 °F Wind: NW at 10 mph Friday, August 29, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine Joy Magazine Tempo A & E RogueValleyAutoFinder RogueValleyHomeFinder Real Estate Showcase Wellness Connection Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Employment Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend August 9, 2003 Fishing rules to change on Rogue River By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune Rogue River anglers will have to release some of the wild spring chinook salmon they catch, and be off the far upper stretch of water by 7 p.m. beginning next season under new rules set Friday. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted these and other changes to sport-fishing rules while meeting in Astoria. Concerns over declining returns of wild spring chinook to the Shady Cove area led the commission to reduce the bag limit on them to no more than one a day and up to three per season. Current rules allow up to two wild chinook a day and up to 20 a year, and few legally caught spring chinook are released by Rogue anglers who prize them for their tough fight and tasty flesh. Advertisement One of the most popular fisheries in Oregon, the Rogue’s spring chinook season runs April through July in the upper Rogue upstream of Gold Ray Dam. The commission adopted the so-called "1-and-3" rule for 2004 only. It gives the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife time to work on a spring chinook management plan that addresses problems facing wild spring chinook, said Russ Stauff, the ODFW’s Rogue Watershed manager. Stauff said the placement and operation of Lost Creek Lake is the main culprit to wild spring chinook numbers, which had dwindled to about one-tenth their historic levels before rebounding this year. Other factors include degradedspawning habitat, temperature of water flows, and pressure from legal and illegal angling. "We need to get all these issues on the table and have a discussion, if not an agreement, with the different stakeholders," Stauff said after Friday’s commission decision. Stauff said the management plan, expected to be completed next summer, will include specific triggers — such as the number of wild spring chinook counted at Gold Ray Dam — that would ease or tighten the catch-and-release rules, Stauff said. Under the rule, the one wild-chinook limit will be lifted June 1 from the river mouth upstream to Whiskey Creek near Rainie Falls as fall chinook salmon — an all-wild run that is considered extremely healthy — start heading into that section of the river. The limit then would be up to two a day. Likewise, the limit will rise to two chinook beginning July 15 up to Gold Ray Dam. The commissioners, however, were divided in the ODFW’s proposal to reel in illegal and unethical angling in a short stretch of river near Cole Rivers Hatchery during the spring chinook season. By a 3-2 vote, the commissioners adopted a permanent rule that halts fishing at 7 p.m. nightly from the Highway 62 bridge at McGregor Park upstream to the "deadline" at the hatchery. The rule would apply April through July 31, during the spring chinook season. The ODFW and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pushed for the nightly closure as a way of curbing drunken lawlessness, fighting and illegal snagging in that area. The agencies said most of the problems occurred in the late evening. Commissioners Marla Rae and Zane Smith voted against the measure, saying they would rather see police target the offenders without limiting access to law-abiding anglers. Stauff said the evening shutdown is a better idea than simply closing fishing on all or part of that half-mile stretch. The commissioners also set the following changes to angling rules in 2004: Reduced the daily surfperch limit from 25 to 15. The change addresses concerns about surfperch over-fishing and matches Washington's limit. California allows five surfperch per day. Changed the recreational crabbing rules to allow for up to two daily limits in holding pots. There currently is no limit. Cut the statewide sturgeon annual limit from 10 to five, but kept current size restrictions. Set a new definition for "fin clip" to identify hatchery salmon and steelhead. The current definition is of a healed scar where the adipose fin has been completely removed. The new definition drops the "completely removed" language because some clips are not complete on hatchery salmon and steelhead. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Rogue Valley Auto Finder Rogue Valley Job Finder --> Rogue Valley Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Real Estate Showcase Food for Thought Hike of the Week Wellness Connection Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Openings Prime Times