Document text
Bait-fishing ban goes into effect By MARK FREEMAN TRAIL - A new fall bait-fishing ban goes into effect today along the upper Rogue River, and it will take a sharp eye to see any change in steelhead fishing techniques. Savvy anglers who have dissected the new rules will find their fishing styles can go virtually unchanged now through December along most of the upper Rogue, despite the requirements for flies and lures only to help protect wild summer steelhead now in the river. Classic drift-fishing techniques using lead weights will be allowed and effective - as long as the hook on the end of your line has a legal fly or a hard-plastic egg imitation on it, and not a gob of roe. It's fishing with flies, not fly-fishing - and it's all legal, says Bob Hooton, the steelhead program manager for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. "You can use lead, swivels, corkies, all that stuff," Hooton says. "All it basically is, is just don't use bait." Hard-plastic egg imitations are just as legal as all flies, and they can even be barbed hooks and coated with egg-smelling scents to fool the steelhead that have been munching eggs laid this fall by spawning chinook salmon. Even egg-like yarn flies soaked overnight in real roe juice also are legal offerings. "You can even cast Wiggle Warts with Smelly Jelly on them like they do on the Deschutes," Hooton says. Not only are these methods legal, but none fly against the intent of the rule change that banned bait as a way to help more wild summer steelhead survive catch-and-release fishing so they can spawn, Hooton says. The artificial flies and lures are considered less lethal to steelhead because the fish are less apt to swallow them than bait, Hooton says. "This is not fly-fishing, and it's not supposed to be," he says. Nov. 1 traditionally has been a popular day to cast roe for steelhead on the upper Rogue, where fishing is restricted just to flies from Sept. 1 through Oct. 31 to protect spawning chinook from angler harassment. With steelhead keying in on eating the naturally laid eggs, anglers using roe can easily catch and release 10 or more steelhead apiece in early November. Wild fish advocates successfully sought a fall bait ban to reduce the impact bait-fishing has on the wild steelhead now present in the Rogue as they await their early winter spawning time. The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission last February adopted the new fall rules for the upper Rogue after a heated debate, forging a compromise by splitting the upper Rogue into two sections with different rules for November and December. The compromise allows traditional bait-fishing Nov. 1 through Dec. 31 from Cole Rivers Hatchery down to the Rogue Elk Park boat ramp - a stretch of river dominated in November by excess hatchery-bound steelhead. From the Rogue Elk Park ramp down to Gold Ray Dam, where the fish are more a mix of wild and hatchery-bred steelhead, the rules ban bait by requiring only flies and lures. But the changes do not ban the use of weights or swivels, which are specifically excluded during the September-October fly season. So traditional lead shot and pencil lead are fine to use. And several useful fishing items are listed legally as artificial lures. Those include the hard-plastic corky drifts shaped like egg clusters as well as traditional spinning and plug-style lures. However, the soft molded-plastic egg imitations are legally considered bait in Oregon and are banned in the no-bait zone. But scents, even natural roe juice, are deemed "attractants" and not bait, so their use is legal. Oregon State Police fish and wildlife enforcement troopers will be patrolling the upper Rogue today and will be enforcing the new rules with a light touch. "We'll be talking to people, explaining the rules to people and issuing a lot of warnings, just like we do whenever there's a new rule change," OSP Sgt. Jack Slezak says. "We're not there to wield a big, heavy hand on the public." But the rules banning wild steelhead harvest have been around for several years and will be strictly enforced, Slezak says. Similar changes were enacted for the Deschutes River in the late 1970s, and anglers took a few seasons before adjusting to - and getting comfortable with - the new rules. "It's like anywhere else in the state," Hooton says. "When you make a change, it's hard on folks for a few years. Then they get used to it." Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470, or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.