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Overflow of coho salmon is music to anglers' ears By MARK FREEMAN The glut of coho salmon returning to Oregon hatcheries has prompted state fish managers again to increase the number of fin-clipped coho anglers can keep on the Rogue, Umpqua and other popular sport-fishing streams. Beginning Saturday, anglers will be allowed to keep up to four fin-clipped coho a day throughout the Rogue, where fishing for hatchery coho runs through December. The change also applies to the Umpqua River basin, where coho fishing is allowed, as well as the Tillamook and Trask rivers along the northern Oregon Coast, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The traditional limit is two salmon and/or steelhead a day, but the ODFW raised the hatchery coho limit to three last month so anglers could take advantage of the high return of hatchery coho. But sport-anglers do not have to catch all four of the hatchery coho, or silver salmon, to feel the benefits of the increased limit. The change allows anglers to keep two adult chinook salmon and/or fin-clipped adult summer steelhead, ODFW spokeswoman Anne Pressentin says. Therefore, anglers on the Rogue and Umpqua can keep up to four adult salmon and steelhead a day, provided at least two of those adult fish are hatchery-bound coho. The new rules should have immediate effects on the lower Rogue bay, where sport-anglers are already catching a good mix of chinook and coho salmon, as well as summer steelhead. "Wow, that's good, but it doesn't surprise me, given the amount of fish we're seeing," says Jim Carey, owner of the Rogue Outdoor Store that overlooks the bay in Gold Beach. "It's feasible that guys could catch that many a day now, and we haven't even seen the bulk of the (coho) run here yet, by any means." The effects, however, are expected to diminish the farther upstream fishermen go, even though the excess coho are bound for Cole Rivers Hatchery at the base of Lost Creek Lake. Traditionally, sport-anglers catch more coho in the lower portions of the Rogue. These fish are considered tougher to catch farther upstream because they are not aggressive biters. The change does not alter the current ban on keeping any wild coho salmon, which are protected in Northern California and Southern Oregon as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act. ODFW Director Lindsay Ball signed the coho order Thursday, and it sunsets at the end of the year, Pressentin says. The increased catch limits are part of the ODFW's response to high returns of hatchery coho statewide. An estimated 22,000 fin-clipped adult coho are bound this year for Cole Rivers Hatchery, where less than 1,000 are needed for annual production needs. The hatchery releases about 330,000 infant coho annually. Biologists believe the high return of hatchery coho stems from salmon-friendly ocean conditions and cutbacks in sport and commercial coho harvest offshore. 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.