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Breaking the rules Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Sport-anglers lining the banks below Cole Rivers Hatchery are catching more than 200 spring chinook salmon each day since the new "Hatchery Hole" was opened Tuesday. By Thursday, however, it had become apparent to state fish managers that a few cheaters may end up spoiling it all for legitimate fishermen. Some anglers may ruin hot new hole for law-abiding fishermen By MARK FREEMAN TRAIL - The upper Rogue River's newest and hottest salmon-fishing hole is living up to all the good and bad expectations, leading state fish managers to wonder whether allowing fishing alongside Cole Rivers Hatchery was such a bright idea. Sport anglers are catching more than 200 spring chinook salmon each day in the quarter-mile stretch of the Rogue opened to fishing since Tuesday to help fishermen catch more excess hatchery chinook. "I caught two big chinook in just three casts," said angler Rick Ward, one of about 75 "Hatchery Hole" anglers Thursday. "I've lived my whole life in Shady Cove, and I've never seen action like this for spring chinook in this river." But Ward also has seen anglers keeping more than their legal two-salmon limit, casting repeatedly into closed waters and other forms of cheating that police and other critics said the new hole inevitably would draw. "This would be a great thing, if the guys don't abuse it," Ward said. "It's got the bad and the good." Now Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife managers are concerned that too much of the bad is ruining a good thing for legitimate anglers. Just three days into the experiment, hatchery Manager Randy Robart said the small minority who are committing the majority of the violations could cause the Hatchery Hole to be closed again. "It's a huge success, generally," Robart said. "Several people have told me that these are the first salmon they've ever caught in their life. But I'd hate to see the 1 percent, the criminal element out there, destroying it for everybody. "If they continue, we'll have to shut it down," Robart said. "And if we shut it down, it will never open again. Never." The ODFW, state police and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be watching Hatchery Hole anglers closely this weekend to see if the cheaters will clean up their acts. Lt. Steve Ross, of the Oregon State Police's Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Division, believes things will get worse. And worse. "How bad will it get? I don't think we're there yet," Ross said. ODFW biologists opened the Hatchery Hole as part of a statewide effort to get a glut of salmon bound for Oregon hatcheries into the hands of anglers. Cole Rivers Hatchery workers this year are expecting more than 20,000 excess spring chinook. Before entering the hatchery, the fish mill around by the hundreds in the final few hundred yards of the upper Rogue. Since the hatchery opened almost 30 years ago, that area has been closed to fishing because casting there was largely deemed too lopsided in anglers' favor. But ODFW managers opened it as an experiment, allowing bank fishing from both sides of the river - but no boat fishing -in the stretch through July 31, the end of the upper Rogue's salmon season. But agency leaders promised to shut it down if illegal and unethical activities took place there. Seventy-four anglers lined the banks by 5:20 a.m. Tuesday, when fishing opened, and the action has been nonstop ever since. "It's awesome," said amputee Allan "One-Armed Bandit" Simon, who hooked and landed a feisty 18-pounder Thursday while holding his rod between his knees and cranking in the fish with his left, and only, hand. "Everybody's been good, too," said Simon, 45, of Grants Pass. "We all know that, with any problems, they'll close it down." Just 100 yards away, however, a half-dozen anglers were illegally casting upstream of the deadline after the chinook stacked like cordwood in the frothy Rogue. One of those was Don Monroe of Klamath Falls, whose cast from the hatchery dike into the closed water hooked a large chinook that he landed and kept. If witnessed by a policeman, Monroe could have received tickets with fines totaling $300. Though he stood next to a large sign stating the rules, Monroe said he did not know he was breaking any. "Now that I know, I can't do it," Monroe said. "Shoot." Both ODFW and state police have issued dozens of warnings to anglers for casting into the closed area, where the fish are stacked so thick they can be seen easily from the bank. Others also have complained about people exceeding their bag limits, and Corps officials have complained about illegal parking, Robart said. OSP's Ross said the area's reputation for holding lots of fish has drawn many of the Rogue's outlaw anglers who are mixing with legitimate fishermen at the Hatchery Hole. "When I walked the dike (Tuesday), it was like old home week," Ross said. "That's probably the first time I've run into some of those guys without it turning into a foot pursuit." A few tickets have been written so far, but most of the anglers have been warned about violations, Ross said. "How tough do you get on people (casting) over the deadline when the ODFW's real intent is to have these people catch those fish?" Ross said. "We're having a little struggle with this." 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.