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'Fish cop' lays down the law By MARK FREEMAN SHADY COVE - Marine deputy Wally Ramsay can't help but launch into what he calls his "farmer's pond" speech when he finds anglers fishing illegally for some of the half-million juvenile salmon and steelhead in the upper Rogue River each spring. The Rogue, from Cole Rivers Hatchery to the sea, is closed to trout fishing in spring to protect vast schools of young wild and hatchery smolts heading west to the Pacific. But uninformed anglers continue to catch and keep the fin-clipped hatchery smolts illegally, prompting a $150 ticket from Ramsay - who occasionally will add a stern oration. "These people don't bother to read the rules, and it gripes me to the point of a lecture," says Ramsay, of the Jackson County Sheriff's Department. "I say, 'This here isn't some farmer's pond. This is the Rogue River, an internationally known river for fishing - and all the fish in the river are protected in some manner,'" he says. The "farmer's pond" diatribe will be at the tip of his tongue for the next two weeks as he finds anglers who are unaware that trout are off-limits each April 1 through the fourth Saturday in May. The annual closure affects the entire Rogue downstream from the fishing deadline near the hatchery. All wild and hatchery steelhead smolts are legally considered trout at that time, with only adult salmon and steelhead legal targets for fishing. Last week, Cole Rivers Hatchery staff opened the gates to some of their concrete holding ponds, releasing about 565,000 coho salmon and steelhead smolts. Most of them look a lot like regular trout, and the majority are 8 to 12 inches long. "Those can be mistaken for trout very easily," says Matt Frank, the hatchery's assistant manager. "But if they harass these fish now, even catch and release these fish, they won't come back later." That is why it is illegal to fish intentionally for these trout-like smolts through May 26. In fact, the only fishing in the Rogue now allowed is for salmon and steelhead, and you must have a salmon-steelhead harvest tag just to cast legally from a boat or the bank. The spring trout-fishing ban has been on the books for years and it's printed on Page 36 of the 2001 Sport Fishing Regulations. In fact, it's the very first rule listed for the Rogue. "Most people who are out there trout fishing just don't know anything," Ramsay says. "They just don't read the regulations. They just don't think it's important." Violators face tickets with base fines of $150, says Senior Trooper Pat McNeilly, of the Oregon State Police's Fish and Wildlife Division. Get caught trout fishing in the Rogue now and you can expect a ticket if you've killed and/or kept any of the fish, McNeilly says. If you're fishing and haven't killed any smolts, you might skate with just a ticket, McNeilly says. Cross paths with Ramsay, and you might get more. Ramsay says he's passionate about protecting the Rogue's fish, and that often means informing people of what is legal and illegal - and why - on the Rogue. "You give them just a warning, they don't really listen to you," he says. "Give them a ticket, and they start paying attention." Most offenders are breaking the no trout-fishing law out of ignorance, mainly because they don't bother to read the regulations, Ramsay says. "They'll say that it takes an attorney to read the regulations," Ramsay says. "So I'll underline the regulation and have their 10-year-old kid read it to them. 'He's not an attorney,' I tell them, 'and he can read it.' "I've probably, literally, done that 100 times," he says. Occasional anglers aren't the only offenders. Ramsay says he's run into several serious anglers decked out in expensive gear who claim they have never seen a copy of the Sport Fishing Regulations that are stacked on sporting-goods counters across Oregon year-round. "They act like they've never been to Bi-Mart or something, but they've got all this great gear," Ramsay says. "They couldn't possibly have bought it all mail-order." Most often, though, he relies on his admonishment that the mighty Rogue is not some little puddle where anything goes. "If I find them fishing for trout and have fish, I give them a ticket," Ramsay says. "And maybe the lecture, too." 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.