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55 °F Forecast | Road Cams Monday, September 20, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend September 9, 2004 Fate of fall bait-fishing bans to be determined on Friday Outdoors By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune Roger King knows exactly where he’ll be at 9 a.m. Friday — the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting room in Salem. He knows exactly why he’s there — the commission will take testimony from King and others before voting on whether to continue, rescind or alter fall bait-fishing bans on parts of the Rogue River for the next four years. He even knows what he’s going to wear. "I wore a black shirt and khakis last meeting," says King, 68, of Shady Cove. "I think I’ll wear a shirt with flies all over it." But one detail remains missing. Advertisement "I don’ t know what I’m going to say," King says. "I don’t know what else to say." That’s because everything already has been said about the Rogue fall bait bans. For four years, the bait-fishing and fly-fishing camps have sparred over whether the bans act as a small but relevant layer of protection to wild summer steelhead from catch-and-release fishing or whether they unfairly create fall fly-fishing playgrounds where bait-casters cannot step. And no one has beaten the bait-ban drum louder than King, a retired insurance company manager who has spent the past two years systematically lobbying the seven commission members, politicians and anglers to repeal the bans. "Now, when I sit in front of them to testify, it’s like I know them all personally," King says. The commission in 2000 banned bait during September and October in the Lower Rogue Canyon to curb hooking mortality on wild half-pounder summer steelhead. The commission also banned bait Nov. 1 through Dec. 31 in the upper Rogue to protect wild adult summer steelhead from bait-related hooking mortality. All wild summer steelhead must be released unharmed each fall, regardless of how they are caught. The various factions in the contentious and spirited bait-ban debate are pretty well entrenched going into Friday’s vote. "Unfortunately, this has become an incredibly polarized issue," commission Chairwoman Marla Rae says. Supporters of the bait ban, led mainly by various fly-fishing groups locally and elsewhere, say they provide necessary and logical protection for wild Rogue steelhead that just a few years ago almost qualified for Endangered Species Act protection. Based on results of some studies and anecdotal information, proponents believe it helps more wild summer steelhead survive catch-and-release fishing. Some supporters assert that even if the steelhead savings are small, every extra adult wild steelhead that survives catch-and-release fishing makes it worthwhile. "It’s that passion for the wild fish," says Mike Ireland, president of the Rogue Flyfishers Association, which supports the bans. "There’s no change to our position," Ireland says. "We back the current rules." Bait-ban opponents like King hang their hats primarily on an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife conclusion that the bait ban provides only minuscule savings of wild steelhead from hooking mortality. Based on creel censuses and computer modeling, biologists say that the fall bait ban on the upper Rogue save perhaps no more than three dozen wild steelhead a year. Without a biological rationale, why choose an exclusive regulation — flies and lures only, no bait — versus an inclusive one that lets the bait-anglers play as well? "We’re leaning toward the biological stuff," King says. "I think we need to follow what (ODFW biologists) have been saying for years." Then there’s the King Solomon approach. A compromise alternative offered by Ashland fly-fisher Larry Bressler alters the bait-ban boundary in the upper Rogue. If adopted, it would extend the downstream bait-fishing deadline from Rogue Elk Park down to Shady Cove, effectively doubling the waters open to bait fishing Nov. 1 through Dec. 31. "I’d rather err on the side of wild fish than wait until it’s too late to do something," says Bressler, 75, of Ashland. "But there are people from the other side with a my-way-or-the-highway attitude. They don’t want to meet us half-way on this issue." The compromise proposal garnered virtually no support during a public meeting in Central Point last spring. However, it could percolate favorably among the seven commission members. Rae says if this were a strictly biological issue, she would be "dead rock-solid" in conservation’s corner. In cases where one social group is pitted against another, Rae prefers to see compromise. "Given that biologists have told us (the bait ban) is a social issue, I think there’s room for compromise," Rae says. "Do I know what that is? No, not yet. "But remember," Rae says, "I’m just one of seven talking." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. 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