Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, August 13, 2003
Page 13
New rules limit time, number of Chinook
anglers can reel in on the Rogue River
By MEDFORD
‘MAIL TRIBUNE’
Rogue River anglers
will have to release some
of the wild spring Chinook
salmon they catch, and be
off the far upper stretch of
water by 7 p.m. beginning
next season under new
rules set on Friday, Aug. 8.
The Oregon Fish and
Wildlife Commission
adopted these and other
changes to sport-fishing
rules while meeting in As-
toria.
Concerns regarding
declining returns of wild
spring Chinook to the
Shady Cove area led the
commission to reduce the
bag limit on them to no
more than one a day and
up to three per season.
Current rules allow up
to two wild Chinook a day
and up to 20 a year, and
few legally caught spring
Chinook are released by
Rogue anglers who prize
them for their tough fight
and tasty flesh.
One of the most popu-
lar fisheries in Oregon, the
Rogue’s spring Chinook
season runs April through
July in the upper Rogue
upstream of Gold Ray
Dam.
The commission
adopted the so-called “1-
and-3” rule for 2004 only.
It gives the Oregon
Dept. of Fish and Wildlife
(ODFW) time to work on a
spring Chinook manage-
ment plan that addresses
problems facing wild
spring Chinook, said Russ
Stauff, ODFW’s Rogue
Watershed manager.
Stauff said the place-
ment and operation of Lost
Creek Lake is the main
culprit to wild spring Chi-
nook numbers, which had
dwindled to about one-
tenth their historic levels
before rebounding this
year.
Other factors include
degraded spawning habitat,
temperature of water
flows, and pressure from
legal and illegal angling.
“We need to get all
these issues on the table
and have a discussion, if
not an agreement, with the
different stakeholders,”
Stauff said after Friday’s
commission decision.
Stauff said the man-
agement plan, expected to
be completed next sum-
mer, will include specific
triggers -- such as the num-
ber of wild spring Chinook
counted at Gold Ray Dam
-- that would ease or
tighten the catch-and-
release rules, Stauff said.
Under the rule, the one
wild-Chinook limit will be
“We need to get all
these issues on the
table and have a dis-
cussion”
- Russ Stauff, Rogue
Watershed manager
lifted June 1 from the river
mouth upstream to Whis-
key Creek near Rainie
Falls as fall Chinook
salmon -- an all-wild run
that is considered ex-
tremely healthy -- start
heading into that section of
the river.
The limit then would
be up to two a day.
Likewise, the limit will
rise to two Chinook begin-
ning July 15 up to Gold
Ray Dam.
The commissioners,
however, were divided in
the ODFW’s proposal to
reel in illegal and unethical
angling in a short stretch of
river near Cole Rivers
Hatchery during the spring
Chinook season.
By a 3-2 vote, the
commissioners adopted a
permanent rule that halts
fishing at 7 p.m. nightly
from the Hwy. 62 bridge at
McGregor Park upstream
to the “deadline” at the
hatchery.
The rule would apply
April through July 31,
during the spring Chinook
season.
ODFW and U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers pushed
for the nightly closure as a
way of curbing drunken
lawlessness, fighting and
illegal snagging in that
area. The agencies said
most of the problems oc-
curred in the late evening.
Commissioners Marla
Rae and Zane Smith voted
against the measure, say-
ing they would rather see
police target the offenders
without limiting access to
law-abiding anglers.
Stauff said the evening
shutdown is a better idea
than simply closing fishing
on all or part of that half-
mile stretch.
The commissioners
also set the following
changes to angling rules in
2004:
*Reduced the daily
surfperch limit from 25 to
15. The change addresses
concerns about surfperch
over-fishing and matches
Washington's limit.
California allows five
surfperch per day.
*Changed the recrea-
tional crabbing rules to
allow for up to two daily
limits in holding pots.
There currently is no limit.
*Cut the statewide
sturgeon annual limit from
10 to five, but kept current
size restrictions.
*Set a new definition
for “fin clip” to identify
hatchery salmon and steel-
head. The current defini-
tion is of a healed scar
where the adipose fin has
been completely removed.
The new definition drops
the language because some
clips aren’t complete on
salmon and steelhead.
WORD OF
THE WEEK
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Phone 592-4485
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Meals served in
CJ County Bldg.
FRIDAY, AUG. 15
*Baked ham with raisin
sauce, baked sweet
potatoes, green beans,
rye bread,
Tapioca pudding
MONDAY, AUG. 18
*Hearty chicken stew,
broccoli cuts, four bean
salad, buttermilk
biscuit, peach cobbler
WEDNESDAY, AUG. 20
*Kielbasa sausage on
stadium bun, steamed
cabbage, fresh mixed
fruit salad, pumpkin
spice bar
New location!!
(former Cave Mart Building, across from Evergreen Bank)
-Joseph Storey-
Senior Nutrition Menu
ISAAC’S DISCOUNT FOOD OUTLET
& General Merchandise
NOW ACCEPTING NEW CUSTOMERS!!
133 Redwood Hwy., Cave Junction
From Webster’s
College Dictionary
Have confidence that
if you have done a
little thing well, you
can do a bigger
thing well, too.
We want to thank
relatives, friends and neighbors for
their prayers, cards and support
for the loss of our loved one.
Thanks especially to the Bridgeview Church
and the ladies who fixed our lunch.
Ted Hooey & Family
Mike Meidinger License #93173
Bigger Selection, Cooler Building!!
* Health & Beauty Aids * Canned Foods
*Cereals * Pastas * Coffees * Juices
* Ziploc Bags * Hefty Trash Bags
HOURS:
Monday - Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Be patient, we are still moving in. Thanks!