SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 2015
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from 1B
the all-time doubles leader for a
right-handed hitter. That stat
alone is HOF worthy.
4. Mike Piazza — Let’s go
over this again: the greatest
offensive catcher in the history
of baseball and above-average
defensively. Why is this even a
debate?
5. John Smoltz — Smoltz
will be a borderline inductee,
Barbs
from 1B
requirement on the lower
Willamette went into effect in
2013 as part of the Columbia
River Fisheries Management
Reform package adopted by the
Commission in 2012. ODFW
staff is now recommending a
rule change that would make
barbed hooks legal on the
lower Willamette River, inside
Youngs Bay, and in lower Gnat
Creek.
This change would not affect
the barbless hook requirement
in the mainstem Columbia
River, or in select areas within
the Columbia River Zone
(Blind Slough/Knappa Slough)
The intent of the barbless
hook rule was to reduce mortal-
ity among ESA listed salmon
and steelhead caught and
released by anglers. However,
there are high proportions of
hatchery fish caught in these
areas and ODFW has more
flexibility in how it manages
ESA limitations in the
Willlamette than on the main-
Fishing
from 1B
number steelhead being caught
from the lower river up to
Moonshine Park by both bank
and boat anglers. This time of
year is typically slow to fair for
winter steelhead. Fall Chinook
fishing is slow as most remain-
ing fish have moved onto the
spawning grounds.
SIUSLAW
RIVER:
Steelhead, Chinook
Winter steelhead are starting
to show up in small numbers
around the mid to lower sec-
tions of the Siuslaw and Lake
Creek. Fall Chinook fishing is
very slow and any remaining
fish have moved onto the
spawning grounds.
WILSON RIVER: Chinook,
steelhead
Fall Chinook are still avail-
able in decent numbers. Fish
should be spread out through
but he shouldn’t. The years he
spent as a closer mixes up all of
his stats, making him fall just
short of the usual numbers that
compilers look for in their
inductees. Don’t be fooled.
Smoltz was dominant for a
decade in every capacity asked
to serve, a larger-than-life pres-
ence in the clubhouse and a
future professional golfer.
6. Tim Raines — Raines gets
lost in the discussion because
he used drugs; he admitted
himself that he carried vials of
cocaine in his back pocket dur-
ing games, hence the headfirst
slides. But hey, it was the ’80s,
and everyone was doing it,
right? Raines cleaned up his
act,
and
after
Rickey
Henderson, there was no
greater impact player in the
’80s. He could field, steal, hit
for average and power, clutch
... truly a great ballplayer.
7. Don Mattingly — Was
Don Mattingly the best base-
ball player in America for three
seasons? Yes. Was he one of the
greatest defensive first base-
men of all-time (nine gold
gloves, ninth-best fielding per-
centage ever)? Yes. Does he
have better or comparable sta-
tistics to other HOFers? Yes.
Will he be voted in? No.
8. Alan Trammell — To save
time, here’s the deal: offensive
numbers comparable to Jeter’s,
far better defense. One of the
best players of the era. How he
keeps getting skipped is
beyond me.
9. Curt Schilling — Bloody
sock. That is all.
10. Lee Smith — 13 consec-
utive seasons with 20-plus
saves (1983-95), 10 seasons
with 30-plus saves, and three
seasons with 40-plus saves.
When he retired, he was the all-
time leader in saves and games
finished. Best of his era? One
of them, yes. Hall of Famer.
stem Columbia.
In addition, the growing
number of interactions between
anglers and California sea lions
in the lower Willamette River
during the popular spring
Chinook fishery prompted staff
to recommend that the
Commission reconsider the
potential trade-off between the
use of barbless hooks and
angler satisfaction is these
areas with a high proportion of
hatchery fish.
The Commission also will be
asked to set harvest specifica-
tions and season structure for
recreational groundfish that
includes significant changes to
the composition of the seven
fish daily bag limit for marine
fish.
In order to maintain recre-
ational
catches
within
decreased federally determined
harvest guidelines, the pro-
posed rules would limit anglers
to one blue rockfish as part of
the seven-fish limit and the
retention of China, copper and
quillback rock fish would be
prohibited.
As a result of improved
stock status for canary rockfish,
ODFW staff is also recom-
mending anglers be allowed to
retain one canary rockfish as
part of the daily bag limit;
retention of this species has
been prohibited since 2004, as
the stock was rebuilding.
The Commission also will
consider new management
measures for the commercial
nearshore fishery, which targets
these same species. These pro-
posed measures will increase
the harvest limits for black
rockfish and reduce the harvest
limits for blue rockfish and
other nearshore rockfish.
In other business, the
Commission will:
• Be asked to set by rule the
average market price per pound
of each species of fish commer-
cially-harvested in Oregon.
These values are adopted every
January and are used to set
damages in criminal cases
associated with the unlawful
taking of food fish.
Also, there will be updates
and progress reports on:
• Status of implementation
of management and reform
rules for Columbia River
Fisheries. Accomplishments
for 2014 include continued
enhancement of off-channel
select areas with the release of
over nine million salmon
smolts; evaluation of new off-
channel select areas;
and
implementation of a pilot com-
mercial fall season seine fish-
ery in the main stem. Staff also
will provide an update on stock
status of white sturgeon in the
lower Columbia.
• Creation of a framework to
develop a marine fishery man-
agement plan that will apply
the principles of the ODFW
Native Fish Conservation Plan
to marine species and fisheries.
• The 10-year revision of the
Oregon Conservation Strategy,
both of which are broad, over-
arching strategies for long-term
conservation of Oregon’s
native fish and wildlife.
Revision of both strategies will
have extensive public involve-
ment and technical review and
be brought to the Commission
for approval by September
2015. The documents must be
submitted to the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service by Oct. 1,
2015.
The Commission is the poli-
cy-making body for fish and
wildlife issues in the state.
People wanting to testify about
issues not on the formal agenda
may do so by making arrange-
ments with the ODFW
Director’s Office, at least 24
hours in advance of the meet-
ing, by calling 800-720-6339 or
503-947-6044.
Testimony for issues not on
the agenda is held Friday morn-
ing, immediately following the
expenditure report.
Reasonable accommodations
will be provided as needed for
individuals requesting assistive
hearing devices, sign language
interpreters or large-print mate-
rials.
Individuals needing these
types of accommodations may
call the ODFW Director’s
Office at 800-720-6339 or 503-
947-6044 at least 24 hours in
advance of the meeting.
the river, especially after rains
raised the river last week.
Release dark fish to spawn. All
techniques should produce
fish, with bobber and bait, back
bouncing, bait-wrapped plugs,
and casting spinners among the
best.
Winter steelhead are avail-
able in increasing numbers as
well.
Millicoma, and South Fork
Coos rivers. There is bank
access on the West Fork
Millicoma at the Millicoma
Interpretive Center and on the
East Fork Millicoma at Nesika
Park. Access to the South Fork
Coos River is through
Weyerhaeuser property and
anglers must have the appropri-
ate permit from Weyerhaeuser.
In the Coos Basin, one addi-
tional fin clipped steelhead
may be retained per day for a
total aggregate of three adult
fish harvested daily.
Crabbing in Coos Bay has
been decent for boat crabbers.
The best crabbing has been
near the jetties but crabbers are
getting legal-size crab all the
way up to the BLM Boat
Ramp.
Clamming is excellent dur-
ing low tides near Charleston,
off Cape Arago Highway, and
Clam Island.
harvest.
The hatchery program for
winter steelhead is centered in
the South Umpqua. Most
hatchery fish are caught from
Canyonville downstream.
All wild fish must be
released unharmed.
TENMILE BASIN: Yellow
perch, coho salmon
Yellow perch are biting on
night crawlers or jigs tipped
with a worm in Tenmile Lakes.
Yellow perch will be concen-
trated in big schools in deep
water. Sometimes anglers need
to try several spots before find-
ing the bigger fish. There are
lots of smaller yellow perch
that anglers have to sort
through to catch enough keep-
ers for a meal. Some of the
keeper yellow perch are over
12 inches long.
The wild coho season open
in Tenmile Lakes is closed.
UMPQUA RIVER, SOUTH:
Chinook, fin-clipped coho
Most salmon have already
moved upstream. Fishing for
bottomfish in the Triangle and
South jetty has been successful.
Crabbing has been good
recently.
Dungeness crab
The ocean is open again for
harvest of Dungeness crab.
Fishing for bottom fish, includ-
ing rockfish and lingcod is
open to all depths. The marine
fish daily bag limit is seven
fish and a separate daily limit
of two lingcod.
Retention of cabezon is
allowed but for only one
cabezon per day per angler.
P ACIFIC H ALIBUT :
The 2014 Pacific halibut
seasons have all closed for the
remainder of the year. The
International Pacific Halibut
Commission (IPHC) will set
2015 quotas for all areas in late
January 2015. More informa-
tion on the 2015 seasons will
be available after that time.
B OTTOM F ISHING :
The ocean is open to bottom
fishing at all depths. This time
of year, whenever the weather
permits, bottom fishing can be
great fun and very productive.
Charter fishing trips are an
especially good bet for visitors
to the coast, making an ocean
fishing experience easy and
enjoyable with expert crews to
help provide and rig gear and
find good fishing locations.
There are separate daily lim-
its of two lingcod and flatfish
other than Pacific halibut.
Remember: yelloweye rock-
fish and canary rockfish may
not be retained.
C RAB :
Ocean-caught crabs are big
and full of meat this year,
although crabbers might have
to pay their dues in patience —
many crabbers are reporting
slow catch rates, but excellent
quality crabs.
Bay crabbing can also be
very good this time of year.
Keep in mind that major rain
events can dramatically lower
the salinity in some bays and
prompt crab to move lower in
the bay or out to the ocean.
YAQUINA
RIVER:
Steelhead, Chinook
The winter steelhead run is
starting to kick in with anglers
getting into a few fish along the
Big Elk as conditions allow.
The fall Chinook fishery is
essentially over for the season
as most fish have already
spawned.
COOS
RIVER
BASIN:
Dungeness crab, bay clams,
steelhead
Steelhead have been caught
this past week on the West Fork
Millicoma,
East
Fork
Steelhead
The South Umpqua is open
for steelhead. The peak num-
bers of fish normally show up
from February to late March.
The South Umpqua offers the
best chance for catching an adi-
pose-fin clipped steelhead for
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