September 5th column

[Pete Heley]

Despite a ton of crabbing pressure, crabbing success held up surprisingly well through Labor Day Weekend. The annual Crab Bounty Contest began on September 1st and there was an immediate increase in people checking crab catching devices that were not theirs. The Crab Bounty Contest is one of the very few contests that do not require an entry fee or pre-registration and every tagged crab caught and turned into the Sportsman Cannery is worth a free hat and a chance to win $1,000.

The final results for salmon derby held by our local STEP club will appear in next week’s paper, but early results indicate that the salmon have been caught by derby entrants that were larger than last year’s winner.

The ocean non-selective coho season opened last Saturday and ran through last Monday and despite almost everyu ocean angler still targeting chinooks, fair numbers of cohos were taken. One boat fishing five rods limited on cohos both Saturday and Sunday and of the 20 cohos they caught, two were finclipped. The Umpqua River Bar still seems to be the most popular fishing destination when fishable, but lots of boats are fishing below Reedsport. The ocean coho season will continue every Thursday through Saturday from now on until the quota is met. Chinook salmon are available to catch and keep in the ocean every day including the days that ocean coho are not legal angling fare.

Since every salmon taken in the ocean must be tagged (cohos measuring 16-inches in length or more and chinooks measuring 24-inches or more) and jack salmon in the river (finclipped cohos measuring between 15 and 20-inches and chinooks measuring between 15 and 24-inches) are legal in the river, this writer can see some hefty fines in the near future as anglers fish the river while waiting for the Umpqua River Bar to open and venturing outside with untagged jack salmon aboard. As soon as those boats enter the ocean their jack salmon area are illegal. Anglers also need to remember that only barbless hooks are legal when fishing for salmon in the ocean.

It is difficult to overstate just how successful our local guides have been over the last several weeks. While some sports anglers have been consistently successful, boat limits have been the norm for our local guides. I have never seem a greater margin between the average catch of a guide boat and a boat fished by a sport angler. Some of the guides are even dropping crab pots while salmon fishing ensuring their clients a double dose of delicious seafood.

Which brings up some examples of poor behavior over the weekend. One boat trolling along the South Jetty was ordered to move over by a boat trolling behind it. That confrontation escalated to the point where the person running the rear boat ended up getting met by the authorities at the boat ramp at the end of their trilp. There were numerous incidents of boats being bumped by other boats - both on the water and at the boat ramps/parking lots. However, the most galling one I heard was where one angler decided to get his gear ready while parked on the launching ramp at the Waterfront Ramp in Reedsport. Enough people use that ramp to ensure some congestion, but proper boat launching etiquette could make it much, much better.

Now that both the all-depth and the inshore halibut fisheries are closed, local salmon anglers continue to accidentally catch halibut - usually while making a sharp turn while trolling with herring. The latest to do so is Winchester Bay’s Julie Palmer who caught a halibut weighing approximately 40 pounds last week.

The ODFW Commission will hold a two day meeting this coming this Thusday and Friday (Sept. 6th and 7th) at Hermiston where it will where it will make decisions regarding the adoption of a number of proposed changes to the 2013 regulations. Some of these proposals include:(1) -Re-define artificial lure to include soft molded plastic and rubber worms, eggs and similar bait imitations. (2) -Increa (4) -se daily bag limit for smallmouth bass on the Umpqua River from 10 to 15. (3) -Create a trophy trout fishery on Crane Prairie Reservoir. (4) -Consider winter fishing opportunities on Lemolo Reservoir. (5) -Reduce the annual sturgeon catch limit to two. (6) -Increase daily harvest limit on purple varnish clams to the first 72 taken. (7) -Redefine an angling boundary on Rogue River to reflect removal of the Gold Ray Dam. - and many others.