December 7th column

[Pete Heley]

Oregon’s big game regulations are now out and outdoorsy Oregonians can now purchase their fishing and hunting licenses for 2012 and they make great gifts for Christmas and special occasions.

An error has already been found in the 2012 angling regulations, which were available last week. The error occurs on page 54 of the regulations and refers to the retention of both finclipped and non-finclipped steelhead above the mouth of the Salmon River throughout the entire year - while the correct regulation states that they are legal angling fare for the period from July 1st through August 31st. The web-based version of the ODFW regulations will have the correct version.

People purchasing combination and hunting licenses will notice a paragraph near the bottom of their document. The exact wording of the paragraph is: “If I hunt with a firearm, I attest that I am not a convicted felon who is prohibited from possessing a firearm under the laws of Oregon or the United States; and I am not a person who has been found guilty, except for insanity, of a felony and who is prohibited from possessing a firearm under the laws of Oregon or the United States”. I am sure that the state of Oregon believes that this added paragraph gives them a little more legal recourse against those purchasing hunting licenses under false pretenses. The judicial system seems to be ramping up its program to take away the right to purchase hunting or fishing licenses by those they deep to be too delinquent in their child support payments. The good news, I guess, is that the fees for licenses and tags did not go up this season. Oregon seems to want to wait several years between increasing the cost of licenses or tags so that it really gets people’s attention when they do so.

Proof that user fees are a rather sneaky substitute for tax increases are the requirement that people wishing to park in any of five ODFW Wildlife Areas will, beginning on January 1st, 2012, have to pay either a $7.00 per day fee to park, or purchase an annual parking pass for $22.00. The five wildlife areas are: E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area near Monmouth, the Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area near LaGrande, the Denman Wildlife Area near Central Point, The Sauvies Island Wildlife Area on the lower Columbia River’s Sauvies Island and the Summer Lake Wildlife Area near Summer Lake. I have personally spent time in the last three of these ODFW Wildlife Areas and they are a great spot to spend a few hours, but I don’t think I could much enjoy any of them if I was paying three or four dollars per hour to do so. Anglers purchasing a 2012 fishing license will have to purchase the permits to use these areas unless they are dropped off by somebody who does not park in the wildlife area. However, people purchasing a hunting license, combination license or a Sports Pac will have the new annual parking pass included in their purchase. Although it seems a little discriminatory, at least not every outdoor loving Oregonian will have to pony up additional cash to enjoy their outdoor recreation.

When I am in the area, I like to drop by the ODFW office in the Denman Management Area to ask fishing-related questions. There is usually somebody there that can answer almost every question I have, but if I am going to have to pay seven dollars every time I stop by, I am going to save up such questions so that I can get the cost per question down to a reasonable figure.

I am sure that it isn’t just Oregon that is finding additional ways to get additional money from fishing and hunting enthusiasts. A number of years ago, I purchased a couple of two day licenses to fish in southwest Washington and then discovered that because I did not purchase a nonresident yearly fishing license, which included the required parking pass, I could not park within reasonable walking distance of any of the places I wanted to fish.

Sport crabbing in the ocean, which normally opens on December 1st will remain closed until the commercial crabbers are allowed to crab in the ocean. The news came in a December 1st email from the ODFW to selected receipients and is, of course, on the department’s official website. People crabbing out of boats between the entance to the East Boat Basin and Half Moon Bay are still making good catches of crab and complaints abouty the crabs being less than full, meat content-wise, have definitely dropped off. Some decent catches have came off the docks at Winchester Bay, but it seems like the best catches are still coming at night.

Most of the recent crabbing activity at Winchester Bay has been taking place between the East Boat Basin and the lower end of Half Moon Bay. A couple of Winchester Bay’s more veteran crabbers discovered that they could still catch legal crabs above the entrance to the East Boat Basin by crabbing slightly deeper water than they usually did.

Most of the salmon taken recently from Siltcoos, Tahkenitch and Tenmile lakes have been dark. Within a couple of weeks, most of the salmon taken from the streams along the southern Oregon coast will also be dark. Hopefully, by that time, winter steelhead angling will be going well. Anglers fishing Tenmile Creek for finclipped steelhead need to remember that almost all of the legal-to-keep steelhead caught from the stream will be taken below where Eel Creek enters. Anglers will also need to remember that Eel Creek does not open for steelhead until January 1sts and that the coho salmon present in Tenmile Creek are illegal to keep or even target.

Fishing options besides salmon and steelhead would include fishing for yellow perch or bullhead catfish, trout, or bottomfish. Anglers willing to brave frequently miserable fishing conditions are making good catches of greenling with some striped surfperch and rarely, cabezon, rockfish or lingcod also entering the catch. Trout anglers, since trout plants along the central and south coast have pretty much stopped months ago, should concentrate on the larger lakes which are less dependent upon trout plants to furnish good trout fishing. Anglers after yellow perch or bullhead catfish should concentrate on fishing water more than 15 feet deep as the more shallow water is now cooler than the deeper water and fish either have moved out of it or are less active while they are in it.