ODFW’s Inland Sport Fishing Advisory Committee (ISFAC) is meeting in Springfield next Monday night (2/8/10), and reducing or removing hatchery trout from the McKenzie River is on the agenda for discussion. The ISFAC was formed last year to help ODFW implement its 25-year Angling Enhancement Plan, and a big component of that plan is to increase trout stocking around the state. It is very important for as many anglers as possible to show up in support of wild fish.
The next meeting will be 2/8/2010 in Springfield, OR at the 162nd Infantry Regiment Readiness Center, Room 147 from 6-9 pm. The address is 3106 Pierce Parkway, Springfield, 97477.
Mark your calendars. This is your chance to show ODFW support for our native fish stocks.
-MS
Wow, ok that’s fine I guess….. But with what the ODFW knows at this point about the hatchery fish and has known for years, with the new Obama administration’s ruling and as rumor has it – yet even another ODFW study (that they’ve been setting on)showing very negative (maybe draconian) effects hatchery fish are having on wild fisheries. I find it very disingenuous at best, and I mean at best. That they are going to carry on with this stupid “25 year plan” where they not only intend to keep the hatchery debacle in place, but raise said hatchery production with this plan…..
Please come out and support our wild fisheries…..
Oh no! This is the same night as the fly tying class I am taking at the shop.
Get your muskets cleaned
Draft Proposal
McKenzie River Heritage Angling Zone
From the mouth of Quartz Creek to the Top of Bear Creek Rapid
Cultural and Historical Consideration:
River boat fishing (the act of angling from a river drift boat managed by and oars men within the current of a river) started on the McKenzie River and has been an important and significant activity on the McKenzie River for almost one hundred years. The specialized river craft that evolved on the McKenzie River known as the “McKenzie River drift boat” and the title of “drifter boat angler” is as common an aspiration of fishermen from Oregon as it is for an angler from a place as far off as Patagonia Argentina. In fact today McKenzie River drift boats can be found floating on fishing rivers all over the world.
With the drift boat, McKenzie anglers developed a style of fishing truly unique to the river. The art of “dragging flies” (positioning dry or wet flies into holding waters by managing a drift boat within the current of a river) is still a popular and effective tactic on the McKenzie today.
In addition to specialized equipment and fishing techniques other significant and important social, occupational and recreational past times have come to be. In the early days life was not easy but from its timber, fertile bottom lands and bounty of trout and salmon families thrived along the river bank. Fishing and boating in the McKenzie River in that time was always a labor of love. It was adventure and a reflection of early Oregonians pioneering spirit. It was a family past time, much like it still is today.
In the early days, others also came to experience the McKenzie. They were drawn by the rumors of its beauty, the adventure they would find, its hard fighting red banded trout and plentiful runs of salmon. Early visitors sought to hire McKenzie river boaters for a “drift boat fishing trip” and the vocation of “river guide” began. Today fishing and boating on the McKenzie is as popular and profitable as ever and a powerful draw for people from all over the world. The McKenzie, an economic engine adds great power to our local economies and has economic benefits that extend far beyond the edge of the river bank and well into our communities.
Fishing poles, fire pans, and guide boxes always stocked with just the right stuff to make a couple of fresh caught trout taste great. A weft of wood smoke and the scent of fried fish on the up stream breeze is a sure sign that a tradition of family, success, hard work, commerce and fun has played out again; just like it has for nearly a century, along the banks of the McKenzie River.
Regulation:
*Catch and release for all wild trout, Flies only.
*Only fin clipped fish may be retained.
*No Bait
*No salmon fishing.
Fish Stocking Recommendation:
*Only stock from Finn Rock to Bear Creek
*Increase size of hatchery fish to 1.5 to 2 pounds per fish.
*Reduce number of fish stocked by 50%
*Reduce retention of fin clipped trout to 2 fish per day.
Facility:
*Add six boater only park sites on river south bank
*stationary fire pits
* Vaulted out house on South bank
*Decommission all public road access to south bank.