NMFS, ODF&W scientists endorse compromise on trout
Local sporting goods merchant Jack Legg Jr. pitched an idea protecting both the trout fishery at Foster Reservoir and juvenile winter steelhead to representatives of two agencies Thursday.
Legg’s proposal calls for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODF&W) to stock the lake with 10-inch trout and increase the minimum size anglers may keep to 10 inches for wild and hatchery trout.
ODF&W developed restrictions on Foster Lake as part of a draft Fisheries Management and Evaluation Plan (FMEP) it completed in March to address the listing of Upper Willamette River winter steelhead by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
Throughout the Upper Willamette Basin, with the exception of Foster Lake, where wild steelhead are present, trout fishing is closed during the smolt emigration period to protect smolts, typically at least April to May, with catch and release of wild adult steelhead. The FMEP would allow anglers to keep only fin-clipped trout, something that Legg contends would hurt Sweet Home’s economy.
Right now, the lake is open year-round for trout fishing with an eight-inch minimum.
Legg, who owns and operates Dan Dee Sales, and Linn County Parks Director Brian Carroll met with fish biologists Steve Memoyac of the ODF&W and Lance M. Kruzic of the NMFS to discuss concerns and alternatives to the proposed restriction.
Of concern to the agencies was that current angling regulations allow the possible retention of wild juvenile and adult steelhead in Foster lake. Up to 15 percent of steelhead smolts in the Willamette basin exceed eight inches in length and can be mistakenly harvested by anglers.
Steelhead counts in recent years have averaged about 300. ODF&W’s management goal is 650 adults each year. Additionally, this is the only wild run of steelhead above the dams in the Upper Willamette.
Two alternatives mentioned by ODF&W at the meeting were to allow only marked trout to be kept to protect wild adults and juvenile steelhead or to close fishing during the smolts’ migration to the ocean, which would protect juveniles during the period when they are most likely to be in greater numbers.
Carroll and Legg met with the agencies to reach a compromise on the regulations.
ODF&W would prefer to maintain the status quo, Director Lindsay Ball told Legg in a letter, but NMFS has concerns about the potential retention of juvenile steelhead by trout fishermen.
Both Kruzic and Memoyac thought Legg’s alternative would help protect the juvenile steelhead.
That would create a win-win situation for steelhead and for anglers.
Steelhead would receive protection while “the trout fishermen will be catching larger fish as a result,” Kruzic said.
“The other positive is there’d be no implementation of fin-clipped only or seasonal closures to the lake,” Carroll said. Also on a positive note, within the current proposals, the Quartzville basin above Green Peter as well as areas above Detroit may begin opening in April instead of late May.
Legg’s proposal would virtually eliminate the need for any other measures on Foster Lake, Carroll said.
Both NMFS and ODF&W will need to consider and approve the regulation before it would go into effect.