Get Commission’s Ear

Next year Washington’s anglers may be required to use barbless hooks when they fish marine waters, streams and beaver ponds.

They may no longer be required to have a hunting license when they go after bullfrogs. Yes, that’s not a misprint. A hunting license is required to “hunt” bullfrogs.

They may be permitted to fillet warm-water game fish and marine bottom fish in the field if they leave a 1-inch square patch of skin with scales intact on each fillet.

Fly fishers may no longer be permitted to kill a trout at Rocky Ford Creek, a fly fishing-only spring creek north of Moses Lake.

Those and other changes in current fishing rules will be considered at a public meeting Dec. 12 and 13 at the Doubletree Hotel (formerly the Red Lion Inn) on Sullivan Road in the Spokane Valley. The meeting will be part of a Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting.

A final decision on the Fish and Wildlife Department’s “Sport Fishing Rule Proposals,” highlights of which are listed in a 63-page document distributed a few days ago, will be made in January. Changes take effect May 1.

Barbless hooks now are required at some lakes, streams and marine waters. The department says in its proposal package that “requiring barbless hooks in all fisheries will enhance and encourage wild release programs in response to Endangered Species Act concerns and in conjunction with the Wild Salmonid Policy and bring consistency to the rules.”

Because so few people gig for bullfrogs, most sportsmen aren’t aware that a person must have a hunting license to go after the frogs. Why? The bullfrog is classified as a “wild animal;” a hunting license is required to take wild animals.

Commenting on the proposal to allow filleting of fish in the field, the department says, “the staff crafted a proposal which allows the public quite a bit more flexibility in filleting their catch.”

For several years, fly fishers have been permitted to kill one trout a day at Rocky Ford Creek. To many, those fly fishers who kill a trout each time they fish the popular stream are at least partially responsible for the drastic drop in the rainbow population.

The department says it’s proposing a catch-and-release rule in response to many requests from fly fishers. The stream would continue to be open year-round.

Anglers who fish quality waters have gotten used to the term “selective fishery rules.” If one of the department’s proposals is approved, they will be calling those lakes and streams “selective gear” waters.

Why the change? The department explains: “In recent years the term ‘selective fishery’ has evolved to describe fisheries where marked hatchery fish may be kept while unmarked wild fish must be released. To avoid this confusion, we are proposing to change the term ‘selective fishery rules’ to ‘selective gear rules.”’

The department is recommending that Beda and Homestead lakes and Brookies Lake in Grant County and Coffeepot Lake in Lincoln County be added to the growing list of waters managed for quality fish.

The daily limit would be one trout and bait would be banned at the Grant County lakes. At Coffeepot, the limit for trout and bass would be two a day; crappie limit would be 10. Coffeepot would be open from March 1 through Aug. 31; the other lakes would be open year-round.

If the department’s proposal for Spokane County’s Amber Lake is approved, anglers would be required to release rainbows with missing adipose fins. The proposal would allow sterile rainbows planted in the lake to grow to trophy size.

To eliminate confusion over rules for the Grande Ronde River, the department, for the first time, is proposing a rule that specifically says that all steelhead hooked in the 2-mile section from the mouth to the county road bridge be released. During the last couple of months numerous anglers, misunderstanding the present regulations, kept steelhead they hooked in the section.

The new rule also would close all Ronde tributaries to steelhead fishing.

The department also is proposing numerous new rules pertaining to steelhead and chinook salmon fishing. They’re so numerous that they can’t be summarized here.

The agency is proposing a daily limit for burbot and a limit to the number of hooks on a set line.

If a proposal for channel catfish is accepted, the daily limit for lakes, ponds and reservoirs would be five. Minimum size would be 12 inches and anglers wouldn’t be permitted to take more than one over 24 inches. The proposal would not apply to the Columbia and other rivers. There are channel catfish in several lakes, including Sprague.

Anglers interested in commenting on the proposals can see copies at Fish and Wildlife offices and then attend the commission meeting. They also can send written comments to Evan Jacoby, Rules Coordinator, Washington Department of Fish and Game, 600 Capitol Way N, Olympia, WA 98501-1091, by Dec. 12.

, DataTimes MEMO: You can contact Fenton Roskelley by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 3814.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Fenton Roskelley The Spokesman-Review