A tale of two species.

Byline: MIKE STAHLBERG The Register-Guard

HERE'S A FISHING RIDDLE: What's both long and strong and short but sweet.

The answer: the 2002 ocean salmon season along the central Oregon coast.

Historically, that fishery has been dominated by coho salmon, also known as "silvers."

This year, however, most of the excitement may be generated by what appears to be a bumper crop of chinook salmon.

Coho season begins Sunday in the Pacific Ocean between Cape Falcon, near Tillamook, and Humbug Mountain, near Port Orford. But anglers in two mid-coast ports are already reeling in limits of chinook, a larger species of salmon.

During the "selective coho fishery" anglers will be allowed to harvest two salmon per day of any species. Any coho retained, however, must have a healed adipose fin clip. That marking indicates the fish is of hatchery origin.

Coho season is scheduled to run 29 days, ending Aug. 4. In all likelihood, however, it will be much shorter.

The reason: the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC), a federal agency which oversees sport and commercial fishing along the West Coast, set the 2002 harvest quota at 22,500 coho.

That's less than half of last year's quota - 55,000 coho - which lasted only 28 days.

At last year's catch rate of 1,965 fish per day, the 2002 quota would be filled in 11.5 days.

Catch rates, though, vary wildly due to weather conditions, angler pressure, and the abundance of fish (not to mention their willingness to bite.)

And biologists expect this year's coho run to be only a fraction of last year's, due to unfavorable conditions when this year's class of coho were smolts migrating out the Columbia River.

The PFMC predicts only about 150,000 hatchery coho will return to the mouth of the Columbia this summer, compared to 1.1 million last year. The prediction is based on the number of coho "jacks" (immature males) that returned to the hatcheries in 2001.

For coho anglers, this year's quota represents a step backwards after three years of increasing harvests following the resumption of fishing in 1999.

The population of wild coho in Oregon coastal streams crashed about 10 years ago, and no coho fishing was allowed from 1993 through 1998. Hatcheries began fin-clipping most of the coho they reared, clearing the way for a "selective" fishing in which anglers could keep fin-marked hatchery salmon and release unmarked wild ones.

The harvest quota progressed from 15,000 coho in 1999 to 20,000 in 2000 and 55,000 in 2001.

This year's fallback in the allowable harvest would be the source of alarm for Oregon's charterboat industry, if not for the early evidence of an unusually strong chinook salmon run.

Fishing for "all salmon except coho" is allowed in the zone south of Cape Falcon from April 1 through Oct. 31. (There is no quota on the harvest of chinook.)

And chinook catch rates have been incredible on the central coast in recent weeks. Indeed, during the week of June 17-23, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) creel checkers logged in 1,794 chinook for 1,368 anglers fishing Winchester Bay. That comes to 1.3 salmon per rod - a catch rate normally seen only when anglers can keep both coho and chinook.

Year-to-date, the chinook catch at Winchester Bay is above one fish per angler, while boats out of the harbor at Charleston are averaging 0.75 salmon per rod, according to creel reports.

"This is the best chinook fishing I have ever seen - even going back to the so-called 'good old days' with my dad," said Scott Howard, a second-generation owner of Strike Zone Charters in Winchester Bay. "I've never seen anything like this.

"Yesterday, we came in with 21 fish for eight people" (two-fish limits for the eight clients and two deck hands, and one fish for the captain), Howard said Monday. "That's pretty good as far as chinook fishing goes."

Patrick Roelle of Fishpatrick's Guide Service said if the chinook fishing stays as hot as it has been, he'll probably continue to target chinook even after the coho season opens.

"As well as everyone's doing on chinook, I'm going to treat the coho sort of like a bycatch (incidental harvest)," Roelle said.

Few anglers will argue with that approach, given that a chinook can be two or three times as large as a coho.

Howard has already landed a 48 1/2 pounder, while a chinook brought in by a private party angler reportedly "bottomed out" a harbor market's digital scale at 50 pounds.

But coho also appear to be reasonably plentiful, considering this is supposed to be a "down" year.

"We're seeing some big coho out there, but it's hard for me to ignore the chinook with the fishing this good," Howard said. "I'm expecting the catch to be at least 50 percent chinook, if not more" once the "selective coho season" opens.

Last year, Oregon anglers caught 8.8 coho for every chinook during the period that the ocean was open to both species, according to Eric Schindler, who monitors the salmon harvest for the ODFW's Marine Region office in Newport. A strong showing of chinook in the catch would help "stretch the season out a little bit" because it would take longer to fill the coho quota, Schindler said.

So far, however, the chinook boom has been localized in the Charleston/Winchester Bay area. No other Oregon port landed more than 97 chinook during the week ending June 23.

Another factor that could help lengthen the coho season is the late start. Last year, coho season opened June 22. By starting on July 7, the 2002 season will miss all but one day of the Fourth of July week, when angling pressure has traditionally been at its highest.

On the other hand, a change in the weekly bag limit could tend to shorten the season. A regulation that last year limited anglers to harvesting a maximum of six salmon within any seven-day period has been dropped this year in the Cape Falcon to Humbug Mountain zone. That rule tended

to string out the harvest because it forced the most successful anglers to sit out several days a week, Schindler said, adding that he doesn't know why the PFMC dropped the provision in the central zone but kept it in others.

Other regulations during the coho fishery remain the same as last year: Anglers are restricted to the use of two single-point barbless hooks. Coho must be at least 16 inches in length and have a healed adipose fin clip. Chinook must be at least 20 inches long, but need not have a clipped fin.

SILVER SALMON SEASON SUMMARY

What: Selective sport fishery for coho salmon, also known as silvers. Only hatchery-reared coho with a healed adipose fin clip may be retained.

When: Sunday through Aug. 4 or until the quota of 22,500 fin-clipped coho is landed, whichever occurs first.

Where: Pacific Ocean between Cape Falcon, near Manzanita, and Humbug Mountain, near Port Orford.

Bag limit: Two salmon per day. Minimum length is 16 inches for coho, 20 inches for chinook.

Tackle restrictions: No more than two single-point barbless hooks may be used.

Paperwork: A valid Oregon angling license and a salmon-steelhead harvest card are required.

- Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, The Register-Guard

CAPTION(S):

THOMAS BOYD / The Register-Guard Patrick Roelle was busy last summer netting silver salmon on his charter boat off the coast of Winchester Bay, but this year it's been chinook. Silver salmon were plentiful in 2001 on the docks at Winchester Bay.