Boning up on fishing regulations can save a hefty fine later.

Byline: INSIDE THE OUTDOORS By Mike Stahlberg The Register-Guard

Oregon State Police are beefing up their inspections of the sport ocean salmon fishery after some recent spot checks found an unusually high rate of non-compliance with state angling regulations.

Last week in Newport, OSP fish and game law enforcement officers seized 19 salmon that had been landed in violation of state laws.

Most of the people who brought in those illegal fish didn't go home empty-handed, however.

They got an expensive citation in exchange for their fish.

Violations of the Oregon sport fishing rules are Class A misdemeanors that can result in fines of up to $5,000, but most first-time offenders find themselves out a couple hundred bucks.

All for not paying attention to detail.

One chinook seized by the troopers was shorter than the 20-inch minimum length for that species. (The minimum length for coho salmon is 16 inches.)

The 18 coho seized still had intact adipose fins, indicating that they were probably wild and not legal to keep.

(The adipose fin is that small, fleshy fin located between a salmon's tail and its dorsal fin. On most hatchery coho, the adipose fin is clipped off before the fish are released into streams as juveniles. That's done so anglers can selectively harvest hatchery fish while letting the wild ones go.)

What really caught the State Police's attention was that 80 percent of the boats checked on July 30 had violated at least one of the state's ocean angling rules, according to Lt. Dave Cleary.

The high incidence of violations found in spot checks led the OSP to announce that patrols would be boosted this week "with the goal of reducing non-compliance."

So, if you're heading to the coast to go salmon fishing, make sure you know the regulations for the management zone you'll be in (there are three different zones along the Oregon coast - south of Humbug Mountain, between Humbug Mountain and Cape Falcon, and north of Cape Falcon. In addition, there's a fourth set of rules and bag limits for the popular "Buoy 10" area near the mouth of the Columbia River).

Since rules differ for coho and chinook salmon, it's imperative that you be able to distinguish those two species from each other, which is a simple matter of black gumlines (chinook) or white gumlines (coho). See page 67 of the 2003 Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations for additional details on how to tell one from the other - or if you're not sure what the adipose fin looks like.

Also, detailed information about ocean salmon angling rules and catch rates is on the Internet at: http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/odfw/salmon/index.html.

Meanwhile - barring a streak of uncommonly calm ocean conditions - that coho fishing off the central coast probably will continue through its scheduled ending date of Aug. 24.

As of last Sunday, anglers in the Cape Falcon to Humbug Mountain zone had landed 58,574 fin-clipped coho, according to state creel checkers.

That leaves almost 30,000 fish in the harvest quota of 88,000 with three weeks to go.

The coho catch has averaged about 10,200 per week over the past five weeks, with a high of 15,357 (during the week ending July 20) and a low of 6,404 (last week).

Weather conditions - which directly affect angling pressure - have been the key factor in determining the size of each week's harvest. Angler success rates coastwide have held steady in the 1.1 to 1.4 fish per rod range throughout the season.

Given ideal conditions and heavy fishing pressure, it's conceivable the quota could be filled a few days before Aug. 24. The more likely scenario, however, is that the season on the central coast will end without the quota quite being filled.

Many of the fish not caught, however, are headed for Columbia River hatcheries, so anglers fishing the north of Cape Falcon zone and in the Columbia River still will have a chance to land them.

Mike Stahlberg can be reached at [e-mail].