The Oregon Coast Anglers honored the Veterans at the Memorial Day Parade in Reedsport on Saturday, May 30th. Many thanks to Kevin Ladd and Peggy for trailering their boat with the OCA banners in the parade. I made a silhouette of a hatchery salmon (minus the adipose fin) out of plywood, painted it bright red and applied a decal with letters STEP on both sides. Ellie at the Chainsaw Carving Gallery cut the plywood profile for me, thank you Ellie. The plywood salmon was mounted on a small dolly, attached by a hoochie and dodger to a fishing pole and hauled behind Kevin’s boat. The fish had a mind of its own and I had to maneuver the fish through traffic. Bystanders got a kick out of watching me fight the fish, “keep the tip up”, see attached picture. If anyone has a picture of the salmon being towed, please hit REPLY and send me a copy.

Many OCA members, including myself, are STEP volunteers. The hatchery salmon silhouette is meant to remind everyone that OCA supports STEP programs and ODFW hatcheries. Some “Conservation” organizations don’t support hatcheries at all. Recently such a group was formed, North Umpqua Coalition, for the sole purpose of opposing rebuilding the Rock Creek Hatchery, which was burned down last year. OCA will join ODFW and other organizations to support the rebuilding of the Rock Creek Hatchery.

Winners of the OCA Conservation Scholarship, Ellie Eklund and Jacob Mitchell will receive their awards and recognition at their high school graduation ceremonies in June. We wish them success in their education and future conservation efforts.

Effective June 1, bottom fishing regulations will change. Bottom fishing moves inside 40 fathoms, five fish limit, no China, Copper or Quillback Rockfish are allowed. Cabezon opens July 1. If you are All Depth Halibut fishing and use the 30 foot dropper for bottom fish, please check the ODFW regulations to avoid a citation. Hatchery Coho salmon will open on June 12th in the Central Zone, and with 120,000 fish quota, I’m looking forward to a fantastic ocean fishing season.

Some OCA members have asked about resuming meetings. I will do everything I can to restart OCA meetings, when Douglas County goes to a moderate risk level. Hopefully, that will be soon.