The war on bait continues

"Angling restricted to artificial flies and lures in streams." - Sound familiar? Well it's become the standard rather than the exception in my area (Corvallis).

I fish the rivers in my area - Willamette river and Marys river.
In 2014, bait was allowed all year. In 2015, bait was allowed from April 25 to Oct 31. Now in 2016, no use of bait is allowed, period.
So now I can't use soft plastics for bass fishing. Now I can't use bait when fishing for carp, catfish, sturgeon, or anything else for that matter. I can no longer just put a worm on my hook and see what I catch. This really puts a cramp in my style :c

Has anybody else noticed an increase in bait-bans this year?

We are all reading, and trying to understand, a new reg book format (ODFW peeps included). But it does look like your assessment, is correct. I can see how "no bait" makes some sense, for Mary's River (dwindling numbers of fish). But for the Willamette--and it's greater adbundance in numbers, and varitey of species available--it doesn't make much sense, to me, to not allow bait.

Help me out because I am not seeing that. What page number?

C_Run said:

Help me out because I am not seeing that. What page number?

Click to expand...

For Willamette zone, I do see that under trout, steelhead, and salmon rules plus sturgeon or bass/other fish. Have not checked the exceptions yet.

Looks like bait is fine on Willamette downstream of the 20 bridge, but it looks like from 20 to 99 bridges, including tributaries, no exception to the zone no bait rule, so that would be a change from 2015.

I dont have the reg book but soft plastics arent bait.

I don't pay too much attention to the regs but I think they classified plastic as bait a couple years ago.

wils said:

I dont have the reg book but soft plastics arent bait.

Click to expand...

wils said:

I dont have the reg book but soft plastics arent bait.

Click to expand...

Get a copy of the reg book:

Bait: Any item used to attract fish that is not
an artificial fly, lure or attractor. Molded soft
plastic or rubber imitations of worms, eggs,
insects, bait fish, crayfish, etc. are considered
baits. Scent is not considered bait.

One thing I thing that would make an excellent bass lure would be a Zonker strip (name of a fly using this). This is a long strip of rabbit fur and it is very lively in the water. I bet it would work as well if not better than soft plastics. You could tie them to a jig head or fish them with a weedless hook. Just a thought for those of you stuck in the no bait zone.

Good, I don't really like using bait anyway.

Ive found lots of odd things in the new regs and have been bugging them about it. So far, my questions are just growing pains of the new reg book style and not truly new regs. There is hope that this will be updated. I got this response ....

"We're editing some of the regs now to help clarify things. Make sure to check out the same spots in the e-regs over the next couple weeks, as they will hopefully get fixed. For now, I'll run your question by the fish managers to see what's going on there."

They produced a beautiful slick magazine but why couldn't they continue to have the changes in blue? I used to find that very helpful.


It's funny, when we were in Idaho a few years ago, their regs had scent classified as bait but soft plastics were not bait, the exact opposite of Oregon. I am not sure if it is still that way.

bass said:

One thing I thing that would make an excellent bass lure would be a Zonker strip (name of a fly using this). This is a long strip of rabbit fur and it is very lively in the water. I bet it would work as well if not better than soft plastics. You could tie them to a jig head or fish them with a weedless hook. Just a thought for those of you stuck in the no bait zone.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the idea. I have an old rabbit pelt. Maybe I'll try making my own
Though I feel defeated on the prospect of bottom fishing, which is what bothers me the most about this change.

wils said:

I dont have the reg book but soft plastics arent bait.

Click to expand...

Wils; the regs about this (that Bass so kindly wrote word for word) is on page 8, of the new reg book. It has been that way, for at least a few years. Hopefully, you haven't been fishing with plastics--in waters where bait is not allowed.

Combat Chuck said:

Ive found lots of odd things in the new regs and have been bugging them about it. So far, my questions are just growing pains of the new reg book style and not truly new regs. There is hope that this will be updated. I got this response ....

"We're editing some of the regs now to help clarify things. Make sure to check out the same spots in the e-regs over the next couple weeks, as they will hopefully get fixed. For now, I'll run your question by the fish managers to see what's going on there."

Click to expand...

I agree about the blue text. But perhaps the complete overhaul of the trout and warm water fish regulations was so broad that basically the entire thing would be in blue text.

I read an article that said ODFW is planning to apply a similar so-called 'streamline' overhaul to the salmon and steelhead regulations in the near future (I'm guessing in 2018). ODFW said they wanted to start with trout and warm water fish to help ease the transition. I'm not sure I like the sound of that.

troutdude said:

Wils; the regs about this (that Bass so kindly wrote word for word) is on page 8, of the new reg book. It has been that way, for at least a few years. Hopefully, you haven't been fishing with plastics--in waters where bait is not allowed.

Click to expand...

When I get my license I always get the reg book and check the waters that I fish in. I'll be sure to double-check this item.

troutdude said:

Wils; the regs about this (that Bass so kindly wrote word for word)

Click to expand...

Haha, copy and paste from the PDF

Rain said:

Thanks for the idea. I have an old rabbit pelt. Maybe I'll try making my own
Though I feel defeated on the prospect of bottom fishing, which is what bothers me the most about this change.

Click to expand...

Funny thing is that I have been meaning to try zonker strips for a while. I think I will improve my effort this year. Bummer about the bottom fishing, but a rag soaked in scent is a lure ...

I'm sure Zonker Strips would make some great bass or bottom fish lures. I used the 1/8" rabbit Zonker Strips to tie these steelhead jigs with which IMO have much better action in the water than anything I've tied with maribou.

If I liquefied some good bait would it be considered scent?

troutmasta said:

If I liquefied some good bait would it be considered scent?

Click to expand...

Scent doesn't count as chum, so why would it be bait ? isn't there bait in most scent ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk