NEWPORT —Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officials announced today that Siltcoos and Tahkenitch lakes south of Florence will open for wild coho salmon angling Oct. 1 – Dec. 15, 2006.
Healthy populations in both Siltcoos and Tahkenitch lakes resulted in more abundant returns than necessary to sustain the populations. Harvesting these surplus fish will not undermine the productivity of coho in the lakes.
Biologists will monitor and evaluate the season along with spawning numbers to ensure that coho salmon recovery efforts are not compromised. Each year the coho return will be reevaluated to determine if the run is strong enough to supply surplus fish for harvest.
The fishery provides anglers and local communities the opportunity to benefit from coho salmon recovery efforts implemented under the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds. The Oregon Plan, a volunteer-driven initiative, is committed to restoring native fish populations and developing healthy watersheds.
The waters of Siltcoos Lake open for coho angling are defined as that area upstream from the Highway 101 Bridge and downstream of the railroad trestle on the Maple Creek arm and the Fivemile Road crossing on the Fiddle Creek arm.
The waters of Tahkenitch Lake open for coho angling are defined as that area upstream from the Highway 101 Bridge and downstream of the first road crossing on the Leitel Creek arm and the ODFW Marker at the bridge on the 059 Road just west of Douglas County Road 49.
The daily bag limit is one adult coho salmon and one jack coho salmon. Anglers are limited to retaining five adult coho, in combination, from Siltcoos and Tahkenitch lakes during the season.
This year’s quota has been set at 400 fish for Siltcoos Lake and 200 fish for Tahkenitch Lake. The fishery for either lake will close before Dec. 15 if the specific lake quota is met.
