5/19/05 Don Terbush For the Times-Standard

Someone once described an optimist as a fellow who grabs a fishing pole when he discovers his basement is flooded.

Whatever. The point being that optimism is a required ingredient with ocean sport salmon season opening Saturday in the Klamath Management Zone which extends from Horse Mountain to Humbug Mountain in the north. There are a lot of fingers crossed.

Charter boat operators in Eureka exude optimism with a capital O.

"We're ready," commented Larry Williams of the Coral Isle. "With the water temperatures and bait situation there should be fish and it looks like a good go. It looks like there are plenty of fish and we're excited about it."

Shellback skipper Phil Glenn notes that commercial fishermen have seen salmon deep so we'll probably find them 6 to 8 miles offshore. He saw signs of bait while returning from Mendocino on Sunday. Fort Bragg was boiling, he noted. He has one client opening remaining for Saturday and five for Sunday.

Phil has been bottom fishing and got limits on Friday, including eight lingcod. Sunday they got 11 among 57 mixed rockfish inside Blunts Reef off Cape Mendocino. The salmon were "boiling" off Fort Bragg.

The launch is operating at Trinidad and the charter boats that will be operating are the Shenandoah, Toni Rae II, The Jumpin' Jack, The Rest Area and Free Spirit.

Bob Ginoehio, owner of the Tally Ho II which operates from Crescent City, reports that bottom fishing has been great but that he doesn't know what to expect from the salmon opener. "In the past we haven't done that great on salmon up here.

"But we've had excellent lingcod fishing and brought in a 30-1/2 pounder Saturday," he said.

The season, which opens Saturday, runs from May 21 to July 4; August 14 to September 11. Anglers are allowed 2 salmon per day of any species except coho. The minimum size is 24 inches total length. The Klamath Control Zone closed in August (12 mile square centered on the Klamath River mouth).

Shelter Cove launch operator Ken Vallotton, who is in the process of selling his business interests to work his portable saw mill and spend 'lots more time fishing," reports "the fishing is looking up" at the Cove.

The charter boat Bite Me came in with eight salmon ranging from six to eight pounds Sunday. They were taken 10 miles below the cove and all had sardines in them. Crabbers are "doing well' and Austin Clary of Garberville brought in a 10-inch abalone.

Riverwise there is little from which to choose. Guide Rich Mossholder reports there is salmon in the Klamath, but it is high and muddy. "Hopefully, it will be fishable by Sunday or early next week." He suggests mostly spinners.

Willow Creek guide Ed Duggan estimates that the Trinity River should be at fishing level by the first week in June.

Oregon's Rogue River is not too bad, according to Rich. But fishing is sporadic.

Recall Alert Registry

With the boating season under way, boat owners should know about a free BoatU.S. service that connects them with U.S. Coast Guard recall actions. Significant repair bills and perhaps lives, are at stake.

Boat manufacturers know that for a period of ten years after a boat is built, federal law requires them to recall and repair their vessel if they are found to be in normal compliance with Coast Guard regulations or when they contain safety defects. But the law only requires that Coast Guard defect recall notices be sent to original owners. With most vessels changing ownership at least once during their first ten years of life, well meaning manufacturers often have difficulty reaching subsequent owners to let them know they have a fix available to remedy a safety problem.

The nation's largest recreational boat owners association, BoatU.S., has stepped in to fill the important gap between boat owners and owners with its National Recall Alert Registry.

"The existing system is deficient because a considerable number of new boat purchasers don't return warranty cards so there is no consistent way for manufacturers to reach them," says Caroline Ajootian, BoatU.S. Consumer Protection Bureau director. "And even if a new boat owner does return a warranty card, when the boat is sold a second or third time the manufacturer still has no way to communicate to those used boat-buyers," she said.

"The way a recall is handled is important to boat owners and using this registry will help reinforce the possible image of a company and its product. It can only help a difficult situation get better," notes Ajootian.

"We also want manufacturers to know that their system is secure," says Ajootian. Each manufacturer can only view the database of owners having their product."

To register, manufacturers can go to the "Manufacturers Query" link at BoatUS.com/recall. Since its launch five years ago, the Registry's database has been utilized in several recall actions, saving manufacturer's time and efforts and potentially many lives.