Rhoades Pond

[Bait O' Eggs]

I copied the following article from the Tillamook weekly newspaper. I bet out own Marty Peterson has a hand in this one way or another.


Rhoades Pond fall chinook ...Ready for release

BY MICHAEL O'BRIEN
Headlight-Herald Sports Editor

South County volunteers will deliver 105,000 fall chinook into the Nestucca River system on Aug. 3. It is the result of the yearlong efforts of 200 volunteers working the North Rhoades Pond Fall Chinook Step Program.
The program, developed in 1999 with Oregon Fish and Wildlife and the Nestucca/Neskowin Watershed Council in partnership with local enthusiasts and volunteers, is a success story that has developed through the hard work of serious volunteers who have essentially turned a dirt fill into a productive hatchery and spawning program that will benefit fishermen for years.
The $50,000 Step Program grant that was received in 1999, after a six-year absence of a fall chinook program has captured the interest and energy of a determined group of enthusiasts and hopes to return the healthy run of fall chinook that was noticeably absent in 1997, after the fall chinook program was lost in 1993.
The Step Program had been in place for years, with hatchbox programs such as previously existed for the Nestucca system representing the majority of the hatchery effort up until 1993. With Step developing bigger projects, a grant was approved for the old ODFW facility at Rhoades Pond and Ron Byrd, proprietor of Nestucca Valley Sporting Goods got busy with some friends and fishing enthusiasts, incorporating ODFW and community involvement and contributions into the mix.
ODFW helped the volunteers with the cleaning and relining of the pond and the group formed work parties to improve the intake valves, enhance the water flow and build fish escapement traps in the gravity-fed pond that sits pristine and hidden six miles from Hebo.
Volunteers collect adults in the fall, moving them nearby to the Cedar Creek Hatchery to spawn and incubate the babies. In April, one-and-one-half inch long fish are ready for the holding pond. In June, the fish are clipped at a volunteer gathering, receiving a right maxillary (jaw-bone) clip identification. At that time, there are about 100 fish to the pound. On Aug. 3, when the fish are released into the system, they will have grown to about 13 to the pound.
The community takes the effort seriously. Donations totaled around $5,000 last year, and more than 150 people showed up at the clipping party at Rhoades Pond. The pond is fed by a Nestucca River tributary, and wild fish are screened out. In April, the feeders are put in net pens, where they are fed and protected from birds by volunteers, working four-hour shifts, constantly feeding the babies to prepare them for the clipping phase. Byrd estimates 25 feeding volunteers work 2,500 hours from April to August.
Along with ODFW, the local volunteers and the watershed council, the project gets support from Northwest Steelheaders and private individuals in the Valley who enjoy fishing the Nestucca system. All donations to the Rhoades Pond project are tax-deductible. The project costs about $10,000 a year to maintain, and the grant will continue through the governor’s Restoration and Enhancement Program for five years. The feed alone runs about $5,000 a year, Byrd said.
The program parallels the Whiskey Creek Hatchery program, which provides spring chinook to the Tillamook area rivers. Volunteers are welcome and encouraged for the Aug. 3 release project, when everyone participating will meet at Rhoades Pond at 8 a.m. for the big day.
Volunteers will get a short break after the release party, until the September/October period arrives and the adult fish show up and it starts all over again. Education of local students and citizens is a goal of the program and that endeavor will be developed as the effort continues.
People interested in becoming part of the process and joining the Aug. 3 release project can learn more by calling Ron Byrd at (503) 392-4269. There's plenty to learn and plenty to accomplish in this successful community project.