COQUILLE, Ore. — Poachers took spawning fish from the fish trap and destroyed surveillance cameras to hide their crimes during the winter steelhead run in Woodward Creek near Powers, Oregon according to ODFW and OSP officials. They request the public’s assistance in identifying these individuals.
Multiple people accessed the trap. One person, identified through surveillance footage, entered the trap to net fish, then shot one camera and stole another. Troopers caught up with Kaine M. Horner, 24, formerly of Myrtle Point, while he was fishing illegally in a closed section of the South Coquille River on Feb 22. They seized his rifle, net, and fishing gear. Charges include Criminal Mischief II, Unlawful Taking Steelhead, and Angling Prohibited Area, according to OSP Sergeant Levi Harris, who is leading the investigation. Harris is disappointed by this behavior.
“These are not legal anglers,” he said, “These are opportunistic people who have no respect for the vulnerability of these fish while they are in the traps. And they might not understand the importance of these traps to ODFW.”
ODFW biologists first discovered problems in early 2021 during the winter steelhead run. Several times they found the Woodward Creek trap empty after volunteers reported seeing fish, according to Mike Gray, who is the Coos-Coquille-Tenmile District Fish Biologist.
“We would get a call from a volunteer saying there were six or seven fish in a trap,” Gray said, “Then when we got there, the trap was empty, or there was only one fish in it. We found evidence that the trap had been damaged, so we knew someone was getting in there.”
District staff contacted OSP Fish and Wildlife troopers, and mounted trail cameras to monitor the traps and nearby waterway. The first night, they saw at least three people enter the area, access the trap
