ODFW Recreation Report
by OR Department of Fish & Wildlife Staff
4-29-2021
Website
ODFW email addresses to change
Beginning April 23, ___@ODFW.Oregon.gov will replace ___@state.or.us
For existing ODFW email addresses, all information before the "@" will remain the same. But the name will be followed by @ODFW.Oregon.gov.
Have you applied for your big game tag?
Less than a month to go before the deadline
The deadline to apply for a big game tag is May 15, and that’s a Saturday this year. This means ODFW staff will not be available to help or answer questions on the last day to apply. All the more reason to apply early.
Best bets for weekend fishing
With trout stocking well underway, warmwater fishing heating up with the temperatures, and a few spring Chinook being caught in coastal rivers, this would be a great weekend to hit the water.
- Tillamook Bay, Trask River, Nestucca River and the lower Rogue River are going to be the best opportunities to catch a spring Chinook. Concentrate on the estuaries and lower rivers where fish should be starting to stage.
- Now that the ice if off Diamond Lake, fishing should be great.
- Bass fishing has been picking up in places like the Willamette River near Albany and the mainstem Umpqua River.
- Lost Creek Lake recently received 15,000 legal rainbow trout and 800 pounders. Plenty of holdover trout are also available. Surely there’s a fish there with your name on it.
- Anglers are reporting good fishing and active insect hatches during the warmest parts of the day on the Fall and Metolius rivers, and the Deschutes between Lake Billy Chinook and Benham Falls.
- Halibut opens this Saturday in the Southern Oregon Subarea, and in the nearshore Central Oregon subarea. Here are the 2021 halibut seasons.
- Finally, check the trout stocking schedule for dozens of waterbodies that have been or are scheduled to be stocked with trout.
Reserve a turkey hunting spot
No cost reservation program connects hunters and landowners
This program, now in its second year, brings hunters and landowners together to provide quality hunting experiences. Find more information about this program.
New interagency map shows wildfire impacts on recreation
Hunters, anglers and wildlife viewers will be living with the impacts of the 2020 wildfire season for a long time. To help you navigate the status of popular recreation sites, natural resource management agencies in Oregon have released an interagency status mapthat shows open, closed and reduced service areas on a single map, regardless of reason for closure.
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