ODFW Recreation Report
by OR Department of Fish & Wildlife Staff
2-17-2022
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Free Fishing Weekend, Feb. 19-20
Make fishing part of your Presidents’ Day Weekend plans. Everyone can fish, clam and crab for free in Oregon on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 19-20. Grab a friend or family member and take them steelhead fishing on the coast, hit a newly stocked trout fishery or try ice fishing for the first time. But remember, all other rules and regulation still apply.
Winter steelhead fishing videos
Check out our steelhead videos on YouTube. ODFW fish biologists will take you fishing on their favorite local rivers, showing you how to read the water and offering tips and techniques.
Statistics for big game hunters
Find links to population, harvest and point summary reports that can help you decide what hunts to apply for.
Apply for a Premium Hunt
Premium Hunts offer a long season at the peak of the rut, no preference point advantage (great for new hunters) and an extra chance to hunt on top of your controlled or general season tag. Learn more about what’s available and how to apply.
Two rods allowed on lower Willamette
Beginning March 1, anglers with a two-rod validation will be able to use two rods when fishing the lower Willamette for all game and non-game species. Except sturgeon, where there’s a one-rod limit. Find more details.
Best bets for Free Fishing Weekend:
Free Fishing Weekend is a good time to invite a friend or family member to go fishing with you. We have some suggestions:
- Chase winter steelhead. Good options include most coastal rivers and streams, as well as basins in the Willamette Valley and SW Oregon. A bit of rain this week may have put fish on the bite in some areas.
- Bag a few hatchery trout. Several locations in the “warmer” zones (NW, SE and Willamette) have been stocked just in time for Free Fishing Weekend. There also will be some holdover trout in larger waterbodies that were heavily stocked last summer.
- Harness a worm for walleye. Walleye fishing has been good in the John Day Pool of the Columbia River. Time for a fish fry?
- Land a lingcod from shore. This is a good time of year to catch a lingcod from the beach or jetty as they’re guarding their nests in rocky areas.
- Lower some pots for crab. Dungeness crab are still in good shape with hard shells that are full of meat.
- Go fly-fishing for trout. The central Oregon rivers – Fall, Metolius, Deschutes – support healthy winter trout fisheries. Look for hatches during the warmer parts of the day.
- Fish through the ice. Ice fishing has been fair to good for yellow perch at Lake of the Woods and for trout at several locations including Diamond Lake, Walton Lake, Phillips Reservoir and Pilcher Reservoir. To be on the safe side, review these safety tips before venturing out on the ice.
Need more details? Check out the zone reports in this week’s Recreation Report.
More Reports
OR Department of Fish & Wildlife Reports
for Wednesday, February 16th, 2022Upper Klamath Lake: The lake is 2.9 feet below full pool and 55 percent full
Agate Lake: Agate received 1,000 legal rainbow trout this week
Applegate Reservoir: The reservoir is at 19 percent capacity
Applegate River: The river coloreed up a little bit with the Monday rain
Arizona Pond: Young anglers may have some success early in the morning
Chetco River: Current water conditions are low and clear
Elk River: Steelhead fishing is slow as water conditions are low and clear
Fish Lake : There were still anglers on the ice this past weekend
Floras Lake: Current water temperatures are on the chilly side
Garrison Lake: The lake can hold some pretty good numbers of holdover trout
Lake Selmac: About 5,000 legal rainbow trout were stocked here on Valentine’s day
Pistol River: Water levels are low as we have not had much rain recently
Plat I Reservoir: Plat I is a great place to fish for warmwater fish this time of year
Rogue River- Lower: Water conditions are clear and steelhead fishing effort has slowed some
Rogue River - Middle: Expect the river to be pretty steady for the foreseeable future
Rogue River- Upper: Best bets for the upper river would be concentrating on the area between Shady Cove and Touvell
Sixes River: Current conditions are low and clear
Umpqua River: Steelhead fishing has been steady
Willow Lake: Willow Lake just received 2,000 legal rainbow trout this week
Wilson River: One on the best bets for hatchery winter steelhead for the remainder of the season
Trask River: The Trask has been very low and clear and as a result the fishing has been fairly slow
Siuslaw River: Winter steelhead continues to be slow on the Siuslaw but anglers are catching fish every day
Siletz River: Winter steelhead fishing continues to be slow on the Siletz
Nestucca River: The Nestucca has been low and as a result fishing has been a little slow
Three Rivers: Three Rivers has been very low and clear
Nehalem River- North Fork: Majority of the hatchery run on this basin is winding down
Nehalem River: The Nehalem has been in good shape for the past month
Necanicum River: The hatchery winter steelhead run on the Necanicum River is winding down
Kilchis River: The Kilchis River is still very low and clear
Alsea River: Winter steelhead fishing continues to be fair on the Alsea
Hood River: Winter steelhead are currently returning to the Hood River basin
Grande Ronde River: Hatchery steelhead will continue to be available to anglers on the Grande Ronde
Umatilla River: The flows in the Umatilla have come up a bit and anglers should start see fish moving
Wallowa Lake : Wallowa Lake currently has ice on it, but the ice is very thin in some parts
Brownlee Reservoir: There have been no recent fishing reports from Brownlee Reservoir
Snake River- Below Hells Canyon Reservoir: Fishing effort for steelhead on the Snake River below Hells Canyon Reservoir has been light at times
EE Wilson Angling Pond: The pond is stocked with trout from February through May
Green Peter Reservoir: The water level has been slowly rising now that refill season has begun
• This lake was stocked last week with about 900 hatchery trout
2-12-2022
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