Recreation Report

Highlights from this week’s Recreation Report:

This Black Friday, opt to be outside

Include fishing in your outdoor plans

Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 23 & 24) are Free Fishing Days in Oregon – days you don’t need a license or tag to fish, crab or clam anywhere in the state open to fishing/crabbing/clamming. (Remember, all other rules and regulations apply.) The weekly Recreation Report can help you find the best nearby opportunities.

Coming soon – New ELS launches Dec. 1

ODFW will launch a new modernized electronic licensing system (ELS) on Dec. 1 for the sale of 2019 licenses and tags. Customers will be able to:

• Buy license/tags online at MyODFW.com
• Carry documents and tag animal/fish with app on your smartphone (works offline)
• OR buy online, print paper license/tags at home
• OR buy paper or electronic tags from a license sales agent

ODFW recommends you hang onto your hunting/fishing license until you verify your new account. To find out more, visit https://myodfw.com/articles/odfws-new-electronic-licensing-system-els

Take a friend hunting – Chance win a statewide deer tag or other great prizes

Take someone who is new to the sport out hunting—or even someone who hasn’t hunted in awhile! Then enter to win some great prizes including the grand prize of a statewide deer tag for 2020. Learn all the details.

Best bets for weekend fishing

Here are a few weekend options from this week’s Recreation Report:

• If you can’t wait for the winter fish to arrive, there are still some summer steelhead being caught on the Siletz, Nestucca and Wilson rivers.

• With still no snow in the forecast, Howard Prairie, Fish Lake and Fourmile Lake are still great destinations to fish for trout.
• Coho fishing the Sandy, Eagle Creek and Clackamas rivers will be the best bet for salmon anglers.
• A total of 230 large brood trout were released Monday at three Willamette Valley locations – Sheridan Pond, Huddleston Pond, Mt. Hood Pond and Blue Lake. These large rainbows weigh in at 5 to 15 pounds.
• Recent sampling at Antelope Flat Reservoir showed good numbers of fish from 14- to 10-inches long.
• Trout anglers are doing well in the Klamath River below the powerhouse thanks to  low flows early in the day.
• Cottonwood Meadows is turning out 19-inch rainbow trout.
• Surfperch fishing has been good on the central coast.
• Persistent anglers have been catching some early steelhead on the Grande Ronde and Wallowa rivers.

Header photo by Kathy Munsel