Recreation Report

Includes updates to fishing, crabbing and clamming

Best bets for weekend fishing

• After the recent rainstorms, look for coastal rivers to start dropping into shape for winter steelhead fishing later this week or by the weekend.
• Surplus steelhead have been stocked in several lakes in the NW Zone. If you want to experience a fun fish fight, try hooking into a steelhead in still water.
• With ice retreating on several waterbodies, early spring trout fishing can be very good in the open water areas. (For safety reasons, avoid walking on any remaining ice.)
• Coming out of winter, holdover trout from last year's stockings will be hungry and ready to bite as temperatures warm. Look for lakes and reservoirs that were stocked heavily last spring and summer.
• Kokanee anglers should consider a trip to Detroit Reservoir and/or Lake Billy Chinook. New to kokanee fishing? Here are some tips for getting started.
• Excess brood rainbow trout are being released at Pine Nursery Park in Bend and at Haystack Reservoir this week.
• From now through April, steelhead anglers should find some of the best steelhead fishing of the year on the Imnaha, Umatilla and Wallowa rivers. Weather and water conditions permitting.
• Trout stocking is well-underway in the SW and Willamette zones.

These examples are for demonstration purposes only. Refer to the zone reports for more details and possibilities.

Tips for beginning birders

Two things happen in the spring. Resident and migratory birds become more visible on the landscape, and you tend to be outside more to notice them. Seems the perfect time to do a little bird watching. If you haven't tried it, here are 10 tips for becoming a birder.

Find big game statistics

Find all the numbers you'll need – big game populations, harvest and point summary reports – to plan your tag application strategy. The application deadline is May 15, which will be here before you know it.