FISHING
Bide Time On Valley Trout Waters While waiting for Cascades waters to melt out, there are rainbows to be caught in the lowlands. By Randall Bonner
A
s a wilderness skills instructor, taking kids fishing is my favorite part of the job. Seeing a kid’s face light up when they land a fish is a beautiful thing, but so are all the lessons on adversity, patience and gratitude, and garnering an appreciation for the outdoors with or without a catch. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife hatchery trout stocking continues through the spring and into the early summer, providing a great introduction to fishing for younger or inexperienced anglers. A general Oregon Angling License is all that’s required to fish for trout for youths 12 years and older. ODFW also offers Oregon residents and visitors a weekend to fish, crab and clam without a license the first full weekend in June, and while the agency’s website (myodfw.com) says spring’s annual free fishing events have been cancelled until further notice, the free fishing weekends are still a go. This is a great opportunity to introduce new anglers to the water, young and old.
DUE TO COVID concerns centered around overcrowding, ODFW stopped posting the trout release schedules online last spring. However, as of last month they are now back (myodfw.com/fishing/ species/trout/stocking-schedule), and April and May have always
Owen Austin proudly shows off his catch from the central Willamette Valley’s EE Wilson Pond earlier this year. (RANDALL BONNER)
been prime time for fishing stocked lakes west of the Cascades. If winter steelhead runs are dwindling, there’s no snow on Marys Peak and it’s time
to plant tomatoes, check your watch because that also means ODFW has been stocking all your favorite lakes since January. Historically, most lakes nwsportsmanmag.com | APRIL 2021
Northwest Sportsman 75
