You are correct that you don't need a license, but you still need tags to fish for steelhead, salmon, or sturgeon weather you plan to keep them or not.
Sorry to hear you had such a crummy day on the water, but if you weren't sure that it was legal to fish there and you didn't have your tags with you then you really had no business fishing in the first place.
Mt Hood College Pond is being stocked this week and again the week of Oct 13th. Not the most serene place to fish but its easy catching after the stocking truck has been there.
Went fishing at Salmonberry pond today. I ended up landing 17 almost identical looking fish. I couldn't get them to hit any lures, but they were starving for the almighty power eggs. Most of the time I was getting bites before my sinker hit bottom.
This leads me to believe that these are...