ODFW stocking schedule

Admin
Admin
Well-known member
Is it time for ODFW to get back to a stocking schedule?
 
Here is the post from the ODFW:

Where’s the stocking schedule?

Our plans to begin posting the trout stocking schedule again have been scrambled by this summer's wildfires in the state. Several state-owned hatcheries were damaged in the fires, and thousands of fish were lost or released early.

It will take us a while to re-figure the current schedule to reflect these changes to hatchery production. We hope to have a 2021 schedule posted sometime in March.

In the meantime, any early season stocking will be noted in the weekly Recreation Report. As will lots of additional fishing opportunities that may not rely on on-going trout stocking in order to offer good fishing opportunity.
 
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There were a few lakes, ponds and canals around Springfield/Eugene that were supposed to get their first plants of the year this week. But unfortunately residual complications from last fall's fires have thrown a wrench into those plans, as well as plans to get the stocking schedule back up.

But by Valentine's Day a few of the mid-coast lakes around Florence will have had visits from the trout truck. Cleawox, Dune, Alder, Munsel, Big Creek Reservoir and Thissel. A bit of a drive if you're in Portland like me, but so is everything else in winter!
 
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Woohoo! I'm 3 miles from Munsel Lake.
 
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olshiftybiscuits said:
But by Valentine's Day a few of the mid-coast lakes around Florence will have had visits from the trout truck. Cleawox, Dune, Alder, Munsel, Big Creek Reservoir and Thissel. A bit of a drive if you're in Portland like me, but so is everything else in winter!
How did you find that information?
 
It’s buried in the ODFW recreation reports by zone.
 
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Some early season trout stocking has begun in the Willamette Valley. Check the waterbody updates for locations.
ODFW
 
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Any word on Alton baker anywhere? Not sure which side they will stock either.
 
Looks like it got stocked this week although I’m not sure which side either.
 
Central Coast lakes where heavily stocked last week been eatin good in Flotown!
 
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Hello, anyone know if Hagg Lake has been visited by a stocking truck lately?

Thanks in advance. I am waiting im(patiently) for the ocean to calm down.

Seeing some facebook posts of ling cod and sea bass caught off of Pacific City has me quite jealous, lol.
 
Fishnsleep said:
Hello, anyone know if Hagg Lake has been visited by a stocking truck lately?

Thanks in advance. I am waiting im(patiently) for the ocean to calm down.

Seeing some facebook posts of ling cod and sea bass caught off of Pacific City has me quite jealous, lol.
No visits yet, but a ton of fish destined for other lakes got diverted there in the fall after the fires. I’d imagine fishing for holdovers is decent right now. They’ll be less likely to take bait after this long in the lake but flies or lures should do the trick.
 
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Thanks!
 
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Some waterbodies in the NW, Willamette and SW zones were stocked with trout prior to last weekend’s Free Fishing Weekend. With terrible weather and few anglers on the water, most of those fish are still around to catch. Look for updates in the zone reports.
ODFW
 
Friends and I trolled at Dorena Reservoir last Saturday. There is NO way IMO that it had been stocked with 15,000 bows, since the first week in March. We didn't mark more than a couple of hundred, on our finder. ODFW needs to reactivate their confirmation line! So we all KNOW that their scheduled stockings actually happen.
 
ODFW needs to follow WDFW on this issue. Telling us when lakes are scheduled to be stocked is only slightly helpful. Verification of stocking is the info we want.

WDFW gets it done. It's simple and no need for a confirmation line.
 
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The upside to ODFW's lack of specificity over the last year has been longer lasting fisheries. If people don't know exactly when a body has been stocked, it's harder to fish it out.

The downside is that while the stocking schedule was down, the local animals all learned ODFW's unofficial schedule. And while their plantings are usually followed by a ton of human activity, they weren't last year. That seems to have emboldened the wildlife. There are otters and a school of pikeminnow living in Benson Lake that weren't previously there. Last summer before the fires there was an additional family of eagles and two more osprey at Harriet, as well as an increase in otters. Harriet still fished well, Benson you have to hit within about 72 hours. In lakes that don't have any naturally reproducing fish, the presence of a few additional predators can wipe out a shipment of stocked trout in shockingly short order.
 
It is called "fishing", not "harvesting". I appreciate every sunny day I see in the PNW all the more after surviving a wet winter. Every fish is a challenge to catch, and appreciated all the more for it.

Sorry for the sermon ...
 
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