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| David Winegar with a brood trout he landed at while fishing at St. Louis Ponds, one of five Willamette Valley fishing venues that ODFW will stock with extra-large trout for the holidays. (Photo by Rick Swart/ODFW) |
December 18, 2015
CLACKAMAS, Ore. – Holiday fishing prospects will get a boost next week when the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife releases the last of its biggest hatchery trout in five locations throughout the Willamette Valley.
Over a two-day period, ODFW will release a total of 450 brood trout from Eugene to Forest Grove. Some of these fish will weigh in at 12 pounds.
On Monday, 90 brood trout will be released at Junction City Pond near Eugene, with 50 more headed to Canby Pond, a youth-only venue located at Canby Community Park. The next day the department will release 90 fish at Waverly Lake in Albany, 150 fish at Henry Hagg Lake near Forest Grove, and, finally, 70 fish at the St. Louis Ponds fishing complex near Gervais.
The hefty rainbows are part of the trout rearing program at Roaring River fish hatchery near Scio, ODFW’s primary trout propagation facility. These fish were used at the hatchery to produce eggs for the millions of smaller trout released at 96 Northwest Oregon locations every year. The trout are now considered past their prime so are being released in local lakes and ponds, while the work of producing more eggs is passed off to the next generation of rainbow trout.
ODFW has been releasing brood trout in local waters since mid-November, and this will be the last batch to go out this season, according to Luke Allen, Roaring River hatchery manager. This will bring to 1,350 the total number of brood trout released this fall. Allen said the fish have been ranging in size from three to 12 pounds.
Anglers targeting these fish are reminded that the bag limit on trout 20 inches or larger is one per day.
For more information, visit www.odfw.com.
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