Montana Fish Report

Coming soon – New ELS launches Dec. 1
ODFW will launch a new modernized electronic licensing system (ELS) on Dec. 1 for the sale of 2019 licenses and tags. Customers will be able to:

• Buy license/tags online at MyODFW.com
• Carry documents and tag animal/fish with app on your smartphone (works offline)
• OR buy online, print paper license/tags at home
• OR buy paper or electronic tags from a license sales agent

ODFW recommends you hang onto your hunting/fishing license until you verify your new account. To find out more, visit myodfw.com/articles/odfws-new-electronic-licensing-system-els

Steelhead fishing 101, Nov. 3 and 10 in Troutdale
The workshop is for beginning anglers to learn the essential elements of steelhead fishing. On Nov. 3, the workshop runs from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and covers selecting the right gear, essential knots, fishing ethics and tips and techniques. Nov. 10’s workshop will be an on-the-water session from 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Learn more and register.

Take a friend hunting – Chance win a statewide deer tag or other great prizes
Take someone who is new to the sport out hunting—or even someone who hasn’t hunted in awhile! Then enter to win some great prizes including the grand prize of a statewide deer tag for 2020. Learn all the details.

Best bets for weekend fishing
It’s fall and the lake trout are hungrier this time of year because they know winter and slim pickings are just around the corner. Here are a few of the options from this week’s Recreation Report:

• Trophy trout – 800 of them have been released in Bradley Lake near Bandon. Trophies, which weigh in at about two pounds qapiece, have also been released in several water bodies in the Coos Bay area. Timothy Lake on the Mt. Hood National Forest is another good bet for larger trout as it has had multiple trophy releases earlier this season, and it is large and cool enough to hold them through the summer.
• If you’re in the mood for a fish fry, yellow perch fishing on Tenmile Lakes has been very good.
• There are reports of coho being caught on the lower Rogue.
• Coho season is also under way on the Clackamas, Sandy and Willamette rivers. The mouths of the tributaries, including the mouth of the Tualatin, Molalla, and Pudding are places to try, as is the mouth of Cedar Creek on the Sandy and mouth of Eagle Creek on the Clackamas.
• Anglers are catching fall Chinook at Sherars Falls on the lower Deschutes.
• Chickahominy, Yellowjacket, Cottonwood Meadows and Anthony lakes are all popular destinations for fall trout fishing.
• An October caddis hatch on the Wallowa River can lead to some good dry fly action.
• On the John Day, water levels have come up and steelhead have started to arrive.

If you didn’t apply for a tag, don’t miss getting a point saver
Point savers for deer, elk and pronghorn hunts can be purchased through Nov. 30.

Give us a wing and a tail - Map of collection barrels for grouse and quail now available
If you bag a bird, don’t forget to give us a wing and a tail for any forest grouse or mountain quail you harvest! Use paper bags in the bright blue collection barrels placed at major road junctions or highways in hunting areas and at some ODFW offices and popular rural markets. Mark your harvest date plus county and general location where you hunted.

Here are maps of collection barrels in the NW, SW, Columbia, and NE areas.