ODFW Recreation Report: February 8, 2018

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Highlights from this week’s Recreation Report:

We’ve moved!

Visit us at our new location at the Pacific Northwest Sportsmen’s Show

ODFW is now in Hall C next to the Sylvan Archers at the Pacific NW Sportsmen’s Show, Feb. 7-11 at the Portland Expo Center. Stop by to buy a license, apply for a spring bear hunt (deadline Feb. 10), chat with fish and wildlife biologists and pick up regulations and how-to material.

On Thursday, Feb. 8 from 4:30-5:30 p.m., Fish and Wildlife Commissioners will host a reception in the Green Theater. Come by to talk with commissioners, ODFW Director Curt Melcher and other staff and share your thoughts on fish and wildlife issues.

Spring bear

The deadline to apply for a spring bear tag is Saturday, Feb. 10 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply online, at a license sales agent or ODFW office that sells licenses, or by mail/fax order. The cost is $8 per application and hunters need a 2018 annual hunting license to apply. The 4,400 SW Oregon spring bear tags (sold first-come, first-served) sold out on Jan. 14 this year.

Best bets for fishing

Some of the highlights from this week’s Recreation Report include:

  • When the weather and waves cooperate, ocean fishing for lingcod and rock fish has been good.
  • Water conditions in the Rogue and Umpqua are good. So, too, should winter steelhead fishing.
  • Steelhead fishing has been fair to good in the Sandy and Clackamas rivers, and water levels should be fishable into the weekend.
  • Trout are getting more active thanks to warming water temperatures in many areas.

HUNT TO HOME: What to do after the hunt

Two-part class March 3 and 17.

Jackson County’s OSU Extension Master Food Preservers and the Oregon Hunters Association are offering a two-day, hands-on class about safely handling your game after the hunt at the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center in Central Point.

On March 3 you’ll learn to eviscerate, skin and cool an animal, and on March 17 how to home butcher, wrap for the freezer, pressure can and make your own jerky. Cost is $20 for one class or $35 for both. More information and contacts.

Turn in your 2017 combined angling tag

Even if you didn’t harvest a salmon, steelhead, sturgeon or halibut in 2018. Our biologists use this data to better manage these fisheries. Anglers can use this data to see where fish have been caught over the years.

Tags can be turned in to any POS agent or at any ODFW office located throughout the state. The tags also can be mailed to any ODFW office.