2026 regulation year

Oregon Fishing Regulations 2026 — License Fees, Seasons, Bag Limits

Last updated June 4, 2026

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) runs a single-agency regulatory system covering all inland freshwater + anadromous + ocean fisheries — Oregon is the country's premier Pacific salmon + steelhead anadromous state, with country-defining anadromous runs returning annually to the Columbia River (under the OR/WA Columbia River Compact administered jointly by ODFW + WDFW since 1918), the Willamette River through Portland metro, the Rogue River Wild & Scenic 84-mile reach in southwest Oregon, the Umpqua River + North Umpqua dry-fly steelhead reach, the Deschutes River 100-mile Lower Deschutes desert canyon reach below Pelton Round Butte Dam, and the Klamath River (under the OR/CA Klamath River Compact — most recently restructured after the 2024 Klamath Dam Removal Project removed Iron Gate + Copco 1 + Copco 2 + J.C. Boyle Dams, reopening 400+ miles of historic anadromous habitat — the largest dam-removal salmon-restoration project in US history). ODFW requires a Resident or Non-Resident Angling License for anglers age 12+ ($44 res annual / $116 NR annual / $23 NR 1-day / $46.50 NR 3-day) plus a Combined Angling Tag ($46.50 res / $46.50 NR — same-fee — required to harvest salmon + steelhead + sturgeon + Pacific halibut on top of the base Angling License). Oregon carries country-defining native salmonid endemics: Klamath redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss newberrii — endemic to the Klamath Basin in Lake County OR + adjacent Klamath County OR + Modoc + Siskiyou Counties CA, found nowhere else in the world — currently ODFW Sensitive Species) + Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii henshawi — federally Threatened ESA — Coyote Lake + listed Harney + Malheur County southeast Oregon Lahontan Basin reaches, endemic to the Lahontan Basin shared with NV + CA) + bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus — federally Threatened ESA since 1998 — Metolius River + upper Deschutes + upper Willamette + listed Cascade reaches — ODFW + USFWS joint recovery program). Columbia River OR/WA joint compact (NEW reciprocity entry — administered jointly by ODFW + WDFW under the Columbia River Compact since 1918 — country's longest-running interstate fishery compact + country's premier Pacific salmon + steelhead anadromous fishery on the Columbia main stem). The compact covers the lower 309-mile Columbia main stem from the Pacific Ocean upstream to McNary Dam at the OR/WA border, plus joint salmon + steelhead + sturgeon + smelt regulations + joint commercial harvest allocation between the states + tribal harvest under the four Columbia River treaty tribes (Yakama + Umatilla + Warm Springs + Nez Perce). The Columbia is the country's premier spring chinook + summer chinook + fall chinook + coho + summer steelhead + winter steelhead + white sturgeon + green sturgeon + Eulachon smelt anadromous fishery, with ~1.5 million chinook + ~500,000 coho + ~600,000 steelhead returning annually under the modern (post-Endangered Species Act listing) joint management framework. Willamette River (190-mile main stem from confluence with Columbia at Portland upstream through Salem + Corvallis to Eugene) is the country's premier urban-salmon + smallmouth bass + steelhead fishery — Willamette Falls fish-counting station at Oregon City counts ~50,000 spring chinook + ~10,000 summer steelhead + ~6,000 coho through the falls annually + premier urban smallmouth + walleye fishery through Portland metro. Rogue River 84-mile Wild & Scenic reach (from Grave Creek Curry County downstream to Foster Bar Curry County — administered jointly by BLM Medford District + USFS Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest under the National Wild & Scenic Rivers Act 1968 — Rogue was one of the original 8 rivers designated in 1968) is country's premier southern Oregon steelhead + chinook salmon Wild & Scenic river — wild-and-scenic 84-mile reach permits limited (Day-Use + Multi-Day Float Permits via Rec.gov lottery) + ODFW-distinctive half-pounder steelhead summer run (Rogue + Klamath unique to country — fish that return to fresh water at smaller sizes 12-16 in their first year before going back to ocean). Umpqua River + North Umpqua wild and scenic (31-mile fly-fishing-only reach below Soda Springs Dam to Rock Creek — ODFW + USFS Umpqua National Forest joint management — country's premier dry-fly summer steelhead reach + fly-fishing-only artificial-fly-and-lure only + barbless single-hook required) is country's premier dry-fly steelhead river above the falls + summer-run steelhead trophy fishery. Deschutes River (Lower Deschutes 100-mile Wild & Scenic reach below Pelton Round Butte Dam at Lake Billy Chinook downstream to the Columbia at Celilo Falls — administered jointly by BLM Prineville District + USFS + Warm Springs Confederated Tribes — country's premier desert canyon steelhead + redband rainbow trout reach + ODFW-distinctive Lower Deschutes River Boater's Pass $9 res/NR + Warm Springs Tribal Permit required for tribal-water reaches) is country's premier high-desert summer steelhead + native redband rainbow trout fishery. Klamath River OR/CA joint compact (NEW reciprocity entry — country's premier dam-removal restoration fishery after the historic 2024 Klamath Dam Removal Project reopened 400+ miles of historic anadromous habitat — fall chinook salmon + spring chinook salmon + steelhead + coho salmon + Lost River sucker + shortnose sucker recovery managed jointly by ODFW + CDFW + Yurok Tribe + Karuk Tribe + Hoopa Valley Tribe + Klamath Tribes — largest dam-removal salmon-restoration project in US history). Crater Lake National Park 183,224-acre federal NPS park Klamath County OR — country's deepest natural lake at 1,949 ft (Mt Mazama caldera formed ~7,700 years ago) + 5th-deepest natural lake in world — ODFW + NPS joint management overlay (NPS Crater Lake Fishing License NOT required — ODFW Angling License is the controlling document inside the park — but the unique catch-them-all-you-want artificial-only no-bag-limit policy applies to introduced rainbow + kokanee salmon as part of the NPS native-fish restoration framework — Crater Lake's only naturally-occurring fish populations are extinct, so all current rainbow + kokanee are introduced and must be removed). Detroit Lake 3,580-acre Willamette River North Santiam tributary reservoir USACE Detroit Dam 1953 Marion + Linn Counties + Foster Reservoir 1,200-acre Willamette South Santiam tributary USACE Foster Dam 1968 Linn County + Cougar Reservoir 1,300-acre Willamette McKenzie tributary USACE Cougar Dam 1964 Lane County + Lookout Point Lake 4,360-acre Willamette Middle Fork tributary USACE Lookout Point Dam 1953 Lane County — Willamette Cascade Range reservoir trout + kokanee + salmon production tier. Wickiup Reservoir 10,000-acre Upper Deschutes USBR Wickiup Dam 1949 Deschutes + Klamath Counties + Crane Prairie Reservoir 4,500-acre Upper Deschutes USBR Crane Prairie Dam 1922 Deschutes County + East Lake + Paulina Lake Newberry National Volcanic Monument USFS Deschutes National Forest Lake County (caldera lakes — country's only stocked-rainbow + brown trout + kokanee fishery inside a volcanic caldera) — high-desert Deschutes reservoir trout + kokanee + salmon production tier. Diamond Lake 3,015-acre Cascade Range volcanic lake Douglas County 5,183 ft elevation USFS Umpqua National Forest — country's premier high-Cascade stocked-rainbow trout + Tui chub forage-base reservoir fishery + ODFW-distinctive 8/day rainbow trout bag (one of country's most generous trout bags). Owyhee Reservoir 13,400-acre Owyhee River reservoir Malheur County USBR Owyhee Dam 1932 — country's largest reservoir wholly in eastern OR + Owyhee Wild & Scenic 120-mile reach + ODFW-distinctive aggressive smallmouth + crappie + walleye + bass fishery. ODFW statewide standard: salmon + steelhead 2 / day combined adult under the Combined Angling Tag harvest allocation (with daily punch-card tagging on every harvested fish for ODFW + WDFW joint catch-allocation tracking under Columbia River Compact + state-specific in-river allocation); spring chinook 1 / day adult on Columbia mainstem + listed tributaries (March 1 – June 15 spring chinook season); fall chinook 2 / day adult on Columbia mainstem (August 1 – December 31 fall chinook season); coho 2 / day adult on Columbia mainstem (September 1 – November 30 coho season); summer steelhead 1 / day adult on Columbia mainstem + Snake + tribs (June 1 – December 31 summer-run season); winter steelhead 1 / day adult on coastal + Willamette + Columbia tribs (December 1 – April 30 winter-run season); ODFW-distinctive halfpounder steelhead Rogue + Klamath summer run 5 / day combined (Rogue + Klamath only); rainbow trout 5 / day combined on most waters + 8 / day Diamond Lake (ODFW-distinctive high-Cascade bag); native redband rainbow Lower Deschutes 2 / day with 10-13 in slot + only 1 fish over 20 in / day (ODFW-distinctive native-redband Quality Management); native bull trout 0 / day catch-and-release-only statewide on listed Metolius + Cascade conservation reaches (federally Threatened ESA — ODFW + USFWS joint recovery program); native Klamath redband 0 / day catch-and-release-only on listed Klamath Basin conservation reaches (ODFW Sensitive Species); Lahontan cutthroat 0 / day catch-and-release-only on Coyote Lake + listed Lahontan Basin reaches (federally Threatened ESA); kokanee salmon 10 / day statewide (NEW for 2026 — kokanee removed from the trout daily limit and given their own clearly-separate limit), with 25 / day at Odell + Suttle + Elk Lakes + unlimited at Crater Lake under the NPS native-fish-removal policy; lake trout (mackinaw) 1 / day with a 24 in minimum on Odell + Crescent Lakes (OR state-record lake trout 40 lb 8 oz Odell 1984 Ken Erickson — Wallowa Lake also holds the IGFA all-tackle WORLD-RECORD kokanee 9 lb 10.72 oz 2010); smallmouth bass 10 / day no statewide minimum on most waters with 5 / day with 14-in min + only 1 fish over 18-in TROPHY MANAGEMENT on Columbia + Willamette + Umpqua listed Quality Management reaches; largemouth bass 5 / day no statewide minimum; walleye NO bag limit + NO size limit on the Columbia River Zone + most zones where it occurs (ODFW manages walleye as an encouraged-removal non-native that preys on juvenile salmon + steelhead — Columbia + Willamette + Owyhee + Brownlee + Hells Canyon; OR state-record walleye 19 lb 15.3 oz Columbia River 1990 Arnold Berg); white sturgeon 1 / day with 38-54 in fork-length slot (sturgeon catch-and-release season closed for spawning protection May 1 – June 30 on Columbia mainstem) + Combined Angling Tag punch required; green sturgeon 0 / day catch-and-release-only statewide (federally Threatened ESA); panfish 25 / day combined no minimum. ODFW stocks ~10 million catchable + fingerling trout + salmon + steelhead + sturgeon + smolts annually statewide via Roaring River + Trask + Bonneville + Cole Rivers + Klamath + Marion Forks + Round Butte + Sandy + Wallowa + Wizard Falls + Salmon River + Klaskanine + Big Creek + Cedar Creek + Leaburg + Oak Springs + Rock Creek State Fish Hatcheries (one of country's largest hatchery systems alongside WA + CA + ID + CO + ~30+ state hatcheries) + USFWS Eagle Creek NFH + USFWS Warm Springs NFH (treaty-tribal salmon hatchery on Warm Springs Reservation). ODFW-distinctive Free Fishing Weekend first weekend of June + Saturday after Thanksgiving statewide (ODFW-distinctive 3-day-per-year amnesty — most generous in country alongside CO 48-hour first-Saturday-Sunday-of-June). ODFW fees: $44 res annual + $46.50 res Combined Angling Tag (req for salmon + steelhead + sturgeon + halibut) + $23 res 1-day + $46.50 res 7-day + $0 res permanently disabled veteran 100% + $0 res youth under 12 + $10 res youth (12-17) annual reduced + $20 res senior 70+ pioneer reduced; $116 NR annual + $46.50 NR Combined Angling Tag + $23 NR 1-day + $46.50 NR 3-day + $74.50 NR 7-day + $10 NR youth (12-17) annual reduced + $0 NR youth under 12 + $0 NR free fishing weekend.