The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has been busy this week loading up about four dozen lakes and streams with trout just ahead of this Memorial Day Weekend.
In the chart below, I picked out 18 lakes and streams that were scheduled to be stocked with literally thousands of trout. To make my list, ODFW had to be scheduled to plant at least 2,000 hatchery rainbow trout of keeper size or better between May 19 and 23.
That said, there were plenty of other waters getting visits from the stocking trucks, and a few that just barely missed the cut with 1,900 or more trout in the plan.
The most heavily stocked waters stretched from Applegate Reservoir down in Southwest Oregon clear up to Wallowa Lake in Northeast Oregon. They also spanned much of Western and Central Oregon.
The majority of trout stocked are your typical pan-sized legal trout. However, as you can see in the notes column below, some spots also were stocked with trophy trout and a few got a dose of giant brood trout.
Many of the locations below are linked to full articles about fishing in those waters. Those articles include season-long trout stocking schedules for each location.
| SOUTHWEST ZONE | TROUT STOCKED | NOTES |
| Applegate Reservoir | 15,500 | 500 are trophy trout |
| Cooper Creek Reservoir | 2,500 | |
| Howard Prairie Reservoir | 7,450 | |
| Rogue River (above Lost Creek Lake) | 2,515 | |
| Willow Lake | 5,500 | 1,500 are trophy trout |
| WILLAMETTE ZONE | ||
| Detroit Lake | 9,000 | 7,000 are trophy trout |
| Hagg Lake | 2,000 | |
| Foster Reservoir | 2,800 | 1,000 are trophy trout |
| McKenzie River (below Leaburg) | 5,000 | |
| Quartzville Creek | 2,200 | |
| Timber Lake | 2,000 | |
| Timothy Lake | 2,650 | 550 are trophy trout |
| Walter Wirth Lake | 2,000 | |
| CENTRAL ZONE | ||
| Clear Lake | 3,250 | 200 are trophy trout 50 are brood trout |
| Lost Lake | 2,850 | 400 are trophy trout 50 are brood trout |
| NORTHEAST ZONE | ||
| Umatilla Forest Ponds | 2,150 | |
| Wallowa Lake | 7,800 | 300 are trophy trout |
| SOUTHEAST ZONE | ||
| Ana Reservoir | 2,400 |
Source: ODFW Trout Stocking Schedule
More Great Fishing
May is tough to beat for great fishing opportunities all across Oregon. Below are a few more ideas of what you might try over the Memorial Day Weekend:
- Spring Chinook salmon are available in the Willamette, Columbia, Sandy, Rogue, Umpqua, and several other rivers this time of year. Be sure to check the latest regulations.
- Summer steelhead are just starting to arrive in numbers in the Willamette Valley and several systems on the coast, and better fishing is likely into June along the coast and upper Willamette areas.
- Bass fishing can be hot in May, whether your plying your lures in lakes and backwaters for largemouths or in several rivers or reservoirs for smallmouths.
- Panfish are fun to catch and can be plentiful. Crappie, bluegill and yellow perch are in many lakes and a few larger rivers.
- The Columbia River has lots of walleye if you know where to look. The upper Willamette system also has its spots.
- Shad fishing is just starting in the Willamette and Columbia river by Memorial Day, with better fishing to come in June. Shad fishing down on the Umpqua River is already going strong.
We have lots more on the Best Fishing in America website. Use the search function on the website to find the information you need.