ODFW Proposing To Allow Boat Fishing Higher On The Sandy

THE FOLLOWING IS A PRESS RELEASE FROM THE OREGON DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is proposing to allow more fishing from a boat or other floating device on the Sandy River starting in 2021. Current sport fishing regulations prohibit fishing from a floating device upstream of Oxbow Park. 

The department is proposing to eliminate this old prohibition to increase the ability for anglers to harvest hatchery salmon and steelhead. Increased harvest of these hatchery fish is a conservation measure to help the department continue to minimize the number of hatchery fish that might escape and spawn with protected wild fish populations.

If adopted by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission in August, this change would open an additional 25 miles of the Sandy River to fishing from a floating device for salmon and steelhead. Currently angling from a floating device is restricted to 12 miles in the lower river downstream of Oxbow Park. While simplifying angling regulations, the proposal would not affect the existing prohibition on operating a motorized boat upstream of Dabney State Park.

Submit comments on the proposed angling regulation change to ODFW using the following website: https://odfw.wufoo.com/forms/sandy-river-proposed-regulation-change/ or mail to Ben Walczak, District Fish Biologist, at 17330 SE Evelyn Street, Clackamas, OR 97015 or email to ben.walczak@dfw.state.or.us.

Comments are requested by May 26, 2020.  Additional opportunities to comment on a final rule proposal will also occur later this year during the public comment period associated with Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission consideration of 2021 Sport Fishing Regulations.