Other Choices
You can catch more bass in the summer, but you get the biggest ones in March on eastern Oregon's John Day River.

Hagg Lake opens earlier than most other reservoirs, and healthy plants of legal rainbows make it a good gamble this month.

APRIL
Trout, Washington Lakes
Our thoughts turn to trout in April as surely as the dogwood blooms. Close to Vancouver, Battleground Lake can provide fast action. This 28-acre still water is surrounded by trees and fills the crater of an extinct volcano. The WDFW stocks legal and broodstock rainbows, browns, brooks and surplus steelhead. Bank-anglers can circle the lake on a nice trail.

Lacamas Lake is a 315-acre, 65-foot-deep lake, conveniently located near Vancouver for thousands of anglers in search of an early-season limit of browns or rainbows. Bring a boat. The best trout fishing is in the main lake north of the boat launch.

Cowlitz County's Kress Lake, at 30 acres, is another sure bet for fast action early in the season. The WDFW stocks 20,000 rainbows and brown trout each year. Kress is located north of the town of Kalama, just off Interstate 5.

Other Choices
Bring big jerkbaits or baitfish streamers to target bull trout on Central Oregon's Lake Billy Chinook.

Troll for cutthroats and rainbows up to 20 inches on Lake Washington near Seattle.

MAY
Halibut, Yaquina Bay
Launch from Pacific City, Yaquina Bay or Depoe Bay or one of several other ports on the Oregon coast to tangle with halibut in deep water.

Rig with 6 feet of 100-pound leader. Loop the leader to accept two galvanized hooks, then thread on herring, squid or a strip of tuna belly. The daily limit is one halibut per person, no minimum length. The possession limit is three halibut on land.

Expect to run 15 to 20 miles out. Be prepared to fish several areas. For regulations, visit www.dfw.state.or.us and click on Fishing Resources.

For a guided trip, call Oregon River Trails at (541) 602-0881 or visit www.oregonrivertrails.com.

Other Choices
May is prime time for big rainbows on the Upper Klamath River. Go armed with tiny tungsten beadhead nymphs.

Detroit Lake starts to warm up in May, and so does the trout fishing.

JUNE
Trout And Kokanee, Odell Lake
At Odell you can target two species -- mackinaw in the morning and the kokanee in the afternoon.

Macks move up and down in the water column on a daily basis. Find the fish on the depthfinder, and then troll a Hoochie or a large Flatfish or Kwikfish behind a series of flashers. Bait with a large, trailing night crawler to add scent. Ring the dinner bell by dropping the downrigger into the mud, then cranking it back up again.

Odell kokanee average 8 to 14 inches. As soon as the sun hits the water, the plankton go deeper and the kokanee follow. Like their nemesis, the mackinaw, kokanee are most easily enticed in early morning, but they can be invited to dinner at lunchtime as well.

For a guided trip, call Odell Lake Resort at (800) 434-2540, or visit www.odelllakeresort.com.