December 4, 2020 3:15 a.m.

Anglers who harvest a hatchery winter steelhead and return the snout to an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife collection barrel have a chance to win a $50 gift card if their fish is coded wire tagged.

An ODFW release said monthly prize drawings will run through April of next year.

Collection barrels are located at popular boat ramps around the Umpqua Basin and in Roseburg at Sportsman’s Warehouse and outside the ODFW office on the North Umpqua Highway. Bags for the snouts and tags with date and location of harvest are in the barrels.

The release said hatchery winter steelhead were coded wire tagged this past spring and released in four groups at acclimation sites in Canyonville, each at a different time. ODFW scans collected snouts for the tags which contain the release date and group. This information informs which release timing is most beneficial to anglers, particularly for those fishing the South Umpqua River.

ODFW began getting that data during the 2018-19 winter steelhead angling season with anglers returning about 200 snouts. That number doubled during the 2019-20 season.

ODFW STEP biologist Evan Leonetti said the department expects to collect the snouts for at least another five years. He said the longer length of the study will give them a better picture of the fishery and what, if any, adjustments need to be made to release timing.