Last year ODFW relocated approximately 400 brown trout from the top third of the river to the lower river, between Snively Gulch and the Concrete Bridge (by the Owyhee River Ranch), with the goal to improve the brown trout population on the lower half of the river.

Based on data collected last year from raft electrofishing and angler-reported tags, ODFW estimates that 58% of the relocated brown trout were found in the lower section of the river, 12% were found in the middle section, and 30% were found in the upper section.  This is an exciting finding because it indicates a good number of those relocated brown trout decided to stay in the lower river last year!

In May, 2026, ODFW relocated a second set of tagged trout (both browns and rainbows) to the same locations. They are asking for angler's help by reporting any trout that has a yellow tag attached to their dorsal fin.   ODFW will also electro-fish the river in August to do an adult trout survey and to look for tagged fish. 

When you catch a trout on the Owyhee, please look for a yellow floy-tag attached to the dorsal fin (tags from last year will be covered in algae and harder to spot).   Please note that the floy tags also have a phone number on them (833-273-7923). Please DO NOT report the phone number as the tag number.  To be safe, take a photo of BOTH sides of the tag and report the tag number to ODFW at https://myodfw.com/tagteam.  Here is a photo of a tagged brown trout shared by Matt Housel from VICE outdoors. Note the floy tag number “11531”.

BVFF is very excited about the initial results of ODFW’s brown trout relocation project, and we think it’s a great way to get some adult brown trout downstream where they can take advantage of the new gravel BVFF added last Fall!

Projects like these take time and effort and BVFF would like to thank Dave Banks and Kirk Handley for their continued efforts and support of BVFF projects. Here are two posters that ODFW Fish Biologist Kirk Handley helped BVFF make for our January Fly Fishing Expo.