Free fishing weekend in Oregon will be celebrated June 4 and 5.

No license or tags are required, although all angling and shellfish regulations remain in force.

"Free" includes a weekend waiver for shellfish and both the Columbia Basin endorsement and the two-rod permit. So yes, an unlicensed angler can fish two rods for either or both days in waters where it's legal - typically ponds and lakes and the entire Willamette, Tillamook and Nestucca river systems.

Washington's free-fishing weekend is June 11-12, on the first weekend after the first Monday in June. As with Oregon, no licenses are required, but participants who want to fish for salmon, steelhead and/or sturgeon or go crabbing must obtain a free catch record card. Washington also waives the two-rod and Columbia River endorsements.)

Free-fishing weekend in Oregon coincides with Oregon State Parks Day, with free camping and day-use on Saturday, June 4.

To whet anglers' appetites, Oregon offers a statewide slate of hosted events . Most are scheduled Saturday, on waters freshly stocked with trout, featuring volunteers and employees of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to help non-anglers go fishing. Tackle and bait also are typically provided.

Nearest to Portland are Benson Lake (Multnomah Falls) and St. Louis Ponds (south of Woodburn). Clubs and organizations also host events at popular fishing holes such as Hagg Lake and Small Fry Lake near North Fork Reservoir.

Cheers: To the owners of To the owners of Olympia Seafood Co. in Olympia, who recently invested more than $900 in a single large Copper River salmon and quickly sold out of the high-priced slices.

They also sold taste-test kits consisting of unlabeled (to participants) Copper River chinook salmon, Taku chinook (an Alaska/B.C. tributary) and Columbia River spring chinook. Purchasers were asked to rate the quality of the fish - the worldwide hyped Copper River; relatively well-advertised Taku and less-known Columbia spring.

Results were announced this past week: Columbia spring chinook, the "least expensive" of the three, narrowly edged Taku chinook as the best-tasting (one reviewer lovingly labeled the springer "oily."). Copper River chinook came in a distant third.

Bounty on the Bay: Tillamook's annual spring chinook fund-raiser is June 3-4, sponsored by the Tillamook Estuaries Partnership. Guided and non-guided fishing are available or dinner only for the banquet, keynoted by Jim Martin, retired fisheries chief for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Information at tbnep.org , email to: bounty@tbnep.org , or call 503-322-2222.