Fishing is generally best when flows are below 3,000 cfs. Currently flows are around 4,600 cfs at the Waterloo gauge as of May 2. Winter steelhead numbers are improving but are still low. Anglers can tell winter steelhead from hatchery summer steelhead by their intact adipose fin. Take care to release any wild fish unharmed. Hatchery chinook should begin arriving in good numbers by mid-May.

About 150 summer steelhead have already crossed into the upper Willamette Basin at Willamette Falls, hopefully the forerunners of many more. Peak fishing for them is between May and July.

Anglers are reminded that only fin-clipped trout may be kept.