Silverblade

I have a cousin coming in from Maryland this summer (I think, he's talking about it anyway). He fishes brown trout somewhere back there frequently and has gotten into fly fishing and tieing his own.
Anyhow if one were going to pick a stream for fly fishing summer steelies in NW Oregon which stream would be best? I spin fish, so don't really know much about fly fishing - maybe the same streams work for both - don't really know!
I'm tempted to just get him over to the Deschutes or Metolius but may not have the time - probably can't go further than perhaps the Sandy to maybe Nestucca.

osmosis

deschutes would work.
my top 5 would be:
1)Clackamas (no later than june, and start again sept/oct for coho)
2)Eagle creek (same as above)
3) sandy (all summer has steel and chinook all year)
4 SF santiam. chinook all year, steelhead all summer from now till october)
5) nestucca (steel may to november, chinook all year)

all of those will work for both fly and spin fishing.

If you could tell me which month you are planning, I could check my journal for you and suggest a river I've caugh fish in during that month.

Silverblade

Probably July, early in the month I'd expect. I know the coastal rivers best (Nehalem down to Nestucca) - my main question is on fly fishing specifically - I've never done it and don't know if the same kind of water you'd spin fish in is good or not. Maybe a wider river that tends to be shallower is better for example, as opposed to the coastal rivers that usually have shallow water rapids followed by fairly deep areas. Wish I could take him down to the Umpqua, never fished it but boy is it a lovely river in the upper stretches!

osmosis

depends what you're doing with the spinning rod . fish the same water you would drift fish.
you should fish the fly rod alot like you're drift fishing until you get the hang of it.
Use a split shot or two, and your favorite fly or egg pattern, or bait for that matter.
You'll want to find a travel lane and get your gear into their faces.

Coastal streams are just as good as the more flat and calm ones, and actually may be better since the fish will push up rapid sections and find holding water to get a Breather in.
You don't really want a wide river, it just makes for too many travel lanes to cover effectively.

in june you have options:
Big creek
deschutes
klaskanine
mckenzie
nehalem
nestucca
north umpqua
rogue
sandy
santiam s fork
siletz
umpqua
wilson
All of those rivers have fish in early july