Salmon on the Sandy river

[kentsboots]

Anyone know of any decent fishing holes on the Sandy river ? I live in Troutdale and its pretty much right up the road . I plan to go check it out a bit closer too , just thought id ask .

How often and what time of year are they running through ? Just twice a year ? spring and fall ?

 

[ArcticAmoeba]

There are almost always fish in the Sandy and Clackamas Rivers, and only a short window where you don't get to fish. The Coho are going to be on the move comin up here, in the next few weeks, but Chinook will open the 1st of Sept. so get ready for that. As far as the Sandy goes, I normally fish out of the Cedar Creek hatchery, which fishes pretty well most days the fish are on. And from there, you can get to one hole...The Slaughter Hole. The Burn Barrell, and the Deep Hole are all O.K. too, just have not nailed near as many fish as I have put away at Cedar Creek..It has been a few years since I really had a good day to fish there, maybe I'll go back this fall. Oxbow Park, and Lewis & Clark Park are both pretty close to your place, check those two place at least. Check out Dabney Boat Ramp, Dodge Park, and the Stark St. Bridge if in a little closer to town...All are excellent bank spots.

 

[kentsboots]

sounds good , ill go check out the stark street bridge , then I guess ill just park up furhter and walk the shore and look for deep holes . Someone once told me to park and walk down by the job corps , right where the big dragon statue is , maybe ill try see what that looks like there too . If i find somthing good in the next few weeks Ill report back

 

[kentsboots]

And you mentioned "chinook will open the 1st of september" I thought they were ok year round ?

 

[ArcticAmoeba]

Oregon is one of those place where you can fish for sea runners almost every month, but only for certain species. Chinook get closed down for a while on the tribs of the Willy, and Columbia, but it really sucks on the Columbia when they only open it for 2 weeks! At least the Clack is my home. Steelhead are still in the rivers, but just not very many of 'em right at the momoent, but this should get better, pretty much starting today. As the tides really pump up , and push fish past B10, and into our baits...

 

[FishSchooler]

This years steelhead run sucks compared to the others... it is around a 3000 average a day right now... Last year it was way up in the 7000-10000, peakin at 11000.

 

[FishFinger]

you might want to consider getting to know Dodge Park, the bridge drift, and also the streach of deep pools about 1/4 mile upstream.

 

[ArcticAmoeba]

Was out doing some bids for a customer today, and the section above Dodge Park, with a bunch of holes in a row, was holding today...a lot of fish...Fished the Clack today, to no avail, minus another wild Steelhead. Getting tired of wild fish here, as I have actually hooked more now, than hatchery fish! What is the deal? But if I had a rod with me this morning, there would have been dinner on the barbee, but not tonight. Maybe see you on Sunday. I plan on fishing the mouth, and up a little ways, but mostly working low, low, as not a lot of fish have moved past Dodge I have heard...

 

[FishFinger]

Well you know.... If they don't happen to finclip "all" the fish, bonus for fish habitat; more natives....

How did the water look? Thick?

 

[ArcticAmoeba]

Not only could I see a few movers in the Clack, but it looked just green enough, and had that smell...You know what I mean. That fish catchin smell. Sandy I know was like Nesquik for a while, and then cleared up recently, but from the private property I was on, it looked a little thick. On the turbid side, for sure, not real bad though... but the one guy who drifted by in a crappy 10 foot skiff, and a 5 horse kicker for power had a bunch of drive by's, and the take downs he was on top of, he said he nailed 'em. 2 real big (9ish lbs.) chrome bright Steelhead. So I hope this is good news for later on...

 

[tnffishman]

i hav never fished the sandy, but know that it has a lot more fish than eagle creek, where i fish a lot. if anyone could giv me some info on dodge park, or other areas where there might be a good chance of fishing this time of year

 

[kentsboots]

So before i head out in the morning ...

I can keep anything that is clipped , at lesat 15 inches in length ?

chinook and steelhead are open year round , and coho are only after Aug 1st to Oct 31st ...

I keep seeing some missleading comments about not being able to keep chinook yet ... But haveing been through the regulations a few times it looks like its ok to keep Chinook , steelhead and coho right now .... ?


anyone able to clarify for me by the morning ? just want to make sure i dont go out and make a mistake ray:

 

[FishFinger]

Here are the offical regs for the Sandy 2008

*Open for adipose fin-clipped steelhead entire year.
*Open for adipose fin-clipped Chinook salmon Feb. 1-Oct. 31.
*Open for adipose fin-clipped coho salmon Aug. 1-Oct. 31.
*Closed to angling from yellow painted rock or cable upstream approximately 200 feet to Marmot Dam.
*Closed within 200 feet of Chinook salmon spawning areas located in Oxbow Park where posted by ODFW markers Sept. 16-Nov. 15.
*No angling from a floating device upstream from a point that is 200 feet below the Oxbow Park boat ramp.
*Use of bait allowed.

The Sandy in general:
The water is still toiled. The silt from the Marmot removal settles out when the river is static. Changes in the flow volume re-suspend the material creating turbitidy far worse than I have seen this time of year.

Todays rain may well knock the river out of shape for 48 to 72 hours.

If you wade in the river you will see what I am refering to.

The fishing has been a bit slow recently, I hope it is mearly the calm before the fish storm.

Will the suspended debris effect the fish once they enter the system.... your guess is as good as mine.

These pict were taken at Dodge park. The tan coloured material is the silt at the present waterline. Tons and tons of silt remain on the bank from earlier high water events.

 

[kentsboots]

SO i started my day Dabney park , since i didn't see any way to park near the stark street bridge without being next to a NO parking sign . I just parked in dabney and threw in along there where it wasn't too swift ... no luck , then I was off to Dodge park for about 2 hours , two others where there too ... nothing . Then I made my way up to Eagle fern and walked all along the water fromt eh park up to the bridge ... nothing all day ...

 

[kentsboots]

I did manage to reel in an old spinner someone had lost and i had another line reeled in too , but i lost the lure when i was yanking it in :clap:


Two questions , Bonnie Lure state park ... I went to check it out and drove across the road from the 211 - 224 junction , and crossed the bridge and parked off to the right , I saw the sign and walked right to the water . there was signs all over the bridge stating NOT to cross to the other side , and there was a house right across the water from my side ... Anyone fish from right where i was at right over the bridge ? do the residents there give you a hard time for it ? As far as i could tell i was in an ok spot , cause the sign on my side said Bonnie Lure State Park ... I went up the road furhter , but didn't see an acual park so it was weird , maybe i didn't go far enough ?

And McIver Park , i have only been there once and not to fish , but I was parked by the boat launch , right by some decent rapids . Should i head up stream past the rapids to fish , or head down stream for better fishing ?


Somthimes my time is limited and i can't go explore all over so I figure id ask the experts

 

[ArcticAmoeba]

As far as the Clack goes, those boat ramps are bot good spots to start your fish targeting expeditions...The lower one has Dog Creek, and a few decent drifts above and below the launch. The upper is my favorite to throw bait and terminal, and lower I normally drift fish a newly setup fly rod. You can only move up really, from the upper launch, and it has two holes wadeable from the gague @ the launch. Then theres the Dam Hole, at the River Mill ladder intake deadline. Real productive on the right day, even if fished unusually crappily, like a lot of the guys out there seem to do...:think: The spot you were at on Eagle Creek is fishable, and don't worry what anyone says to you about fishing it. You are completely legal, that is all that matters. It gets so crowded for the Coho fishery. Insane...It is sad that so many fish get illegitimately taken from there, and Eagle Fern too. Do your part to report it, the least we can do to improve the fishery...

 

[FishFinger]

Funny stuff, I also made the run up the Clack on Sunday; to get to know an old friend persay. Parking is a premium, it must be insane when the action picks up.

The Clack was beautiful @ the mouth. I made the hike as well but didn't wear my waders. Rather than fish the shallow waters I took a seat and enjoyed the view.

I am looking forward to getting to know the Clack again...

 

[kentsboots]

The third picture with the bridge is right where i was at , so thats good . But where the others taken at the same place , just up the river ? or was that somewhere else all together ?

 

[FishFinger]

Sorry I didn't provide specifics for the picts.... It was like a 4:00 post and well.... That's my excuse.

1) Is at the end of Eagle Creek, at the hatchery. I didn't attempt to prove or disprove if the power was actually on...

2) The signage @ Bonnie Lure Park. One good thing, no firearms ban; they got that one right.

3) The bridge: I was going to ask if this is the bridge where the troll who hassled Boots lives. I didn't see any excrement on the trail, but I did spy a pair of crusty undies that perhaps belonged to him.... Those are them on the bank

4) This one is sweet.... As you walk down the trail towards the clack, this is one of the "bigger" holes I found Eagle Cr. The trail dumps out on it, I am sure it gets a lot of attention when "fish are in"

5) The upper or eastern confluence of Eagle Cr. & the Clackamas R. I didn't have my waiders on so I didn't explore further, but I wish I had.

It was so beautiful.

In all my years I had never seen Eagle Creek, heard stories about the insanity that occurs there but never fished it.

 

[FishFinger]

i hav never fished the sandy, but know that it has a lot more fish than eagle creek, where i fish a lot. if anyone could giv me some info on dodge park, or other areas where there might be a good chance of fishing this time of year

Run a search with the key word "Sandy" and you'll find a wealth on info regarding spots that provide public access.

Dodge park is a great choice, however the fish haven't reached it in any real numbers yet and the over all condition of the Sandy is turbid.

If we keep getting rain showers it may not settle out at all. The fish will still migrate upriver but plugged gills and lack of visibility might make catchin' them more of a challenge.

We shall soon see...