Spring steelhead run/regulations?

T
terribleturbine
Hey Folks,

Last year I picked up fishing again for the first time since I was a kid and have had a blast, caught a bunch of rainbow trout last year and enjoyed it. I want to step it up to Steelhead now, I like bank fishing for the time being.

I'm still doing research on setups, looks like I should be float fishing with a jig set up to be just off the bottom, I'll continue to research and try. I'll be mostly going hitting the Sandy and Clackamas rivers (I have the Columbia River Basin Endorsement) I also know how to identify the hatcher fish (no adipose fin)

If I go fishing in either of those rivers right now, am I going to be catching (or not catching) Summer or Winter run steelhead? and can you distinguish them by looking at them, or are they physically the same?

I'll be sure to post photos if I catch anything!
 
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scched
scched
Hi Terrible - you will be catching winter steelhead right now through April.

Summer run will start to flow in typically in May and keep coming in through the fall. These fish stay in the river till spawning time, so if you catch a steelie May-November, likely will be a summer fish. Good luck!
 
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C
cchinook
terribleturbine said:
Hey Folks,

Last year I picked up fishing again for the first time since I was a kid and have had a blast, caught a bunch of rainbow trout last year and enjoyed it. I want to step it up to Steelhead now, I like bank fishing for the time being.

I'm still doing research on setups, looks like I should be float fishing with a jig set up to be just off the bottom, I'll continue to research and try. I'll be mostly going hitting the Sandy and Clackamas rivers (I have the Columbia River Basin Endorsement) I also know how to identify the hatcher fish (no adipose fin)

If I go fishing in either of those rivers right now, am I going to be catching (or not catching) Summer or Winter run steelhead? and can you distinguish them by looking at them, or are they physically the same?

I'll be sure to post photos if I catch anything!
I would not get to obsessed with steelhead . Springers will be in the Sandy end of May , coho end of Aug.
Spinners and jigging , bobber and eggs also. Oxbow and Dodge Park. Early coho can be found in the lower Sandy at
Glenn Otto Park by the Troutdale bridge , walk upstream. Due to the usual incompetence at the Sandy hatchery the steelhead runs have been a disaster .
 
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