River levels best for fishing are at or below 3,000 cfs, and the river is currently running at around 6,800 cfs at the gauge in Mehama. ‌

With the arrival of the first summer steelhead and Spring chinook of the season the fishing is beginning to heat up. Summer steelhead have started to enter the river and over 300 have already made it passed the Stayton area. So far, they have counted 3,000 adults passing above Willamette Falls as of May 1.‌

Spring chinook numbers will begin to increase dramatically in the next couple of weeks but their arrival in the basin is still a few weeks away. About 2,500 have migrated above Willamette Falls so far. Now that we are passed April 22 the bait restrictions on the river have been lifted and bait is again allowed. For the next week or two the lower river will have more fish until the bulk of the run arrives and pushes more fish into the upper sections.