Utah Fish Report
Willamette River Fish Report for 3-26-2025


Poor river conditions last week and not much effort

Willamette River - Portland, OR (Lane County)


by OR Department of Fish & Wildlife Staff
3-26-2025
Website

Poor river conditions last week and not much effort.

Preliminary estimates for Week of March 17-23.

  • Boats: 200 anglers - Chinook 0 kept, 0 released - Steelhead 0 kept, 0 released
  • Bank: 160 anglers - Chinook 0 kept 0 released - Steelhead 3 kept , 2 released

See summaries for more details.

River conditions and fish counts:

The Willamette often gets overlooked because it is so close. But this river offers convenience, fairly good access and variety.

The river is ideal for small boats such as canoes and kayaks, but there are enough public access points for bank anglers as well. Consult Oregon Parks and Recreation Department for specific locations.

The upstream section between Albany and Harrisburg is open year-round for trout fishing, which can be very good when flows are cooperating. Look for deep slot pools and the tail-end of long riffles and the head of pools where the fish are likely stacked up in feeding lanes.

Smallmouth bass can be a lot of fun to catch and are plentiful between Salem and Corvallis during the spring and summer. Trout prefer the cooler temperatures upstream of Corvallis. From Salem downstream there are plenty of largemouth bass in the deeper, quieter sections




More Reports

OR Department of Fish & Wildlife Reports
for Wednesday, March 26th

Imnaha River: Steelhead fishing has been good recently.
Wallowa River: Steelhead are still moving upstream to the hatcheries and are available to anglers
Bikini Pond: Stocked Recently
Fall River: Fly-anglers continue to report good and consistent fishing in the Fall River
Hood River: Hood River flows spiked up quite a bit over this weekend
Pine Hollow Reservoir: Stocked Recently
Taylor Lake: Stocked Recently
Alton Baker Canoe Canal: Stocked the week of March 17
Blue River Reservoir: Was stocked the week of March 10
Dexter Reservoir: Stocked Recently
Fall Creek Reservoir: Was stocked the week of March 17
Junction City Pond: This pond will be stocked again this week
Quartzville Creek: Flows are currently around 2,000 cfs
Row River Pond: Will be stocked the week of March 24
Santiam River ( North Fork) : The river is currently running at around 7,000 cfs at the gage in Mehama
Santiam River (South Fork): Flows are currently above 8,000 cfs at the gage in Waterloo

OR Department of Fish & Wildlife Reports
for Wednesday, March 19th

Fern Ridge Reservoir: There is good bank access
Freeway Lake East: The lake was stocked recently with 500 hatchery trout
Green Peter Reservoir: The water level in the reservoir is slowly increasing
Quartzville Creek: Flows are currently around 1,200 cfs
Santiam River ( North Fork) : The river is currently running at about 3,500 cfs at the gage in Mehama
Santiam River (South Fork): Flows are at 6,400 cfs at the gage in Waterloo
Walter Wirth Lake: Will be stocked this week
Waverly Lake: Will be stocked this week
Alsea River: Steelhead fishing continues to be fair on the Alsea River
Kilchis River: The Kilchis River is in decent shape and there should be fish throughout the system
Necanicum River: The Necanicum River is in decent shape and there should be fish throughout the system
Nehalem River: Winter steelhead fishing on the Nehalem mainstem was fair the end of last week
Nehalem River- North Fork: Hopefully the rain this weekend will also bring another push of fish
Nestucca River: The Nestucca is just dropping into prime shape and anglers can expect fair to good steelhead fishing
Salmon River: Winter steelhead continues to be fair on the Salmon River
Siletz River: Winter steelhead slowed down a bit on the Siletz
Siuslaw River: The Siuslaw has been producing a decent run with good angler success
Three Rivers: Three Rivers had some fair steelhead fishing this past week
Trask River: Steelhead fishing on the Trask has been slow to fair this week
Wilson River: Winter steelhead fishing on the Wilson picked up a little early this week
Agate Lake: Agate Lake is now 100 percent full
Applegate Reservoir: Trout should be widely distributed throughout the reservoir
Applegate River: In the last few weeks we've gotten reports of folks catching steelhead upstream of Cantrall Buckley County
Cooper Creek Reservoir: The reservoir was stocked with 2,500 larger-size rainbow trout in early February
Elk River: High water has kept anglers off the river, but flows look to be dropping and maybe clearing
Emigrant Reservoir: Emigrant is currently 87 percent full
Expo Pond: Expo Pond Report
Fish Lake : Fish Lake is at67 percent full
Galesville Reservoir: The reservoir should be close to full pool now with all the recent rainfall
Howard Prairie Reservoir: Howard Prairie is 64 percent full and rising
Hyatt Lake: Hyatt is currently 65 percent full and rising with open water
Illinois River: Flows on the Illinois are dropping, but still very high
Lake Marie: Lake Marie is a good spot for a quiet fishing experience
Lake Selmac: There should be plenty around for anglers to enjoy
Lost Creek Reservoir: Trout can be caught at a variety of depths from the surface down to about 50 feet
Plat I Reservoir: Fish will be spread throughout, fishing is slow
Rogue River- Lower: The river has been running very high and muddy
Rogue River - Middle: Flows in Grants Pass is around 13,000 cfs
Rogue River- Upper: There are currently trout and steelhead available in this section of the Rogue
Smith River: Winter steelhead fishing will be slow because of high water and dirty conditions
Umpqua River: Fishing will be slow until the river levels reside, and water conditions clear up
Umpqua River- North : Winter steelhead angling is starting to whine down
Umpqua River- South : Anglers are catching steelhead throughout the river
Willow Lake: Warming weather and inflow have filled the reservoir to 100 percent
Winchuck River: Anglers should get an opportunity to fish before the end of the season