2026 Winter Steelhead Roundup

North Coast

Steelhead are making a good early showing. Big Creek Hatchery in Astoria is seeing a large return with 1500 fish already returned to the hatchery—enough to release 500 back to fishery and transport 120 steelhead to Coffenbury Lake last week, so have at them! Decent numbers are also showing in other streams with early hatchery returns like North Fork Nehalem, Necanicum, and lower Columbia tributaries. There are reports of some fish caught in the Tillamook and Nestucca basins also.

This year's strong coho returns might indicate good conditions for steelhead of the same age class. Fishery managers also report strong returns last year of younger steelhead which could indicate good numbers of older fish this year.

For those who want to retain fish, the North Fork Nehalem, Necanicum, Big Creek, Gnat Creek, and North Fork Klaskanine have early returning hatchery steelhead available through January. The Wilson and Nestucca and NF Nehalem have wild broodstock programs with later returning hatchery fish available January to early April. Wild fish mirror the later return timing, also peaking in Feb and march for catch-and-release opportunity.

Anglers may want to research the new Weyerhaeuser access program on the NF Nehalem which will give permit holders more space to chase hatchery steelhead below Nehalem Hatchery.

Mid Coast

Some winter steelhead were caught on the Siletz and Alsea by coho anglers are early as mid-November. High water events have only helped draw more steel into mid-coast streams since.

Forecasting steelhead is tricky, but last year's high returns of 1-salt fish are an encouraging sign that a strong contingent of 2-salt steelhead is headed to home rivers.

Early returning hatchery adults are already available in the Alsea River. Later returning wild broodstock and hatchery steelhead will be available thru mid-April in the Siletz, Alsea, and Siuslaw. Angling opportunity for wild steelhead exists in the Salmon River near Lincoln City and in many of the smaller direct ocean tributaries from Newport to Florence through March.

Coos-Coquille

Steelhead fishing started off slow but reports of early returning 2-salt hatchery steelhead on Tenmile Creek are a good indication. Check out Spinreel Park for fishing access. Look for better hatchery returns in the West Fork Millicoma River rather than the East Fork Millicoma and South Fork Coos rivers. The Millicoma Interpretive Center (Millicoma Hatchery) and scout camp is a good spot to focus on as well as upstream in the Elliott State Forest.

Expectations for a better hatchery run favor the North Fork Coquille River in the Coquille Basin compared to the South Fork Coquille, and anglers should look for opportunities at Laverne Park with good boating access from Beaver Creek to just upstream of Broadbent.

South Coast

Steelhead are being caught on the south coast, though the bulk of the season is still ahead.

Throughout the coast, angling success depends on river conditions.  Fishing often gets better after the first few winter rainstorms come through and push fish further into coastal streams.  The best fishing is when streams have good winter flow with some color. It's better to avoid low/clear or high/flooded/muddy conditions.  Often this means targeting the times right around a rainstorm as the river starts to rise or just after it crests and starts to drop.  In the event of high and off-color water, anglers are encouraged to consider plunking on the large gravel bars on both the Rogue and Chetco rivers. Check out the Elk River Hatchery for good bank access to the Elk River. The Pistol, Sixes and Winchuck rivers offer less bank access but are good opportunities for driftboat fishing.

For the Rogue and South Coast areas including the Sixes River south to the Winchuck River, anglers are reminded to pick up their Rogue South Coast Steelhead Validation from any license vendor. The validation allows steelhead angling in the Rogue-South Coast Area (see page 35 in the 2025 or 2026 regulation book).  Anglers interested in harvesting wild steelhead will also need to purchase the Rogue-South Coast wild steelhead harvest tag.  The validation and tag are valid from December 1, 2025-April 30, 2026. However, anglers should check regulations for each stream in the zone as some seasons are not for this full duration. 

There are two limited, but consistent hatchery programs on the south coast for the Rogue and Chetco Rivers.  Anglers interested in harvesting only hatchery steelhead will still need the steelhead validation but don't need the wild steelhead tag; they can use their regular combined angling tag or their hatchery harvest tag.