Steelhead are one of the favorite fish to catch in Oregon and Washington. These ocean-going rainbow trout are hard fighters and can be found in local rivers nearly year-round.
In most of this region’s rivers, anglers looking to harvest steelhead must catch a clipped and healed adipose or other clipped fin that marks them as a hatchery-bred fish.
The Columbia River and its tributaries boast some of the largest steelhead runs in the Northwest, featuring both summer and winter migrations.
Summer steelhead are frequently captured from anchored boats and sandy shores along the lower Columbia River and at the confluences of significant tributaries. This fishery is the one I typically guide when targeting steelhead.
The Sandy River, located on the east side of Portland, and the Cowlitz River, near Longview and Kelso, are among the top steelhead tributaries in the local area. Additionally, there are numerous others extending far into the Columbia River Gorge.
Columbia River Steelhead
Numerous summer steelhead also migrate into the Willamette River. While few are caught in the lower Willamette, except near the Clackamas River mouth, anglers frequent the waters of the Clackamas and valley tributaries such as the Santiam, McKenzie, and Middle Fork Willamette rivers. The numbers of summer steelhead in the Willamette appear to have recovered in 2024 following several disappointing seasons.
Summer steelhead can also be caught in coastal streams. On the North Coast of Oregon, the Wilson and Nestucca rivers are planted with young summer steelhead that return each spring and summer.
Winter steelhead are also a popular quarry in Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington, where the smaller rivers and streams provide better winter action than the main Columbia River.
In Oregon, the Sandy and Clackamas are popular winter steelhead rivers near Portland. On the Oregon Coast, the Wilson, Nestucca, North Fork Nehalem, and several smaller streams all have hatchery-reared winter steelhead.
In Southwest Washington, the Cowlitz and Lewis rivers are top prospects for both winter and summer steelhead, with several smaller streams also productive at times.
All Pacific Northwest steelhead are rainbow trout that live most of their lives in the Pacific Ocean, where they grow larger and stronger than any trout you can catch in a lake.
In the Columbia River, I will use a variety of lures and baits to entice these fish to bite during the summer run. These steelhead are more active and often a bit bigger than their cold winter brothers.
Summer steelhead range from five to twenty pounds, with some even larger than that. They like to make long, peeling runs and acrobatic leaps from the water, which makes steelhead such a great fight on lightweight tackle.
At Marvin’s Guide Service, we fish for summer steelhead from June through September. We often fish throughout the Columbia River from Portland to Hood River. Be sure to bring your camera: The scenery is amazing.
