Oregon has steelhead in some river in every month of the year, and its own wildlife agency publishes a river by river account of when. The coastal rivers and the Columbia tributaries behave like two different states.
Seasons, limits and licence rules are set by your state agency.
Each bar below spans January to December, with today marked, and draws the quoted sentence underneath it. Where an agency describes a run by season rather than by month, the card carries the sentence without a bar.
Up the Willamette, the Sandy, the Clackamas and the Rogue while the water is still high with snowmelt.
The migration from the ocean to their spawning grounds begins in April through July, with peak migration occurring in May.
The big coastal run. Oregon fish and wildlife staff put peak spawning in the Coos system in mid November and in the Rogue Valley from early October into January.
Fall Chinook spawn late October through mid-December with peak spawning in mid-November.
Later than the Chinook on the same rivers. In the Coquille system the state puts the spawning peak as late as early January.
Coho salmon spawn in late November through early December.
Every steelhead returning to a river east of the Cascades is one of these. So are the Rogue and North Umpqua summer fish.
Summer-run steelhead return to freshwater between May and October and require several months to mature and spawn.
The coastal run. On the Alsea and the Siuslaw the state notes the fishery peaking between mid January and March.
Winter-run steelhead return to freshwater between November and April and spawn shortly thereafter.
| River | Water temp | Flow | Measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia Riverat The Dalles | Loading | Loading | |
| Willamette Riverat Portland | Loading | Loading | |
| Clackamas Riverat Estacada | Loading | Loading | |
| Sandy Riverbelow Bull Run River | Loading | Loading | |
| Deschutes Riverat Moody, near Biggs | Loading | Loading | |
| Rogue Riverat Grants Pass | Loading | Loading | |
| Rogue Rivernear Agness | Loading | Loading | |
| Umpqua Rivernear Elkton | Loading | Loading | |
| Alsea Rivernear Tidewater | Loading | Loading | |
| Nestucca Rivernear Beaver | Loading | Loading | |
| Chetco Rivernear Brookings | Loading | Loading |
Source: USGS Water Services (National Water Information System). Instantaneous values service. U.S. Geological Survey data are works of the United States Government and are in the public domain. Gauge list verified 2026-08-24.
Oregon publishes a month by month steelhead run timing table covering more than thirty rivers. These are its entries for the rivers this page carries a live gauge on, with the state’s own notes where it added one. Summer and winter refer to the run, not to when you can fish: this is timing, not a season.
| River | Run | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Columbia River, lower | Summer steelhead | May through August |
| Willamette River, lower | Both runs | Winter November through March, summer April through June. The state notes the season peaking December to February |
| Clackamas River | Both runs | Winter November through May, summer June through October. The state notes peaks in January and March |
| Sandy River | Both runs | Winter December through April, summer May through August |
| Deschutes River | Summer steelhead | June through November |
| Rogue River | Both runs | Winter December through April, summer July through November |
| Umpqua River, North Fork | Both runs | Winter December through April, summer May through November |
| Umpqua River, South Fork | Winter steelhead | December through April |
| Alsea River | Winter steelhead | December through March. The state notes it typically peaks mid January to mid February |
| Nestucca River | Both runs | Every month of the year. The state’s note reads simply: steelhead available year-round |
| Chetco River | Winter steelhead | December through March |
Source: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, How to fish for steelhead. Seasons and limits are set by the agency.
Oregon publishes something no other state does: a table of run timing month by month for more than thirty named steelhead rivers. It shows the Nestucca, the Trask and the Wilson carrying steelhead in every month of the year, the Deschutes and the McKenzie as summer rivers only, and the Coos, the Coquille and the Chetco as pure winter fisheries. It is worth reading in full at the source rather than in summary here.
As their name suggests, summer steelhead begin migrating to their natal streams as early as March in some streams near the coast, and as late as October/November in some rivers in eastern Oregon.
Fish passage counts are published by the programmes that run the counting stations, linked below with what each one reports.
Run windows on this page are quoted from the agency named beside each one. River conditions come from the U.S. Geological Survey and are readings, not forecasts and not fish counts. Fishing seasons, bag limits, gear rules and licence requirements for Oregon are set by the agency linked here, and a run window is not an open season. For rules, see Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. National picture: every state with a salmon or steelhead run →
Hero image: “The Rogue River below William L. Jess Dam and Lost Creek Lake in Jackson County, Oregon” — Bill Johnson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — Public Domain