Lower Willamette River Fishing Report and Forecast

Spring Chinook forecast is out, you won’t be impressed

Lower Willamette River Fishing Report – There’s really been nothing to fish for on the mainstem Willamette. With coho and steelhead numbers low, there’s really not much to write about, let alone fish for. Maybe the big news is the 2025 Willamette River spring Chinook (and Columbia) forecasts, hot off the press. We’ll cover that in the “Forecast” section, for obvious reasons.

But let’s not overlook the possibility for Meldrum Bar steelhead. Of course for there to be Meldrum Bar steelhead around, there should be Clackamas River steelhead around, or at least Willamette River steelhead, but both systems seem to be a bit shy of that resource right now.

It’s early for hatchery winter steelhead and this week wasn’t all the conducive to plunking success. With lower and clearer water, steelhead aren’t traveling all that close to shore, where plunkers have better access to them. That should change over the weekend however. Even though prospects improve for plunkers, it’s still early so it’ll still be like finding a needle in a haystack, except harder. That should switch around however, later in January though.

The Guide’s Forecast – It’s always an exciting time of year, the 2025 forecasts come out for spring and summer Chinook, as well as sockeye. Here’s the predictions, hot off the press from WDF&W and ODF&W.

Predictions are up slightly from last year, but does anyone actually have any confidence in the Willamette River prediction? I know I don’t.

Furthermore, I was venting to another angler about the fact that given the spring spill on the Columbia, the Willamette fishery is useless for more than one reason. It used to be that earlier returning 5-year olds made up a larger portion of the run. Not such the case any longer. The bulk of the returns are now smaller 4-year olds, which return later in April, during peak run-off from the Columbia. With the Willamette backing up with no flow during the time, the bite nose-dives. That is the situation we face these days, seems like a colossal waste of a prime resource.

Now that I’m off that soapbox, is there anything else to report on? Meldrum Bar plunkers have steelhead on the mind but a rising river and crappy weather won’t have too many excited about weekend prospects. We’re headed for a rise Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and it’ll be a day or two later before it starts to drop and improve prospects. It won’t be long before the first beauty is harvested there, I’m just sure it won’t be this weekend. Maybe by the middle of next week.

Well, sturgeon fishing remains an option but so few are motivated to participate in the winter fishery that we don’t really know how good or bad it is. It used to be good and there’s nothing to make me believe that much has changed here. Even if it was good, the draw isn’t all that much without a consumptive option on the table. None-the-less, it could be a good program with a good propane heater and a boat cover.