The Sandy River has awoken optimism, but veterans remain skeptical that gangbuster fishing is on the horizon. None-the-less, peak season is underway here too and catches should peak in the coming weeks. Sandy River levels look like they’ll remain stable for weekend fishing, but cool temperatures will continue to challenge early morning steelheaders for the foreseeable future. The best fishing on the Sandy will remain downstream of Cedar Creek, with the hole at the base of the hatchery a great interception point. Pro guide Jeff Stoeger reports “Well, this week started off with some positive news. The winter steelheading has picked up over the last few days. I heard of fish being caught from Dodge Park to Lewis and Clark Park. I’ve had a couple of buddies fish in Oxbow Park and each one caught fish on floats, jigs and worms. The river has been dropping because the freezing level has been below 1000ft. The weather forecast is for more rain and dumping tons of snow on Hood. They are predicting that we should have 100 percent of snow fall by the weekend. The river has been holding just over 9ft for most of the week and will drop during the night as temp drops. I fished Monday and we went 3 for 4, and we put two in the box for brood stock 13 lbs,15 lbs and one hatchery that went about 6.5 lbs.”

With permission from The Guide’s Forecast, we will be providing the Oregon Fishing Reports for the Sandy River watershed. You can see more of Jeff’s report and an upcoming forecast for the Sandy River and Northwest Oregon by reading the Oregon Fishing Reports found at The Guides’ Forecast.