Hello everyone,

First post here, brief introduction. I'm very fresh to steelhead stalking as going on almost a year now. Fished last summer with zero bights. Managed to land a few native bucks at Alsea this winter and was very rewarding. I'm definately hooked on the adventure of these elusive fish, it's a blast!

I live in Salem and fish the north santiam most often because it's close. I went out early in May a couple times and managed to hook into one steel, didn't land but a fun fight. I went last week as well and still very little sign of fish. Is it still early for summer steels even at closer fish sites such as North Santiam park and John Neal memorial? Is anyone familiar with fishing North Santiam very often? When the water hits a certain temperature, will the fish start showing up more?

The days I have gone have been fair-good water levels and clarity. I usually drift eggs or float trout beads, pink worms or jigs. I've heard the (but do not know where to read) fish count for steelhead is low, according to williamette falls. Is this correct? Will this have an effect on all steelhead on both the north and south Santiam?

Sorry, one more question. For salmon fishing, are springers still around or winding down? My friend who helped me get into steels and provided my begining knowlede never fishes for salmon, thus I don't know much of anything about bank fishing areas for Salmon.

Any help would be great! Thanks and look forward to hangin out in the forums ha!

Hey guy, I fish the N santiam quite often during spring, but mostly for spring salmon and i fish the Siletz for steel. And things around there are just now starting to pick up, and I wouldnt say by any means it has peaked yet. Go to the ODFW website to find the fish counts. and a general rule that I use is about 21 days from Willamette falls to mill city is what I was told, and 14 days from the falls to the Waterloo park on the South Santiam. But you have to remember that just a fraction of the fish over the falls are headed to the N santiam. There are several good salmon fishing holes on the N santiam, the one in Mill city under the bridge gets a lot of attention, and for good reason, theres also a good hole in the little town of Gates just above mill city that holds fish. I know of a few salmon being pulled from the hole in mill city. If you put the hours in, you'll be rewarded.


Jared

Great thanks! Lots of good information. Checked up on odfw looks like they've updated it since I last saw it. Cool well i'll check it out and see how it goes.

Should I do something different besides spinners or kwikfish? I have eggs, or should I float shrimp? Guess I could float jigs too.

All of the above will work for springers, I like throwing roe under a float or off the bottom and big spinners! Jigs are something that people have been starting to catch salmon with but not many use them Its always good to try things that others aren't. For steelhead I would try some jigs under a float or roe. Look for water with a little chop to it and about walking speed with a depth around 4-8 feet deep. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Sweet! Yes I will try it out in the next couple weeks and let everyone know how it goes.

However everyday with out fish, it was always always a beautiful day or morning on the river. Summer will be a great season!

The holes in mill city and Gates are setup up great for running a heavy weighted bobber and bait set up with eggs and shrimp, they're deep with good tail outs. The fish run tight to the rock ledges on mill city. Lots of guys plunk in these holes with about a 20'' dropper. The gates hole has been washed out for the last few weeks with no real bank to fish from and make sure you dont go above the deadline in mill city, its been set up on the car bridge just below the falls, to help keep people from snagging them. I my self got my self some new Steelhead Stalker Salmon Jigginz that I'll be running up there!!