Question: North or South Santiam?

[blackdog]

Having fished both with moderate success over the last couple of years and also eight years ago when at OSU, which river do the IFISHers prefer for springers and also for summers? Living in central Oregon, they are both relatively close, so it doesn't really matter, just curious what everyone else thinks. Shouldn't be long now until both start fishing well.

[Artwo]

No question, this time of year fish the south.

JK

[RichH]

Played c & r on Sunday with some beautiful unmarked fish from 9-12 or 13 lbs, all on plugs in the lower end of the North. Put in a little later than most(about 7 or 8 boats ahead of us) and pretty much got to fish whatever we wanted to. I don't think you could go wrong with either river.

[willierower]

blackdog,
This time of the year I like the North better. The South has plenty of fish. But the Army Corp of Idiots always messes with the water level this time of year on the South. Monday it was running about 1800 cfs, I got up early yesterday to fish and the idiots brought the river up 2 feet over night. The fish went off the bite.
If you come over this way make sure you check the levels. The north fishes good if the level is 4.2 and lower. The south is good if the flow is 2000cfs or lower.

[KrystalFlash]

FYI,
My choice would be the North. I agree with willierower. The ACOE messes with the flow on the South fork too much this time of year, and that makes it quite a challenge to navigate. Not too much fun from my point of view. The North has fish in good numbers and they are quite spirited. Just my .02.
It is good to be lucky!

[aye fsh]

Messed around from the mouth up to I-5 this evening, water is pretty darn high. Did see some fish splashing around in the distance. Do they mess with the flows to push the smolt out or something? A friend drifted from foster mon., said they caught several babies.