I have fished the Sandy for a very long time . This is what I know . The Sandy gets a pretty decent run of spring chinook starting end of May. I like Oxbow Park and Dodge Park. Spinners and jig twitching , bobber and eggs sometimes. The coho run is pretty good also. Same methods . End of August. There are winter steelhead in Dodge Park right now but most of them are " natives " . I would say about fifty percent of springers and coho are so called natives. I know I will get grief for this from O.D.F.W. apologists but they are not natives , just unclipped fish. I guess that can be debated forever. I landed 20 coho last year , 8 were keepers . Landed 15 springers , 4 were keepers. But I know one guy that got 17 springers , all keepers . Luck of the draw. All at Oxbow Park. Summer steelhead fishing is OK at best . Winter steel is a disaster. You can join the snag fest for coho at Cedar Creek , not for me. All of this is from the bank. If you want more details you can P.M. me and leave a phone number , to much to type. I really like Oxbow . It can get a little crowded at times but it is still pretty mellow unlike that circus at Oregon City. A few months back I called the hatchery at Cedar wanting to know what the winter steelhead count was for last year . Some employee refused to tell me and said that we were just spoiled from the good runs of the past and hung up on me. Never had the chance to get a name so that I could help him with an attitude readjustment. Despite all this I love Oxbow and Dodge Park.

 

I have fished the Sandy for a very long time . This is what I know . The Sandy gets a pretty decent run of spring chinook starting end of May. I like Oxbow Park and Dodge Park. Spinners and jig twitching , bobber and eggs sometimes. The coho run is pretty good also. Same methods . End of August. There are winter steelhead in Dodge Park right now but most of them are " natives " . I would say about fifty percent of springers and coho are so called natives. I know I will get grief for this from O.D.F.W. apologists but they are not natives , just unclipped fish. I guess that can be debated forever. I landed 20 coho last year , 8 were keepers . Landed 15 springers , 4 were keepers. But I know one guy that got 17 springers , all keepers . Luck of the draw. All at Oxbow Park. Summer steelhead fishing is OK at best . Winter steel is a disaster. You can join the snag fest for coho at Cedar Creek , not for me. All of this is from the bank. If you want more details you can P.M. me and leave a phone number , to much to type. I really like Oxbow . It can get a little crowded at times but it is still pretty mellow unlike that circus at Oregon City. A few months back I called the hatchery at Cedar wanting to know what the winter steelhead count was for last year . Some employee refused to tell me and said that we were just spoiled from the good runs of the past and hung up on me. Never had the chance to get a name so that I could help him with an attitude readjustment. Despite all this I love Oxbow and Dodge Park.
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if you want data on returns to ODFW hatcheries you can find it in the ODFW Annual Propagation reports on their "Hatchery" page website. Returns are shown by species and hatchery in Table 13. 2021 is there along with previous years reports.

ODFW Hatcheries

 

if you are going to the hatchery on the Sandy be prepared to hike a bit down and back up the mountain. You will also have company so don’t be shocked if someone walks right next to you and drops a line. There will always be fish up at the hatchery. It just depends on how many there are and where they are holding. But the low fish low high fish high rule is generally a good one to follow

 

Remember there are many more places to get salmon up here , The Columbia pluncking , The Clack. I have a boat but do way better on the bank. It mostly crabs .

 

On the sandy I wouldn’t advise going to the hatchery unless you plan to only fish there. Regardless of run size or timing it will be tough finding a spot without someone in it on that system. Plus the long hike and drive to another spot will burn a lot of daylight. With the conditions right now I’d advise trying dodge park, lowish in the river and a little more room to get out an explore (good holding water too). If you don’t mind crowds get to the hatchery early and go with the flow of other anglers, I’ve seen tempers from anglers at cedar creek on multiple occasions.

 

I too have fished the Sandy for many many years. If this is your first trip to the Sandy I personally would not fish at the hatchery. It's a bit of a hike down to the river and back up again. It gets pretty crowded as well. I would concentrate in the Oxbow Park area (personally my favorite for bank fishing). There's some decent bank access at Dabney Park as well and also around Lewis and Clark Park upstream past Glenn Otto Park as well. Keep in mind, Oxbow and Dabney Parks are pay to enter (Dabney is credit card only). Lewis and Clark as well as Glenn Otto are no pay......

Hope this helps out some. Good luck if you go....

 

You can also go on line at Metro Parks and get a parking pass for Oxbow , way cheaper then paying every time you go in.

 

Oxbow park is great - sadly can't bring my pup

 

Pretty sure Dabney has the same pet restriction
. Along with a long list of other restrictions.
But have a nice day!

 

Thank you guys! I think I will be heading to Oxbow and see what I can get done. Really appreciate all the feed back. I don't mind doing my own exploring it's just good to have at least a place to start: )

 

Hey boss, thanks for posting this thread. When I first moved here I was greeted with a lot of tight lips and just told go find the water and throw everything at em and you will get one eventually lol.

I never did find a good honey hole to call my own, but I did catch a couple steelhead. I was a nursing student so time ws not on my side. I moved away after school and just got back up here and can't wait to get my lines wet.

I grew up in AZ so bass and catfish was all I knew. Some high elevation lakes had decent trout, 8 to 10 inches. But the trout here are a whole other story. Such good fights,and then the river fish, oh man I tell you what.


First time you hook a steelhead and know it, oh man!


I'm headed out tomorrow now. Gonna check out the Sandy.

I fished the Clack a lot and the Wilson. Clack I always saw a few roll at McIver.

The Wilson, if you got a day and can make the long drive, it's worth it. So beautiful and just a great day on the water everything.

Best of luck, and if you ever want someone to shoot the ahit with and do some exoring let me know. I may not know the spots but I'm willing to get out there and find them.

 

That walk out of the hatchery is no joke. Add a couple fish and it's even trickier. Personally, the crowds there don't bother me. I can always find a relative quiet place to fish. I'm also a long time Sandy River angler. In my opinion it's hard to beat Oxbow.

 

Yes to Oxbow , coho coming up soon , thru Oct.

 

I found this in the rules thread..

You need this minimum

Conversations (Private messages): 10 posts and 30 days

 

I’m with you Jagosh. Dogs and fishing a poor mix if for nothing more than the safety of the dog. My dogs would eat anything and there’s lots of stuff on riverbanks I don’t what my dog’s eating. If there’s other people around that’s another major problem. Anything that can go wrong will.

 

The Sandy was my favorite steelhead river from the seventies, but have fished there for about almost ten years. I loved to hike from Dodge Park in the winter. Back in the day a boat would hardly ever make the run from Dodge to Oxbow. Now I believe it is posted so no more hiking in. A lot of access to good water has been lost. I think the river was much more crowded in the 70s through 90s. It was often elbow to elbow in the most popular runs. Man, was it fun, though…

 

Did the Marmot dam removal changed a lot of how the river fishes?
(sorry for reviving an old thread)

 

Screw that liberal **** at the hatchery. I would bet he can be IDed by tattoos.