Hood River

Oregon·Mount Hood·45.65° N, 121.55° W

Flow

249 CFS

Hood River at Tucker Bridge

Water Temp

56°F

Hood River at Tucker Bridge

Condition

Well Below Normal

Weather

58°F

Sunny

near Odell

Insights

Flow

Low flows at 249 CFS

Fish are spooky. Lighten tippet and lengthen leaders.

The Hood is a wild steelhead river first and a trout river a distant second. It drains the cold, wet north face of Mt Hood and runs about 25 miles to the Columbia at the town of Hood River, an hour east of Portland — one of the closest wild steelhead rivers to the metro. The winter run is the whole point: fish trickle in from November through April with the bulk showing in February and March, and it's rain that turns it on. A hard freshet that bumps and colors the mainstem is what pushes fish up out of the Columbia, so the good windows are the days a high, dirty river drops back into green shape. The hatchery steelhead program was suspended in 2021 and the hatchery run has faded to nothing, so this is effectively a wild-only fishery now — plan on catch-and-release and low fish counts, not numbers.

The honest catch with the Hood is glacial melt. The East Fork carries silt, mud, and rounded glacial rock straight off the mountain, and the Middle Fork runs muddy and basically unfishable in season, so from roughly July into September the mainstem runs milky and blown out from snow and glacier melt and most people just don't fish it then. That's the trade-off with a glacier-fed river — the same cold water that grows bull trout and keeps summer temps low also carries the flour that clouds it up. The limiter here is turbidity, not temperature: at Tucker Bridge the mainstem was 234 cfs and 61°F in early July, cold for midsummer, which tells you how much of that flow is meltwater. This is a wade-and-walk fishery, not a float. The productive water is a short list of runs you hike to — the single most-fished spot is 'the mouth,' the water under the footbridge just downstream of I-84, with easy parking and wadeable runs, and the powerhouse run about a half mile above the confluence is the other classic.

Beyond the mainstem, the forks are their own thing. The East Fork parallels Highway 35 with pullouts the whole way and holds small, feisty native cutthroat, mostly above Polallie Creek, on a standard late-May-to-October 31 trout season — the fishable trout option, though it colors up with melt too. The West Fork is where the summer steelhead and spring Chinook go, but public access is a sliver: about 100 yards of water below Punchbowl Falls above the confluence, closed above the falls. Coho move through late September into mid-November near the mouth in modest numbers, and Pacific lamprey have pushed several miles up the East Fork since Powerdale Dam came out in 2010. It's a real wild fishery in recovery, close to Portland, but it rewards timing the water far more than it rewards showing up.

Species

Steelhead (winter run)
Primary · Nov-Apr, peak Feb-Mar · 5-12 lb
The signature fishery, on the mainstem and East Fork. Rain and high water trigger the run; fish the falling limb as the river drops into green. The hatchery program was suspended in 2021, so this is a wild-only, catch-and-release fishery with low counts — swung wet flies on a two-hander.
Steelhead (summer-run)
Common · Mar-Nov, peak Aug-Oct · 4-10 lb
Predominantly the West Fork, where access is the limiter — a short reach below Punchbowl Falls. Spawn February through April.
Chinook Salmon (spring run)
Present · Mar-May · 10-25 lb
Return March through May with a very limited season around Memorial Day — check the current regs before targeting. Hold mostly in the West Fork. The native run went extinct around 1970 and was reestablished from the early 1990s.
Chinook Salmon (fall)
Present · Jul-Oct · 8-20 lb
Return July through October and spawn low in the watershed, mostly the mainstem. Targeting fall Chinook is prohibited.
Coho Salmon
Common · Late Sep-mid Nov · 4-10 lb
Modest numbers near the mouth in the fall. Most spawn the mainstem and lower tributaries — a bright spot once the summer glacial silt drops out.
Coastal Cutthroat Trout
Common · Late May-Oct · 6-12"
Small and feisty native cutthroat dominate the East Fork, mostly above Polallie Creek — the realistic trout target. Attractor dries and small nymphs on the clearer shoulder windows before peak melt and again in fall.
Redband Trout
Present · Late May-Oct · 8-14"
Native resident rainbow/redband hold in low numbers in the mainstem, but the channel is silted through the warm months — they fish best in the clearer spring and fall windows.
Bull Trout
Present · Protected · 12-24"+
A native char supported by the very cold glacier-fed water. Protected — no target, no harvest. Not a fish to angle for.
Mountain Whitefish
Present · Fall-winter · 8-14"
Incidental on nymphs and wets when the water is clear and cold.

Species	Abundance	Best Season	Size	Notes
Steelhead (winter run)	Primary	Nov-Apr, peak Feb-Mar	5-12 lb	The signature fishery, on the mainstem and East Fork. Rain and high water trigger the run; fish the falling limb as the river drops into green. The hatchery program was suspended in 2021, so this is a wild-only, catch-and-release fishery with low counts — swung wet flies on a two-hander.
Steelhead (summer-run)	Common	Mar-Nov, peak Aug-Oct	4-10 lb	Predominantly the West Fork, where access is the limiter — a short reach below Punchbowl Falls. Spawn February through April.
Chinook Salmon (spring run)	Present	Mar-May	10-25 lb	Return March through May with a very limited season around Memorial Day — check the current regs before targeting. Hold mostly in the West Fork. The native run went extinct around 1970 and was reestablished from the early 1990s.
Chinook Salmon (fall)	Present	Jul-Oct	8-20 lb	Return July through October and spawn low in the watershed, mostly the mainstem. Targeting fall Chinook is prohibited.
Coho Salmon	Common	Late Sep-mid Nov	4-10 lb	Modest numbers near the mouth in the fall. Most spawn the mainstem and lower tributaries — a bright spot once the summer glacial silt drops out.
Coastal Cutthroat Trout	Common	Late May-Oct	6-12"	Small and feisty native cutthroat dominate the East Fork, mostly above Polallie Creek — the realistic trout target. Attractor dries and small nymphs on the clearer shoulder windows before peak melt and again in fall.
Redband Trout	Present	Late May-Oct	8-14"	Native resident rainbow/redband hold in low numbers in the mainstem, but the channel is silted through the warm months — they fish best in the clearer spring and fall windows.
Bull Trout	Present	Protected	12-24"+	A native char supported by the very cold glacier-fed water. Protected — no target, no harvest. Not a fish to angle for.
Mountain Whitefish	Present	Fall-winter	8-14"	Incidental on nymphs and wets when the water is clear and cold.

Ideal wading flow300–800 CFS

Blow-out>1,200 CFS

Ideal water temp38–50°F

Late winter (February-March) is the peak winter-steelhead window — fish the drop after a freshet, roughly 300-800 cfs and clearing to green. Very low winter base flows (~150-250 cfs) mean few fresh fish. Fall (September-October) brings clearing water, October caddis, coho near the mouth, and East Fork cutthroat; late spring (late May-June) is the trout opener and pre-melt clarity on the East Fork. Avoid mid-summer (July-September) on the mainstem — Mt Hood glacial melt runs it milky and largely unfishable regardless of rain. The limiter is turbidity, not temperature: cold meltwater keeps summer water temps low (around 61°F in July) even when the river is too clouded to fish.

Sections

3 sections on this river

Lower Hood — The Mouth & Mainstem

WadeSteelhead · Salmon

Freestone travel water from the Columbia confluence up to Tucker Bridge — riffles, pockets, and holding runs, the most consistent steelhead water in the system. Runs milky and blown from glacial melt roughly July through September. 'The mouth,' the footbridge just downstream of I-84, is the single most-fished spot, with easy parking and wadeable runs; the powerhouse run sits about a half mile above the confluence with trail access.

Best for: Wild winter steelhead swung on a two-hander in Feb-Mar, with incidental coho salmon near the mouth in fall.

West Fork Hood River — Below Punchbowl Falls

WadeSteelhead · Salmon

Clearer than the East Fork, draining a non-glacial upper basin, but the fishable public water is a sliver — roughly 100 yards between Punchbowl Falls and the confluence. Closed above the falls.

Best for: Summer steelhead and spring Chinook hold here, with access the limiting factor.

East Fork Hood River — Highway 35 Corridor

WadeSteelhead · Cutthroat · Rainbow Trout

A small, glacially-influenced freestone carrying silt, mud, and rounded glacial rock, with pocket water and short runs. It parallels Highway 35 with pullouts the length of the corridor, and the East Fork Trail runs between Sherwood and Nottingham Campgrounds. Closed to steelhead; it colors up with melt like the mainstem but clears on the shoulder windows.

Best for: Wild cutthroat trout on attractor dries and small nymphs, mostly above Polallie Creek — the roadside trout option when timing is right.

Regulations

Current fishing rules and restrictions

Oregon Central Zone. Trout angling on the mainstem and East Fork is artificial flies and lures only and catch-and-release, in a season running the 4th Saturday in May through October 31. The mainstem is open to steelhead year-round; the East Fork is closed to steelhead; the West Fork is open only in a short section below Punchbowl Falls. With the hatchery program suspended, this is effectively a wild-only catch-and-release steelhead fishery. Regulations change annually — verify against the current ODFW synopsis before fishing.

Oregon angling license required for anglers age 12 and up; a Combined Angling Tag is required to fish for or retain salmon and steelhead.
Trout season is the 4th Saturday in May through October 31 on the mainstem and East Fork; trout angling is artificial flies and lures only and catch-and-release.
Mainstem open to steelhead year-round. East Fork closed to steelhead year-round. West Fork open to steelhead only in the short section below Punchbowl Falls; closed above the falls.
Bait is allowed for salmon and steelhead. Spring Chinook has a very limited season (around Memorial Day) — check the regs. Targeting fall Chinook is prohibited.
Bull trout are protected — no target, no harvest.
The steelhead hatchery program was suspended in 2021; expect a wild-only, catch-and-release fishery with low fish counts.

Coho are open near the mouth roughly late September through mid-November. Pacific lamprey have recolonized several miles of the East Fork since Powerdale Dam was removed in 2010. Verify the current Central Zone booklet before you fish.

Source: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife — Central Zone. Regulations change annually — verify before fishing.

Access & Logistics

Getting there, fly shops, and lodging

Getting There

Hood River, OR

~1 hr east of Portland via I-84; the East Fork corridor runs south from town along Hwy 35

Fly Shops

Gorge Fly Shop (Hood River)

Camping & Lodging

The town of Hood River, at the mouth on I-84, is the natural basecamp with full lodging, dining, and gear. Sherwood and Nottingham Campgrounds sit on the East Fork along the Hwy 35 corridor in Mt Hood National Forest; Tucker Park is near Tucker Bridge on the mainstem.

Wade-and-walk only — not a drift-boat river. 'The mouth,' the footbridge just downstream of I-84, is the single most-fished spot, with easy parking and wadeable runs; the powerhouse run sits about a half mile above the confluence. A NW Forest Pass is needed at some Mt Hood NF trailheads.

Conditions data is live from public monitoring networks. Regulations change annually — always verify current rules with your state fish & wildlife agency before fishing.

More in Oregon

View all 24 rivers

Mount Hood

Clackamas RiverOR

Portland's home river — an 83-mile freestone off Mt Hood that splits into two fisheries around three PGE reservoirs. Above North Fork Reservoir it's clear, wadeable pocket water full of wild cutthroat, rainbows, and whitefish under a fly-only, catch-and-release rule; below River Mill Dam at Estacada it's one of the closest genuine winter/summer steelhead and spring Chinook floats to a major West Coast city, with Barton-to-Carver the signature (and busiest) drift.

Sandy RiverOR

Portland's home steelhead river — a glacial stream off Mt Hood that runs to the Columbia at Troutdale, 40 minutes from downtown. An anadromous fishery first: wild and hatchery winter steelhead (Jan–Mar), summer steelhead, spring Chinook, and a strong fall coho run, mostly floated and swung. Glacial melt clouds the mainstem June–September, so it fishes best in the cold season; resident trout and whitefish are a distant second and fish better in the clearer tributaries.

Other regions

Ana RiverOR

A seven-mile spring creek in the Summer Lake basin that boils out of the ground at ~58F and fishes twelve months a year — wild redband rainbows rising to dry flies in February when the rest of Oregon is frozen. A small, clear, match-the-hatch stream in the high desert, one of the few Southeast Zone waters where bait is legal.

Chetco RiverOR

A short, steep, undammed rainforest river dropping out of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness to the Pacific at Brookings — winter steelhead and some of the largest fall Chinook on the West Coast, plus an underrated summer sea-run cutthroat game. A gear-and-drift-boat fishery at heart; the fly opportunity is swung flies for steelhead and searching flies for cutthroat, keyed to the falling, clearing limb after rain.

Chewaucan RiverOR

A small high-desert freestone off Gearhart Mountain in Oregon's Outback, holding wild native Great Basin redband trout in a lightly fished ponderosa canyon above Paisley. A nymph-first, wet-wade small-stream fishery with solitude as its calling card.

Crooked RiverOR

A high-desert tailwater below Bowman Dam, loaded with abundant wild redband trout (mostly 8-12 inches) and mountain whitefish. Roadside walk-and-wade access along Highway 27 and year-round midge and BWO fishing on dam-controlled flows.

Deschutes RiverOR

Central Oregon's marquee water — the Lower Deschutes below Warm Springs runs cold and big through a desert canyon full of wild redband trout, a summer steelhead run, and a heavy salmonfly hatch in late May. You float to access but must get out and wade to fish.

Fall RiverOR

A pocket-sized, gin-clear spring creek near La Pine that boils up cold and runs a stable ~100 cfs year-round. Technical, fly-only sight-fishing for wild and stocked rainbows, wild brookies, and big browns below the falls.