Umpqua River

The main stem Umpqua starts at River Forks Park near Roseburg, where the North and South Umpqua meet, and runs about 110 miles to the sea at Winchester Bay. It is a big, wide river with ledge rock and long pools, and it carries a bit of everything. Winter steelhead come in from December through March. Spring Chinook run in April and May, and fall Chinook from August. Shad crowd in from late April into July, best from Memorial Day to mid-June, with the most people at Sawyers Rapids. In summer the river warms, and smallmouth bass fill about 50 miles of it, from the forks down to Scottsburg.

The upper river, from River Forks to Elkton, is the smallmouth float, with launches at River Forks, Cleveland Rapids, James Wood, Osprey and Yellow Creek. The lower river, from Elkton to Scottsburg, is steelhead, Chinook and shad water, with drift-boat launches at Scotts Creek and Sawyers Rapids. Both Cleveland and Sawyers rapids need care in a boat. Steelhead and salmon bound for the North Umpqua pass through, but the fly-only water is up on the North Umpqua, not here.

Read the flows at the gauge near Elkton. As a rough guide, set from the gauge's seasons, winter steelhead fishing is best from about 3,000 to 12,000 CFS, and past about 25,000 it is high and colored. In summer the river drops toward 1,000 CFS and warms, which is when the smallmouth fishing is best.